Yearly Archives: 2013

African-American Books – From The Blog Archives

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Do you read books by African-American (AA) authors?

Many African-Americans will only read books by AA authors. Also, most bookstores have a separate section for AA books.

While I was growing up, there were few AA authors, so I read ANY NOVEL that I could find, the race of the author didn’t matter to me! I was joyous when the publishing scene exploded with lots of AA books (I was an adult by this time.)

My question to all of you is, if you are NOT African-American, do you mind reading African-American fiction? Do you feel that AA books are only written for other African-Americans? If you go to a bookstore, and see the AA section, would you go to that section and browse, or do you feel that those books are only for AA readers?

And if you are AA, do you ONLY read books by AA authors, or do you read books by people of all races? Over the years, I’ve met several African-Americans who tell me that they’ll only read AA authors.

I’ll start by responding to my own question. I’ll read a novel as long as it’s well-written and enjoyable. I don’t care if the author or characters are AA or not, I’m gonna read the book regardless. If I don’t like it, I won’t finish reading it!

I doubt that God would want us to separate our reading tastes like this. I’d think he’d want us to be open-minded and read books by authors of all races.

Leave your responses in the comments! 🙂

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Grounds To Believe by Shelley Bates

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Grounds To Believe by Shelley Bates

Have you ever been involved in a cult, or, known someone who’s been involved in one? What happened when you (or whomever) was involved with that group?

Ross Malcolm has a young daughter and he’s desperate to find his child. Years ago, he was involved with a woman (the mother of his child) who ran away with his daughter to join a cult. Ross has not seen his child in years, and wonders about her fate. A Christian, Ross is determined to investigate cults, hoping to stop their unreasonable practices.

Ross is alerted to investigate a cult when a pattern of mysterious children’s deaths becomes suspicious. When he rolls into town on his motorbike, he meets Julia, a member of The Elect, the cult he’s been called to investigate. He finds himself attracted to the beautiful plain-dressed woman. His ruse requires him to act as if he’s interested in becoming one of the Elect – the Elect feel that they are the only saved ones on this earth – all other religions are worldly and influenced by Satan.

I really loved this book because I saw several elements that were familiar in the cult environment. For example, The Elect don’t believe in having a personal relationship with Jesus – their salvation depends upon their Shepherd and his rules – God only speaks to them through their Shepherd and he decides their fate, not God. Also, they watch one another, if one rule is broken or bended, you could be Silenced, scorned for life, doomed to a life of Hell. Makes me wonder how one can stay enmeshed within a cult for so long – but, I suppose after being in it for so long and it’s all you know, you become close to the other members, and they’re like your family. It’d be kinda hard to give all that up if you don’t have others in the world in which to turn. The members of the Elect kinda reminded me of the Amish and the Shakers with their judgmental attitudes.

This was a good read over all! So have you ever been involved in a cult, or known someone who has? What happened? Tell me about the experience by leaving a comment!

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Need a good, emotional romance? Try John’s Quest, on sale now for 99 cents!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Love Letters – From The Blog Archives

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by Cecelia Dowdy

This is a repeat of an old blog post! I thought I’d re-post since Valentine’s Day is tomorrow!

Do you remember your very first love letter?

My blog post about my childhood pen pals made me think about other forms of written communication from my childhood, mainly, my first love letter.

The first time I received a love letter was when I was in the sixth grade and I was eleven years old. I sat at my assigned desk during math class. When I was about to leave, I looked down and saw a piece of notebook paper under my seat. I picked it up and was shocked to see the words from a secret admirer…my secret admirer! I don’t remember what the note said, BUT, I do remember that this person had taken a piece of masking tape and attached a nickel to the note as a gift for me!

Believe it or not, I never did find out who wrote me that letter! I recall being kind of upset that he’d only left me a nickel…it was the seventies and there wasn’t much that you could purchase at the store for five cents! I recall wishing he’d left me a dollar instead!

After that, I don’t really recall writing love letters very much, but, I remember my female friends in high school and college writing letters and secret notes to guys that they had a crush on. The only time I remember exchanging love letters was with my husband and it was via email. We met through an online dating service and while we dated we sent several emails to each other. As a matter of fact, we still exchange emails! 🙂

So do you remember writing or receiving your first love letter? Who was it from? To whom did you address your first love letter?
Leave your response in the comments!

