Cheris Hodges's Blog, page 40

Hot M.A.M.A. Land: Yeah, so, you just made the next book . . .

Hot M.A.M.A. Land: Yeah, so, you just made the next book . . .: There's a reason why you should never make a romance writer mad. All of our books need a bad guy or girl. I've found inspiration in being...

Forces of Nature, the cover

A lot of times authors complain about the covers of their books. I have give a standing ovation to my publisher for this one.


Forces of Nature looks so good!!





Here's why I love this cover, that lady is Crystal Hughes. From the hair to the dress, that's my Crystal. And he is Douglas after being on the farm for a few days. OOH, I love it. This was me after I saw this book cover:





Crystal
Hughes is mad as hell…



No one is going to tear down the farmland that’s been in her
family since the turn of the century—certainly not multimillion dollar Welco
Industries. And until Welco's president meets with her, Crystal will wage a
fiery one woman protest to prove it! But when he finally appears, Douglas
Wellington III is far from the elderly curmudgeon she expected...



Tall, lean, and fabulous, Douglas is in for a surprise of his own.
Crystal's cafe au lait beauty takes his breath away. Still, if she had any
sense, she'd realize his project will save the impoverished community. With
battle lines drawn, Crystal issues Douglas a challenge: spend one week on the
land he wants to destroy. He agrees, if only to be alone with her. But when
nature takes over amid North Carolina’s lush countryside, these two warriors
just may discover what happens to even the best laid plans...

Video blog, random thoughts

Join me over at Hot M.A.M.A Land on Tuesday.

Oh, she's not black enough for us to care about?

Some people aren't going to like this. I may lose a few friends -- oh well.

The Olympics are finally over and I'm so happy. Do you know what I've learned from the 2012 games? It's hard to be a light skinned black woman.



Lolo Jones, this is for you.



We treated Lolo like crap.



And when I say we, I mean the media, Twitter, Facebook, bloggers and the like. We gave her shit because she's a 30-year-old virgin, because she admitted having a crush on Tim Tebow and because she talks publically about God.



Dude from the New York Times talked about her looks and how she's like the Anna Kournikova of track. Yo, Jere Longman, I dare you to challenge Lolo to a race.



Now, we showed Gabby Douglas much love after people started talking about her hair. That was the right thing to do, though. But Lolo?



We mocked her. Even her teammates got pissy about the attention that Lolo received --even though it was negative attention.



Colorism is an evil animal in the black community. We mostly look at how dark brown women are treated and portrayed, while making lighter skinned women feel guilty for the color of their skin. Unless you're bleaching yourself to become lighter, you can't help what color you are.

And if Lolo Jones had been a dark skinned black woman and Longman said those things about her, the black blogosphere would still be calling for his head. It's like the faux controversy about Eric Benet's Redbone Girl song. Where was the anger when he sang about Chocolate Legs?

When are we going to learn that when others look at us, they don't see light or dark, they see black. It's time to unite, past time.

The NFL and violence against women

I'm sure you've heard that the Miami Dolphins released Chad Johnson following his arrest on a charge of domestic violence against his new wife Evelyn Lozada.



Let me be clear, I'm not fan of the Basketball Wives bully, but if Johnson hit or headbutted her then he should've been released from the team. But why stop with Johnson?

The NFL is full of men who have hit a woman. Dez Bryant, wide receiver for my favorite team -- The Dallas Cowboys -- should've been released from the team after putting his hands on his mother.  Let me add--allegedly.
So, why is Johnson the only player being punished for violence against women?



NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has paid lip service to domestic violence in the league, but what has he done about it? If your answer is nothing, then you're right.

“We are going to do some things to combat this problem
because some of the numbers on DUIs and domestic violence are going up
and that disturbs me,” Goodell told Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com. “When
there’s a pattern of mistakes, something has got to change.”

Goodell said he has talked to the NFL Players Association about the
matter and is hoping to continue working with the players to reduce the
number of off-field incidents that cast the NFL in a negative light.

“We’ve had some really good discussions with the union,” Goodell
said. “Now we just have to see if we can carry through with them.”

