Monice Mitchell Simms's Blog, page 13

neeew yorrrrk!!!

me and robin roberts

"whose book is that?"

just as curious to know the answer as the comical good morning america audience coordinator was, the small, but excited crowd all turned around to look at me.

our studio broadcast hadn't started yet and i was at the very back of the group, standing on my tippy-toes, holding my book in the air. waving address: house of corrections like a three-year-old and cheesing from ear to ear, i touched my chest proudly.

"mine!"

"well, come on up here and tell us all about it."

too excited to be afraid, i skedaddled through the crowd, which parted like the red sea, and hopped up to the front. like a third-grader doing a show-and-tell presentation, i flowed right into my 30-second elevator pitch. the faces of the crowd – a rainbow of races, ages and backgrounds – i must admit were a blur to me. my adrenalin was pumping and i was just sooo in the moment, all i remember are their smiles and their applause when i was finished.

handing out novel pluggers to anyone who wanted one, i gratefully made my way back over to the audience coordinator to give her one. a milk chocolate young woman with curly black hair and a witty sense of humor, she looked at my plugger, grinned.

"look at you. you really doing the thing. maybe when sam comes out to do the weather, he'll put you on camera."

"really?!"

"well, now, i don't have any control over who goes on camera. if i did, i'd be on camera, o.k.? but you never know…"

bubbling over, i shared the news with my best friend, karama and our new friends mary and jerry, two breast cancer survivors from san  antonio, texas. karama immediately pulled a tube of lipstick out of her purse.

"oh, no, sweetie, if you're gonna be on t.v. and meet robin, you need some makeup."

"i do?"

mary, a bubbly bi-racial japanese/caucasian woman and former make-up artist (among so many other things), watched karama apply lip liner and lipstick on me. she agreed.

"absolutely! yes, that's nice…and remember whichever one of us meets robin first introduces the other."

jerry, karama and i all nodded. waiting in line for over two hours for the show to start, we had all bonded. (so much so, that after the gma taping, we all went to laugh and eat breakfast at a diner around the corner for two hours. lol!)

but back to the story…

no matter where i stood, i was never in the right place to get on camera or even next to sam. for those who don't watch the show, sam, the weather man, does his report while he's in the crowd, and the cameras – on jib arms above – follow him. so…needless to say, aside from my momma and dem who could pick me out of a crowded line-up, america probably missed me waving my book off to the side in the background.

turned out, though, that the location where i was standing was right where i needed to be. not only was it the perfect spot to see cee-lo of gnarls barkley fame perform his new single "forget you," but it was also the exact spot where robin, after wrapping up the show, stepped off the stage.

jerry and mary, who wanted to inform her of their work with their organization, the alamo breast cancer foundation, got to her first. but just as they promised, before she could be pulled away by another adoring fan, mary presented me to robin just as a proud mother would her child.

"…and robin, this is my good friend, monice. she's published her first novel, address: house of corrections."

robin looked right at me.

"oh, really?"

flustered a little by her undivided attention, this is where the story gets shaky. i said something. i don't really remember what. but i brought all home by giving her an autographed copy of my novel and asking to take a photo with her. she graciously accepted my gift and karama snapped the above photo.

the whole encounter lasted all of two minutes. if that. and i gotta admit, what happened didn't really sink in until we were on the 'a' train back to brooklyn.

but now looking back on it — this took place tuesday, nov. 16th –  i recognize my good morning america experience for the miracle that it is.

when i was planning my book tour stop to new york two months ago, i sent an e-mail request to gma on a whim, got a confirmation back just days before i was set to leave on tour and kept putting it out there that i was going to meet robin and give her my book.

see how God works?

oprah's next!

note: the day before on monday, i had a booksigining and reading at hue-man bookstore in harlem. i am sooo grateful to the owner, marva allen, for opening up the doors of such a literary institution to me and i thank the loyal few who came out to support — karama, kaisha, nicole, marjori and anthony!

