Hello Write Queeners!

Yes, you are reading it right. An e-book! In a decision to self-publish my work, I decided to start with a little experiment titled Beloved. The reason I call Beloved a mobile e-book is because everything was written on my phone AND the e-book was created on an app via my iPhone. The app is called Creative Book Builder by Tiger Ng, who not only has this wonderful little app, but a few more that help you create interactive e-books on the go! I do promise that you will get a review of these apps within the week.

Beloved is an e-chapbook of poems and musings about opening, swimming through, and drowning in floodgates. This is a mobile e-book creation and experience that was complied between the condensation of Summer and the chill of Fall. It's FREE for a short period of time (or indefinitely...still deciding!). You can also pay-as-you-wish, where the funds would be used to put out Late Night Feelings, Home Sweet Home, Sweltering Sugar and other projects. Beloved is available in .EPUB and .MOBI formats (i.e. iBooks and Kindle) and a special edition web app for the iPhone and iPad.  

Be on the look out for a post on the Late Night Feelings blog about the process of creating Beloved.

Don't you just love the cover? The photo I used for the cover is by my wonderfully talented best friend and business partner, Alshawn Rushing. He is the Head of Photography and co-founder of EAT Media. If you want to use his awesome skills, head over to EAT Media's website or check him out on his website NerosisMuse Photography.

Look out for an update on the link to the web app. Still working on getting that up!

Don't forget to subscribe to the blog so you can receive updates like this and more!

Hello Write Queeners,

July, July...oh July was a lovely month! 

It began with my 27th birthday on the 2nd. For some reason, I felt like this was going be the year of things happening. I've been right so far. Though my life still has some major hiccups, I have been experiencing a lot of great things (or at least have learned some really great lessons).

I've been taking a course called Digging Deep, Facing Self. Led by Caits Meissner, it is a 30 day intensive online writing course designed to uplift, heal and transform women into their boldest selves. 

With this course, I have felt a tremendous shift in how I approach my writing. I have ventured into topics that I can only talk about with those really close to me and even ones I haven't been able to mention. The group's support has been heartwarming. I love being in a community setting and knowing that there was a group of ladies out there willing to listen. It wasn't just about writing. It was about healing, growing, and learning.

These women have grown so dear to me. Even days after the end of the course, we are still communing within our super secret space and catching up with exercises, talking about what's next and talking about how we feel about this journey. Some of us have added each other on our favorite social networks and are continuing the bond. 

I feel honored to have been a part of this group. I hope that we do keep in touch and watch each other grow because you are only as strong as your backbone and it never hurts to add more love and strength to it! 

Amazing things have happened to me while taking this course, from getting the chance to speak to one of my poetry idols, Sonia Sanchez to being including in our anthology A Thing of Beauty Painted By Words.

There are two pieces from most of the ladies in our group and let me tell you, it's a wonderful read (not just because I am a part of this group). It showcases a vast range of emotions, especially bravery because for some, this was a new and frightening experience. I am proud to be included and proud of each woman I've worked with. Go click on the cover and take a look. It's FREE! Please share it with everyone you know. This is a group that needs to be read. 

A funny thing about this is that there is a major typo on one of my pieces. I look like a skipping record as two of my haiku are repeated in a series of nine (but I promise there is a III and IV). I read it this morning as I was looking through the anthology and I busted out laughing on the train. It will be fixed tonight though, so go and take a look at our special typo edition hehe!

You must take this course in the fall if you are looking for a new experience in writing and facing self. Find out more about the course on Caits' website: http://www.caitsmeissner.com/course/ 

Other exciting news in The Write Queen's world: I am going to have a couple of poems included in another anthology, coming out some time towards the end of summer or in the fall. It's called Skeletons and it is edited by the lovely Shannon Lynette of Lady Chaos Press. 

I also reunited with someone who has always been a great inspiration and help to my writing. I am a little anxious to see where this relationship will go this time.

I am a little anxious for August too! I hope that the good vibes of July continue this month.

Till next time loves, stay inspired!

P.S. I am running a little fundraising campaign to help offset costs for submitting my manuscripts to contests and small presses. These things can get a little pricey when you are paying bills (especially dental, my goodness I do not like my mouth these days), helping parents, and investing in your freelance projects at the same time. 

I feel weird asking because the territory of donation is new to me. I'm used to giving if I can, not asking so if you can please spare me the awkwardness and donate towards my campaign, it would be greatly appreciated. Anything helps, even if it is a dollar. 

You can go to my Go Fund Me site at: http://www.gofundme.com/publishme to donate.

And I am working on something special to give to everyone who donates, so please don't think you will come away from this empty handed! I give, I have to. I don't feel right taking without giving back. Stay tuned!

Write Queeners,

I am going to share snippets of a journey I am taking. I don't know how often, but it will be for the next 28 days. I have gotten through Day 1, a private beginning for now. Day 2...well I already feel like running away so I can write this feeling everyday.

I will only share my thoughts. I will not break the sacred circle that has already formed with my group. But I also feel that you, my readers, deserve a sneak peek into my thoughts at least, because this is going to be a scary journey.

I believe it is my responsibility as a writer to share what I was never taught.

This morning I tried a method called morning pages, writing three pages right when I get up and then not being able to look back.

I shared this thought with the group:

Morning pages will be the toughest for me. I'm scared to be so ordinary. I have this notion as a writer that you must always be brilliant, even though I know it's in the ordinary where beauty can emerge. I am doing it by hand so it's even tougher. Technology has crippled my organic ability to scribe. I replaced methods a long time ago. I'm beyond composition notebooks. I need instant gratification through typing. 

I shut my journal right away, but the thought that has stood with me, which I don't think I wrote quite this way in the journal is:

Eye guck, no glasses, morning relief withheld until completion. 

___

I look forward to seeing how this challenge changes me. I will keep you posted.

Good morning Write Queeners.

A gentle thirst sits
at the base of her lips,
lost in a criminal
tremble that threatens,
confess the interrogation of
his existence, in her reality.

Last night
I slept with laughter
in my eyes.

It rippled in the form of
tears, pooling at the edges
and dropping humanity
on my sheets -

Emotions soaked
everywhere
on the sheets
by morning.

"Line inferiority," art revealed.

That is the problem with poets. It is a fear that has been programmed into their fingertips. The fear of that one line not measuring up, making anything written before or after it, a failure.

The cure?

Lay your body on the ground poet. Murmur your confessions on the ghosts of soles that have drum passed this journey before. Plant a stream of words on the road less travelled and watch them grow into something all your own. Pick the wild ones and place them into a vase. Watch the hunger of beauty transform the tip of your pen.

Willingly undergoing
condemnation daily
to display the
absurdity of DNA.

I wait for Holy Consolation
to transform this
frequency of torment,
but am forced to
continue and relive
under this regime.

It's time for some computer generated poetry! This poem was made with the iPhone app, Spine Sonnet, a poem generator that uses the titles of art and architecture textbooks to make a sonnet. If you are an iPhone or iPad user, you can get the app here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spine-sonnet/id422871445?mt=8

(Sorry, the link feature isn't working on my Weebly app, it could have looked cleaner.)

For some reason, I can't get the last line in when I use the font in the second picture, no matter how many times I've resized it. Very frustrating. I had resort to changing the font after I posted on Instagram. Here is it is in plain text:

Cracked tongues
do not know
how to depart quietly.
They sputter loudly,
disjointed, cold.
The doc places bandages
on teeth to
heal the disaster
of good bye in that
brilliant plastic grin,
cheeks caved in.