Issues with players getting arrested typically disappear during
training camp, because players are so busy and exhausted during training
camp that they don’t have the time or the energy to find trouble off
the field. But that doesn’t mean the NFL isn’t facing a serious problem
with all of the arrests that happened this offseason — 32 of them, by our count. Goodell is right to be disturbed.

But is the league disturbed enough to do something? Will the league come up with a uniform policy that will punish any player who abuses a woman? Goodell took swift and -- in my opinion -- unfair action against the New Orleans Saints regarding bounties, but he's slow and silent on domestic violence.

But, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from March, the NFL says it's hard to gauge domestic violence.

James Harrison is one of a number of NFL players who have been
involved in domestic violence incidents in the past several years,
though it appears that few have received penalties from the league
because charges have been dismissed in many of the cases.

Harrison,
a Pro Bowl linebacker with the Steelers, was arrested and charged with
simple assault and criminal mischief Saturday after he allegedly
assaulted his girlfriend, Beth Tibbott, at her Ohio Township residence.
His preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for April 3.

An NFL
spokesman said yesterday the league does not provide the number of
domestic violence cases against players, partly because many of the
cases are "ultimately dismissed."

A most recent example occurred
yesterday when a woman who had a restraining order in a
domestic-violence case against New England Patriots receiver Randy Moss
had the charges dropped.

Last year, former Cleveland Browns
running back Reuben Droughns had domestic violence charges against him
dropped when prosecutors cited a lack of evidence.

The Steelers
saw a similar situation two years ago when receiver Santonio Holmes,
their No. 1 draft pick at the time, had charges of domestic violence and
assault against him dropped by a municipal court judge in Columbus,
Ohio.

Still, there have been cases where players have been punished by the league for incidents involving domestic violence.

The
most serious case occurred in 2004 when Tampa Bay Buccaneers running
back Michel Pittman was suspended for three games by the NFL after an
incident in which he was charged with ramming his Hummer into a car
driven by his wife and carrying his 2-year-old child and baby sitter.

Since
then, seven players have received one-game suspensions by the league
for domestic violence, according to various news reports.

According
to a police affidavit, Harrison broke down a bedroom door while his
girlfriend was trying to call 911, took her cell phone and broke it in
half. Tibbott also said Harrison, who is 5 feet 11, 245 pounds, hit her
with an open hand in the face, knocking off her glasses.

Harrison was working out at the Steelers South Side facility yesterday but was unavailable for comment.

Under
Pennsylvania law, simple assault is considered a Class 2 misdemeanor
punishable by up to two years in prison. Criminal mischief can be
considered a felony in the third degree with a maximum prison term of
seven years if the damage caused in the incident is in excess of $5,000.

According to a league spokesman, each of the NFL's 32 teams conducts a life-skills session each fall.

Last
year, commissioner Roger Goodell instituted a Conduct Management
Program for all incoming rookies, requiring them to attend eight
one-hour sessions that incorporate video, lectures and discussions
designed to teach players how to cope with life in the NFL. The sessions
are run by an outside instructor approved by the league and coordinated
with each team's player-development director.

Harrison was in his
first year as a starter with the Steelers after rising from obscurity
as a free agent from Kent State University who was cut three times in
his career, twice by the Steelers.

Now, here's what I don't understand, the league can determine that a team put bounties out on players but they can't tell that players are beating women?

23rd Annual National Poetry Slam: Hollywood poets speak

Chatting with Shani Dowdell. . .

Shani Dowdell poses with a reader at a signing for her novel Mocha Chocolate.

Shani Dowdell is one of the most driven writers you can ever meet. She's a novelist and a playwright.

And let's not forget she's a publisher. Whew! This is one busy sister. She took time out of her schedule to chat with me about her career.











     
How
did you get into writing? 