(and just for fun — if you wanna hear the original version of cee-lo's song, f**k you, here ya go — http://www.ceelogreen.com/videos,fk-you_15.htm. warning: if you're at work, don't play on your computer speakers for everyone to hear. put on earphones. lol!)

buy your copy today! Address:House of Corrections- a novel inspired

 

me and gma audience coordinator

me giving robin my elevator pitch

robin took my book! i hope she reads & enjoys it!

l to r: mary, karama, me and jerry

b-moooore!!! – i didn't know her from a

b-moooore!!! – i didn't know her from adam. and i say her, because for the second time on the drive over from d.c., http://ow.ly/1a0HKE

b-moooore!!!

me and cyreeta in her boutique, baltimore bliss

i didn't know her from adam.

and i say her, because for the second time on the drive over from d.c., when sistah asked me how the owner of bliss baltimore came to hosting my book reading and signing that friday evening, i couldn't remember her name or who introduced us.

all i knew was that although we had never spoken over the phone, we had been chatting back and forth for weeks on facebook. and out of all of my book tour stop locations, by far, she was the only one promoting me the most online.

that, though, wasn't good enough for my pragmatic lawyer sistah. but there was nothing she could do about it, because we were already parked in the back of the building and walking up to bliss baltimore carrying a box of books.

through the picture window, she saw us just as we saw her. stylishly dressed in jean leggings, a short-sleeved white fitted blouse, pearls and high-heeled tan boots, she swooped over the door and excitedly swung it open.

"monice. cyreeta."

"cyreeta!"

like old friends, we embraced each other, happily. big hearted, she even hugged sistah — who we later discovered were sorority sisters, but i digress… immediately, i asked what me and sistah both wanted to know.

"cyreeta, my sistah was asking me… and for the life of me i couldn't answer…how do we know each other again?"

cyreeta grinned, the memory of her momma just asking her the same thing over the phone ringing in her ears.

"i have a friend syreeta — she spells it 'sy' — she knew a friend of yours…"

"tracy?"

"yes. tracy reached out to me, told me what you wanted to do and i…"

sistah, outdone, jumped in.

"…you agreed to let a strange woman you didn't know from l.a. hold a book reading and signing in your boutique."

cyreeta smiled broadly.

"yes. "

sistah, laughing, shook her head.

"that damn facebook!"

note: i just had to lead my baltimore post with this strangers-and-sister-entrepreneurs-becoming-friends-event, because (1) it was extraordinary and (2) cyreeta and her mom's down-home, giving spirits set the stage for every woman who entered her doors for my signing/reading.

before the night was over, we were sipping wine, calling each other by our zodiac signs and laughing waaay too much. more than a reading and discussion of my book, it was sistership — like we were sitting in a girlfriends' livingroom kicking it.

big shout out to 1023, phenomenal journalist and my sister oct. 23rd baby, jacqueline brooks, and the other ladies of the sister circle –bella mamacita, ladybug branch, mary francine curbeam, toya jewels adams, marsha cowen, lauren nicole and danita sanderlin.

me and 1023

me and pisces

me and the sister circle

deee.ceeee! – like a football team playi

deee.ceeee! – like a football team playing their first game after a bye, sistah and i were a little rusty. we had http://ow.ly/19ZuiG

deee.ceeee!

l to r: sistah, joan, me and auntie jennie

like a football team playing their first game after a bye, sistah and i were a little rusty.

we had had a about a week off of the road at home in detroit before we traveled to d.c. for my reading that thursday, nov. 11th – veteran's day, we later remembered – and had forgotten to make our cvs snack run for the hour or so drive in from baltimore to d.c. at least, though, we had booked a hotel room at washington suites georgetown before we got to d.c. (in atlanta, we had had to wing it once we landed.)

once we checked in, our first stop was to visit mie n yu on m street for a walk-through. closed after lunch, they weren't open yet for dinner, so we peered through the window, impressed by the restaurant's decor through the glass.

after we grabbed a quick bite, sistah -  the brilliant roadie that she is – instructed me to go back to the hotel to get ready and she would drive over to silverspring, maryland to scoop up tracy truitt, my friend and editor, who had arranged the location and had the books we were going to sell that evening.

around 6:15pm, i headed over to the restaurant, walking what felt like ten long blocks in my high-heeled boots to mie n yu. there, i was greeted by victoria, the general manager of the restaurant, and introduced to kofi, our bartender and server for the evening. she told me kofi would take good care of me and that she had extended the happy hour menu and 50% discount prices for my guests for however long my signing and reading lasted.

