a sneak peek at 'where the planes fly low'!!

folks, here's a little look at some of what you'll be reading
in one of my newest books, 'Where The Planes Fly Low'. this
book is a collection of thoughts about growing up in a part
of New York City that gets overlooked, but can never really be
undervalued, Southeast Queens. it's where i was raised and
where i still continue to live to this day. observe:


"There's really no other way to explain it. It's evident whether
you're driving in, flying in or on the train riding in. God made
Southeast Queens for the serene. Your knee-jerk reaction to those
words, no doubt, is to declare them AND me full of enough..manure
to grow 2 acres of tomatoes. Followed by enough cries of derision
to make someone feel like an outfielder at Yankee Stadium. But I
ask that you bear with me for a bit.

Queens is the biggest borough out of the five that make up New
York City, right? But even with this fact on the table, it is the
most maligned. Except for Staten Island, loved only by the Wu-Tang
Clan and assorted mobsters and their women. I can't tell you how
many people I've heard run Queens down into the ground. I recall
reading one comment from a friend of a former love interest declaring
that 'nothing but ugly people live in Queens'. Which was pretty
funny coming from a girl whose profile pics made her look like a
Dominican love child of Groucho Marx. We're grouped into the 'bridge
and tunnel' crowd that clubgoers love to use as a benchmark for
the uncool. I can't say I blame them. It is uncool to live in an
area where you actually can get some sleep without hearing a drunken
argument at 3 AM every night. It's not hip to actually get a dose
of fresh air. With the exception of Bricktown, we do smell better
overall and we only share part of a canal that could be radioactive."


hope you enjoyed, until the next time!!!

creeping dread before writing.

a little quick post for you guys...

have you ever sat down to do something with a certain amount
of dread and foreboding? i sometimes get that way when i write,
to be honest with you. why? well, part of it stems from the
need to have everything i put down to paper be dead solid perfect.
i want to express all of the nuances of the characters and story
as effortlessly as possible. yes, i know it's not easy or all
that realistic to approach writing like that. i'm taking baby
steps though; there was a time i wouldn't even admit that.

another part of it is, there's a nagging feeling that it(the
process of writing) starts to feel like work. it IS work, damn
hard work. but i take time to beat back that feeling and in
doing so, i consume more time than i should only because i want
to make sure it's almost non-existent. i know that if i'm going
through this, that others must be as well. i'm here to tell you
you're not alone and that you can get past that!!!

i'll come back to this later on in the week...until the next time,
be well.

being your own away team.(crosspost time!)

(cross-post from 'of wine and words')

sometimes, you tend to do things better on the road.

i've previously made analogies to how the creative mind
is similar to a shark in the ocean. they need to move
constantly to survive. those out on the corners, no matter
what they do, are of the same mind. 'you gotta walk/'cause
i walk as i talk."(c)dead prez

being blessed to travel as i have from an early age, i've
gotten so many benefits from these adventures. and as i've
gotten older, i can honestly say that the biggest benefit
thus far has been having the ability to let my mind think
and breathe that much more clearly and freely. case in point:
i was in DC a couple of weeks ago and i was able to focus
on having a good time and still be able to approach certain
things i was dealing with back home from a better perspective.
it was like stepping out of my body and watching things
unfold on a giant movie screen.

and another aftereffect to that is, travel time to a destination
has always managed to light a fire within me. probably because
it's a block of time where i don't have to undergo the steady
amount of multi-tasking i usually go through on a day to day
basis. i do take the time to write, and review more in those
blocks of time. i've actually written articles and essays as
well.

so for all of you writers out there, next time you've got a
lengthy bit of travel ahead, carry a journal along with the
bestseller you may have on your eReader.

give love to get love.

i've always believed this to be true...

in order to be successful, one of the main things you should
ALWAYS do..show your fellow artists some love. and that love
returns to you tenfold. now, it's a simple rule. fairly easy
to remember. but not a lot of us do it. we'll give it lip service
and go on about our business. and that's a mistake. so this may
be a refresher course for some, and for others it may be ground
rules you may have tossed to the side like some of us did with
the manuals to video games back in the day.

giving love to an artist or business can mean many things. first
tenet of that is, word of mouth. any enterprise thrives when
people have it on their brain. talk about what you do to people
and if they're interested and like it, they will definitely pass
it on. the other side to that is, if someone relates to you what
they do, pass that info on. because that's how networks grow and
how we all move forward.

the second tenet is, press the issue. for example, there was a
friend of mine a while back who had a business. it was something
that she stood to be really prominent in. but she didn't press
the issue, that is to say, she was inconsistent in promoting the
business and herself. in this day and age, you may be able to slack
off for an instant, but never two. you have to keep presenting
yourself out there. please note that i said PRESENTING..you will
need to know the fine line because once you cross over into pushing,
you risk losing a lot of people who will listen. now i know we all
understand the premise and ideas of hustling, but even hustlers
know how to ebb and flow like the tides. get yourself out there
consistently. i myself have struggled with this. if it's a time
issue, set up a routine in a planner or on your smartphone.

lastly, make the belief fuel the drive. people are inundated with
a lot of stuff every minute these days. you have to convey how
strongly you feel about this person's creation and business based
on how people view YOU. if they know you, they know that who you
promote is on the money. and that allows that other person to get
the money, literally and figuratively. treat their success as your
success and you'll find it's a great reward.

that's all for this post...until the next time!