     I cannot say that I was a natural
born writer, because I don't remember doing much creative writing or
reading as I grew up. However, I have family and friends who remember seeing me
carrying around a journal as a young girl, as well as I do remember getting my
first diary at the age of 10 and chronicling things that I saw. I did
this until one day my seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Threadgill, took up my diary and
began to read it to the class and I got in trouble about the contents. From
the seven grade forward, I stopped writing all together, because I
didn't want to get in trouble for the things I wrote. It wasn't until I
was 27 and had a renewed love of reading from reading writers like Darrien Lee,
Zane, and Eric Jerome Dickey that I decided to begin writing down my thoughts
and one year later the novel, Keepin'
It Tight, was complete. Now, no matter how controversial or
forbidden a topic may be, you may find it in my writing

        
 

     What has been
the most rewarding part of your journey?

       

     I'd have to say
that meeting new people and learning about the human experience has been the
most rewarding. Secondly, learning that I am in control of my own
destiny by using my God-given talents is a rewarding notion in and of
itself. 

    

            Talk about your
plays and productions that you’ve produced? 

    

      I'm a
relatively new playwright. My first play is based on my second novel, Secrets of a Kept Woman .
It's about three women who have been best friends since high school. The women
show the world their best face, but underneath the surface are the secrets
that they struggle to keep.  Shayla has a cheating husband who is
never home, Rhonda is all too familiar with Shayla's situation with her own
skeletons in the closet, and Gladys picked the wrong man in college and he
is abusive.




     
I felt like telling Glady's story was important, because growing up I was a
witness to domestic violence in my household and today, around the world, at
least one woman in every three has been beaten, or otherwise abused in her
lifetime. While Secrets of a Kept Woman is unsettling at times, comedic 
at others, and very dramatically performed, I want to be able to reach women
and men who are dealing with abusive relationships on an intimate level and
remind them that they are not alone and there is hope.  







          
What’s your
latest project? 

      



      My very latest project is a short story
titled Lord, WhyDoes It Feel So Good?
released July 29, 2012. It's a romantic drama that I enjoyed
writing about Destiny Baker,  who is divorced at 43 with
a solidified Christian walk. She is focused on her career and raising
her children. Then, she falls in love with a man who literally takes her breath
away (think Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks No
Air). No matter how hard she tries, she cannot escape the tangled
web of Jacob Turner. When their perfect little affair is challenged she is
forced to reconsider everything that she values.

  

            
How can readers
reach you on social media and the Internet?  

      

      I'm on
Facebook (facebook.com/shanibooks), Twitter (twitter.com/shaniwrites), and my
website is www.nayberrypublications.com.
Email inquiries: info@nayberrypublications.com

That awkward moment. . .Video Blog

Things that just . . .

This firestorm about golden Gabby Douglas's hair just won't die down. Social media is lit up with comments about it. There are pictures of a beaming Gabby with words telling her haters that she's been to busy winning the gold to care about their crass comments.



I pulled up a Yahoo! News story, which I won't link to because I think it is VERY STUPID, and looked at these negative comments about Gabby's hair. The comments were pulled from Twitter, and there are three of them. The offending tweets are written by women who are 1. Very young--in age and mentally. 2. Post pictures like this:

3. And have an overly inflated ideal of themselves. I mean, one of these girls posted her eyebrows. Who really cares?



But again, it was three tweets. Three tweets that turned in to national news. Why can't Gabby just have her moment in the golden sun without the media looking for some water to throw on her?



Three Tweets. And don't get me started on Kevin Hart.

Houston. . .we have a title!

Remember me telling you that my next novel was coming in May?

Let me refresh your memory:






Crystal
Hughes is mad as hell…




No one is going to tear down the farmland that’s been in her
family since the turn of the century—certainly not multimillion dollar Welco
Industries. And until Welco's president meets with her, Crystal will wage a
fiery one woman protest to prove it! But when he finally appears, Douglas
Wellington III is far from the elderly curmudgeon she expected...




Tall, lean, and fabulous, Douglas is in for a surprise of his own.
Crystal's cafe au lait beauty takes his breath away. Still, if she had any
sense, she'd realize his project will save the impoverished community. With
battle lines drawn, Crystal issues Douglas a challenge: spend one week on the
land he wants to destroy. He agrees, if only to be alone with her. But when
nature takes over amid North Carolina’s lush countryside, these two warriors
just may discover what happens to even the best laid plans...




Well folks, this novel now has a title. Be on the look out for Forces of Nature, coming May, 2013.