excited, i sipped on a complimentary drink that kofi offered me and waited for my audience of fans to stamped the restaurant for my signing.

ninety minutes later, me, my sistah, tracy and kofi were enjoying each others company, just as my auntie jennie and joan arrived downstairs. suddenly, i remembered, auntie jennie, a stroke survivor, was in a wheelchair and we were on the top floor. she wouldn't be able to make it up the stairs.

but just when i was about to run downstairs to give her a hug and thank her from coming anyway, she, braced by the strong arm of the restaurant's security guard, stood and began slowly climbing the stairs.

ten minutes later, hugging her on the top floor with me, i was so full that it no longer mattered how many people were or weren't there. the fact that she cared that much for and believed that much in me meant more to me than a  standing room only of fans.

i was blessed.

note: auntie jennie and cousin joan started a trend with their arrival. soon after, two of tracy's neighbors, who had been circling the restaurant looking for parking, joined the party, and we were surprised when nicole lamb-hale, current assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing and services, and her husband, john, who was celebrating his birthday, walked through the doors. it turned out to be an invigorating, intimate gathering.

me and tracy

me and nicole

me and sistah

"Call her a b**ch again." Johnson, –

"Call her a b**ch again." Johnson, – "Call her a b**ch again." Johnson, "Call her a b**ch again." Johnson, "Address… http://ow.ly/19WPyU

"Call her a b**ch again." Johnson, –

"Call her a b**ch again." Johnson, – "Call her a b**ch again." Johnson, "Address: House of Corrections. http://ow…. http://ow.ly/19VHsN

"Call her a b**ch again." – Johnson,

"Call her a b**ch again." – Johnson, "Address: House of Corrections. http://ow.ly/37Xy2

"What the police want wit' you?" – Ms

"What the police want wit' you?" – Ms. Ruthie, "Address: House of Corrections." http://ow.ly/37XEh

deeeeetroit!

fam, let me just start by saying…

i don't have time to write this blog post.

i leave detroit tomorrow morning on an early flight, yet i'm not packed, because i've been posting all day on facebook and twitter trying to drum up some rsvps for my upcoming east coast signings — (1)  tomorrow, nov. 11th in d.c. from 6:30-8:30pm at mie n yu restaurant, 3125 M. Street; (2) friday, nov. 12th in baltimore from 7 to 9 pm at bliss boutique, 4419 kenwood avenue; (3) and monday, nov. 15th in new york from 6 to 7pm at hue-man bookstore, 2319 frederick douglass blvd.

thank God my mom washed my clothes…

i've just been so busy. but it's a good busy. like a prized boxer coming to fight at home, it was super important to me that i represent well for my hometown. so, i've been grinding to make my time here matter.

and matter it has.

first off, my old and new friends in the media showed out! thank you brenda perryman (talk to me with brenda perryman), rochelle riley (detroit free press columnist) and wdet's craig fahle (the craig fahle show) for interviewing and writing about me.

and thank you to bishop abi of the shrine of the black madonna. as a child, my father used to bring to the shrine ever saturday to learn about where i came from. my heart was full to return there as an adult and author.

to everyone who came out for my reading and signing on saturday, nov. 7th at the shrine, i'm so grateful. it was hot up there, but you all hung in there, asked great questions and stayed for me to personally sign your novels.

and finally, i have to give corinthian missionary baptist church in hamtramck a shout out. my church home since before i was born, my pastor, reverend jordan, offered to open the doors of the church to me for a book signing following 8 am and 11am service on sunday, nov. 21st when i return from new york.

as a child when i wrote poetry more than i would speak, reverend would publish my poems in the back of the church bulletin. he was my first publisher. and now, i'm all grown up on my first national book tour for my debut novel, address: house of corrections. amazing!

below are a few pictures of my book tour stop back home. stay tuned for more. i'll be back in the d on wednesday, nov. 17th and got a few more announcements under my sleeve! thanx for your support!

buy your copy today! Address:House of Corrections- a novel inspired

Me and Brenda on the set of her show.

Me and Bishop Abi of The Shrine of the Black Madonna.

Come get your church on and buy a book!