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Need a good, emotional romance? Try John’s Quest, on sale now for 99 cents!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

 

Question From A Poet

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To whom it may concern:
My name is R.B. and I am a poet. I’ve been writing since the age of twelve and I’ve had several of my poems published. What I would like to do is publish a book of inspirational poems based on my life & the things I’ve been through. I’m well aware of the fact that most publishing companies only pay to publish the books of well known authors and celebrities. I may not be a celebrity, but my Heavenly Father is and I believe that my testimony displayed in each and every one of my poems can touch people in a special way. I perform my pieces at church programs and everyone keeps asking me when they can purchase my book. All I need is for someone to take a chance on me and my work. I am very aware that anything worth having is worth working for and I am willing to put in the work if given the opportunity. Investing in me would be a blessing to me as well as all the people I will reach through my book. Please seriously consider my proposal. Please and thank you in advance. God bless you.
R.B.
My response:
R.B., thanks for writing to me and for visiting my blog! I appreciate getting questions from writers. I know very little about publishing poetry, so, I’m going to give you advice based upon limited experience. If I were you, I’d self-publish my book of poems. If you’re doing regular performances at churches, then you already have a built-in platform! I think it’s awesome that you’re using your gifts to glorify God’s Kingdom!
I’m not sure which publisher I’d recommend that you use, though, since I’ve never self-published a book. I’d assume you’d want to search for somebody as an editor to help with editing your work before you get it published. You might also want to make your poems available as an e-book, too. However, I’d definitely get paper copies of your books printed because it appears that you’d be able to move/sell a lot of copies after your performances. Also, make sure that your book has a nice, professional-looking cover.
From what I’ve heard over the years, publishers rarely offer book contracts for poetry. It just doesn’t sell very well. That’s why I feel it’d be best if you paid to have your work published (by self-publishing your poems). I’m not sure about the cost of getting your work published, but, with your regular performance engagements, I’d imagine it wouldn’t take long for you to earn your money back when you sell your copies to your audience.
You’d mentioned the following:
I’m well aware of the fact that most publishing companies only pay to publish the books of well known authors and celebrities.
This is simply not true. I’m certainly not famous or well-known and I’ve had five books published. This is a myth that needs to be broken. I guess there is some truth to that statement if you are specifically referring to biographies and true-life stories – in those cases, you’d probably have a better chance of getting a book contract if you were famous/well-known.
From the tone of your email, I sense that you think that I am a publisher. I’m not a publisher, I’m an author, however, I do answer questions on this blog from other writers.
I hope you found my advice helpful, and I hope you have a blessed day!

Sunday Brunch – Why Do Different Races Worship Separately?

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Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Do you worship at a mixed-race church, or, is your church predominantly one race?

Whenever I read the above-quoted scripture, I think about how we worship. Why do you think African-Americans and Whites worship separately? Are we presently separated  in the church by race because African-Americans were forced to be separated in the past (through slavery and segregation)?

Or, are we separated because of differing worship styles? I realize some separation in the church is obviously due to do differed religious beliefs. However, in this blog post, I’m focusing on racial separation within the church.

I’ve worshiped in different race environments. As a child, the Kingdom Hall where I worshiped had mixed races. After I broke away from that faith, as an adult, I began worshiping at an AME church (African-American Episcopal). Currently, my family and I worship at a mixed race Baptist church. However, I don’t consider myself a Baptist or an AME, I consider myself a CHRISTIAN.

So, is your church a mixed-raced church, or, are the members predominantly one race? What was the racial makeup of churches where you worshiped in the past!

Leave a comment!

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~Cecelia Dowdy~

Saturday Matinee – Catch Me If You Can

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Catch Me If You Can

Have you ever run away from home (or know someone who has)? If so, how did you manage to make a living?

This movie was great! I think I enjoyed it so much because it dealt with counterfeiting checks and dishonest behavior. Frank Abernathy is an extremely intelligent and troubled teen. When his parents get divorced, he runs away from home, but, he’s able to make a living with his shrewd mind and dishonest behavior. He poses as a Pan Am airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer. He was able to con his way through these roles and he was just a teenager!

While conning his way through these occupations, Frank would create checks and cash them. He also charmed the women he met (like the bank tellers), engaging them in flattering conversations so that he could gain their trust.

I really enjoyed this movie because it was exciting and I really wanted to see if Frank would get caught by the end.

This movie was based upon a true story and it starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

So, have you ever run away from home (or know someone who has)? If so, how did you manage to make a living?

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~Cecelia Dowdy~

Pink By Marilynn Griffith – From The Blog Archives

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Could you accurately portray characters of another race in a novel?

