Okay - so I haven't updated this in a million years which is a damn shame being that I've had a million successes on the literary front.

1. My book release party was a huge success - not only was it attended by authorextrodinaire's Tayari Jones and Candice Poarch but my introduction was given by my great mentor, Marita Golden.

Family flew in from Rhode Island - drove in from Virginia - My best friend Brooke-Sidney flew in from LA to be my emcee. My violinist rocked it (uh, do you rock on a violin) - my girl Lisel and her company A Cake Affair - handled everything on the food front. It was really great.

2. The day after my Book Release Party I started the Hurston/Wright Writer's Week. There I hobnobbed with the big dawgs in this field we called writing. I studied under - Wil Haygood (Washington post writer and Biographer). He's currently working with Denzel Washington to bring the Sammy Davis Jr story to the big screen. Venice Berry - author of So Good and All of Me, Poets Tyehimba Jess and Brian Gilmore,  and sci-fi guru (who's also written episodes of Bay Watch)Steven Barnes (Wow - and let me mention he is also married to one of my sheroes - Tananarive Due), Marita Golden, and the mentor I was assigned - fellow Buddhist and novelistarista Patricia Elam

I also got to meet and like Dakota Knight, Van Garrett (my new life-time homie), Randy Walker and about 60 other writers - all black and talented like me. It was definitly a powerful week - and I'm proud to be an alumni and to have shared my walk with greatness.

3. On July 17 - while I was at the Hurston/Wright Foundation - my contract came through for Holler at the Moon. 'member I was telling ya'll around march/april timeframe that I was in LA and met with an agent. Well she now represents me. Who is my agent - dant dant dant dant dannnnnt - Jenoyne Adams with Levine Greenberg Literary Agency.

The thing is - I've been watching Jenoyne's career ever since I read her husband Michael Datcher's book Raising Fences. She is the author of Resurrecting Mingus and Selah's Bed. She and her husband are both poets. It wasn't until I read Cherlyn Michael's book that I realized she was now agenting and I knew she was built for me. So she said yes and even her assistant, a surburban white girl, who Jenoyne thought wasn't going to "get" the story liked it and recommended she represent it.  She wrote:

"I found the manuscript engaging from the start. The narration is great, and each of the girls really has a different, but effective way, of telling her story..."

Yeahhhhhh. So this is my agent .

Oh, and she feels she can sell the manuscript even though its not finished. The original goal was to send it out this month - September. I also had the original goal to have it finished this month - September - But its not. which brings me to the original point of this entry - What the hell is wrong with me!!!!!

I said I was going to write write write all this weekend and get this thing done - but I am stuck stuck stuck - in the middle of the book and no trick I know is working. And instead of doing what I said I was going to do (write with no interruptions) - I have watched 3 episodes of Dave Chappelle - and now I am going through all my girls blogs the jg-spot.blogspot.com and brookesidney.blogspot.com. I don't know what my problem is - sometimes I think my only will lies in coming so close to achieving my goals and then.....failing