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5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, interview

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… LaShawnda Jones, author of My God and Me

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JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
LaShawnda Jones, author of My God and Me: Listening, Learning and Growing on My Journey
(Jazzy Media, LLC)

My God and Me: Listening, Learning and Growing on My Journey is a collection of snap-shot narratives of my life, concentrating mostly on the years I underwent a spiritual transformation.

A few years ago, I moved to New York City from Milwaukee, WI. Alone. No family, no friends and no job. I learned without a doubt how to trust in the Lord. I did odd jobs around New York City for six months. There’s no rational-intellectual explanation of how I was able to feed and shelter myself. But I had a place to lay my head every night and not one day passed that I wasn’t well fed.

The Lord provides! My God and Me is full of illustrative stories of how He holds me, guides me, teaches me, provides for me and loves me. It not a story of lack, it’s a story of how I’m being prepared to reap a spiritual abundance!

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write My God and Me?

LaShawnda Jones: My God and Me is derived from blogs. When I started blogging in 2006, my only intent was to be entertaining. My goal was to promote my VoLux Full-Figure Calendar. My early posts were about plus size fashion, body image and self-esteem. Somewhere in that mix, my exploration of my self-esteem exposed a struggle with my self-confidence. Did my strength come from my physical connection or my spiritual connection? The deeper I dug for the root of my insecurities, the more I desired a deeper connection to my Source. I describe this struggle in detail in Self-Image is Everything, a piece in my book. Continue reading 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… LaShawnda Jones, author of My God and Me →

5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, interview

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Krystol, author of Through Her Eyes

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JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Krystol, author of Through Her Eyes

From the moment Melanie Woodard entered the world, her life s been rough. Her early life was filled with turmoil. She was ridiculed for her dark complexion, dealt with constant drama from her family and experienced the death of a loved one at the tender age of ten that left her traumatized. Her young adult life was filled with one-sided relationships, leaving her exposed to abuse, heartache and disappointment.

Needless to say, Melanie’s guard was up toward the world and especially men and relationships. What happens when Melanie think she’s found the one man she can have settle down and kids with? Will her heart be broken again or will true love prevail? Come cry, laugh and cheer on Melanie as she shows you her life Through Her Eyes.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Through Her Eyes?

Krystol: Well, I have always enjoyed writing since I was a child. The idea to write Through Her Eyes came from some life experiences that I endured along the way from childhood to my adulthood.

What inspired me to write Through Her Eyes was my late grandmother Gloria. She always told me, “If you had something to say don’t talk about it, write about it”.

JP: Although people hate to admit it openly, people with dark skins have a harder time, in general, than their lighter-skinned counter parts. What light does Through Her Eyes shed on this issue?

Krystol: That people will accept you for your dark skin. It may not seem like it at first, but people will see you for who you are not the color you are. Through Her Eyes brings light to all of the people who were not accepted or discriminated against because they had a darker color than other people.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to Through Her Eyes getting out to the public?

Krystol: Well, I can say that the first key is God. Without him, I would not have been able to write Through Her Eyes let alone have an interview with you, Joey. Another key is to just get myself out there as much as possible. Everyday I am learning something new about this great experience with my first novel.

Through Her Eyes will speak for itself. I stand behind Through Her Eyes 100 percent. Everyone can relate to Through Her Eyes, from the average teenager to the elderly. Through Her Eyes is happy, sad, uplifting and fulfilling.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Through Her Eyes?

Kystol: As far as my writing process, I have none. I got an idea in my head, and I just decided to do it. I trusted my instincts and thought, “If I am going to write a book, I have to do it, not just speak on it.”

You may not believe me when I say this, but it took me two weeks to start and finish Through Her Eyes! I had my mindset that I am going to accomplish a goal that I wanted to do for a very long time.

JP: What’s next for Krystol?

Krystol: This is it for Through Her Eyes, but I am going to continue to write. I am currently working on my second novel. Through Her Eyes has taught me a lot about myself, and I have learned that obstacles can be overcome because I overcame mine.

http://www.throughhereyes.vpweb.com
http://www.myspace.com/krystold06
krissy03@comcast.net

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african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, book reviews, love, poems, poet, poetry

Book Review: The Confessional Heart of a Man by The Greatest Poet Alive

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JoeyPinkney.com Book Review
The Confessional Heart of a Man
by The Greatest Poet Alive
(iUniverse)
3 out of 5 Stars

The Confessional Heart of a Man is the debut poetry collection from The Greatest Poet Alive (GPA). Leading this collection of lyrical introspection is an intensely lusty poem cryptically entitled “A Thousand Times”. The mixture of word forms an enchanting imagery of an infinite desire. With the second poem, “Even In Death”, I was reeled into the power of GPA as a wordsmith. I could visualize his view on love with a bone-chilling clarity. Instead of keeping that momentum rolling with something like “Love Letter” or “Death of a Love”, GPA caught me totally off guard with a crack high in black-and-white entitled “Anticipation of My Love”.

There are many subjects covered in The Confessional Heart of a Man. GPA touches on “baby momma drama”, serving time in the penitentiary, the “n-word” and many others. But GPA is at his best when he expands the possibilities of love and lust with his vivid imagination and control over a vast vocabulary. Even poems like “Stolen Moments” and “Metaphor” are intriguing in their approach to the otherwise mundane or socially wrong. In “Stolen Moments”, the way GPA phrases the adulterous sentiments of a man speaking to his mistress is a lyrically beautiful as any marital bliss. “Metaphor” meanders through metaphors to express uninhibited lust taken out of a female suitor.

Throughout The Confessional Heart of a Man, GPA proves that he is much more than an erotic hustler of prose. The book has four main themes: love/lust, relationship problems, incarceration and black power. He covers each easily. Poems like “Dedication” and “My Thoughts as a Woman” stood out in the crowd because they showed the depth of GPA’s intellectual muscle. His openly discusses the difficulties of relationships gone awry. His love/hate relationship with the “n-word” is just as expressive as his thoughts on black nationalism. He even sheds an unapologetic light on Black genocide at the hands of the police.

It is easy to tell that GPA is a spoken-word poet. The words are there, but I knew that there is a unique way that the poems are supposed to flow. It was like reading a rapper’s lyrics without hearing the song. I’ve had the opportunity of hearing him perform, so I knew reading and witnessing were two different things.

The Confessional Heart of a Man was hard to read because the word order he chose is easier to hear and understand during a performance, but that same word order is hard to read. All in all it is a good book of poetry by an established and intelligent poet that any poetry lover will find something to love.

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