***This is a repeat of an old blog post.

Pink (Shades of Style)

by Marilynn Griffith

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Revell (February 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0800730402
ISBN-13: 978-0800730406

From Amazon.com
Book Description
Meet Raya Joseph, the creative head designer at an up-and-coming new fashion design firm. Like employees of any fledgling company, Raya and her fellow designers face a variety of challenges–especially when it comes to bringing in business. So when they are hired to design a million-dollar wedding gown, these talented and animated designers are thrilled. But there’s one catch. The new customer is the woman who stole Raya’s fiance. Meanwhile, Flex Dunham, an athletic trainer who coaches a charity basketball team, needs team uniforms and soon finds himself in Raya’s shop. Raya hasn’t looked at a man since her engagement fiasco, so when Flex walks into her office, things get a little complicated. The entertaining first novel in the Shades of Style series, Pink offers a perfect mix of likeable characters, sweet drama, humor, and a little bit of romance.

I enjoyed reading this book, and I also loved the way the author made the reader aware about how AIDS really affects our lives. AIDS/HIV is something that I don’t really read much about in Christian fiction.

Raya is hurting. She’s been jilted by her ex-fiancé and she’s also estranged from her wealthy parents. As she desperately tries to make a living as a fashion designer, her friend, Chenille, introduces her to Flex: a personal trainer and a Christian man. The sexual tension between this couple is very strong, and Flex has issues of his own that he’s dealing with. Also estranged from his wealthy parent, both Flex and Raya are trying to make a living on their own, without using the vast wealth of their fathers.

Raya and Flex’s love grows during her early morning training sessions at the gym, and while she assists Flex with coaching his boy’s basketball team. Raya joyously spends time with the young men and especially connects with Jay, an AIDS orphan. As the story unfolds, you’ll find that Flex and Raya are connected in a very unique, surprising, and God-filled way!

Here’s something I never do when I talk about a book. I’m going to quote a couple of sentences from the book that I loved! I guess I loved these sentences because I love sweets so much? I’m not sure, but I love the way the author described this sunset.

From page 254:
The sun dipped below the horizon like a lemon cookie in a bowl of rainbow sherbet. Hues of melon and pink spread across the sky as though God was painting by number.

Those sentences were amazingly tasty and picturesque! I wanted to eat the sun!

Also, if you recall, I blogged about Cami Tang’s book awhile back. I’d mentioned that was the only Christian fiction novel I’d read with Asian characters.

Well, book two in the Shades Of Style series, Jade, has Asian characters.

Which brings me to another topic, people of different nationalities writing about different races. Marilynn is African-American and her second Shades Of Style book has Asian characters. As a matter of fact, each book focuses on a person of a different race:

I remember Marilynn spoke briefly about this at the ACFW 2006 conference in Dallas. It was an interesting discussion. I think it would be hard for me to write an entire novel where the main characters are Asian. I’m not sure if I could portray him/her authentically. However, I’m pretty sure I could pen a novel with Caucasian characters fairly easily. If anybody has read any of the books in the Shades Of Style series, I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about them. I enjoyed the first one, and I’ll probably be reading the others sometime in the future.

So, could you accurately portray characters of another race in a novel? Have you read the Shades of Style series? Leave a comment!

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~Cecelia Dowdy~

Me, Myself, And Him

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Me, Myself, And Him by E.N. Joy

Locksie, a hairdresser, is living in sin with her boyfriend Dawson. Dawson is a personal trainer at the gym, and he’s the first man with whom she’s ever had intercourse. Locksie has been feeling guilty about her relationship with Dawson and her saved Aunt Mary tells her that she needs to develop a relationship with Jesus – her guilt stems from the sin that she’s committing.

The novel dealt with a cast of realistic characters with realistic issues. You have Drake, Dawson’s brother, who’s a saved man who has a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. Dawson finds himself lusting after another man’s wife and he prays, wanting God to forgive him and lift his unhealthy desire.

There’s also Hannah, who is married to Elkan. Hannah is a light-skinned Black woman, she’s so light that people think she’s a White woman. Hannah has issues in her marriage because Elkan cheated on her, and had a baby by his one-time mistress. This distresses Hannah since she’s unable to conceive.

This story reminded me of a soap opera, a soap opera with a Christian message. This novel was full of drama and snappy, realistic dialogue, and it showed realistic characters struggling with realistic issues that affect their faith journeys. It was a highly engaging read and I look forward to reading more novels by this author.

~Cecelia Dowdy~