Chicki Brown's Blog, page 30

From the mouth of the best friend...

Hi, my name is Stefanie Rivera. I’ve been best friends with Gianna Marvray for years, and right now I’m staying in her apartment while she’s in Las Vegas for the summer.

Personally, I can’t believe she actually went out there to be with a man she’s only known for a week, but who am I to judge? Marc Stafford owns a personal training business in Sin City, and they say this arrangement isn’t romantic. Supposedly Gianne only went there to train with him and try to get her health and strength back now that the doctor says she's in remission.
I believe there’s more to it, but we’ll just have to wait and see…
A Woman's Worth on Kindle- http://amzn.to/12PktK4Nook- http://bit.ly/1dTlshd Smashwords - http://bit.ly/17nVKOH

Dr. Stafford speaks...

Hello. I’m Dr. Victor Stafford Sr.  I need to respond to what my wife said about the boys coming home to Vic Jr.’s celebration. She seems to be concerned about Marcus and Gianne, but not for the same reasons I am.
I know Gianne quite well, since she’s been my patient for the past two years. She is a lovely girl, but I don’t think she belongs with Marcus, a man who threw away a promising medical career to show off his muscles and sell sticks and twigs to tree huggers.
Hopefully, this attraction will be like my son’s other endeavors and won’t last long. Gianne needs someone responsible who will take care of her. But what do I know? I’m just her doctor not her therapist.
A Woman's Worth on Kindle- http://amzn.to/12PktK4Nook- http://bit.ly/1dTlshd Smashwords - http://bit.ly/17nVKOH

Thoughts from Lillian Stafford...

Hi there! My name is Lillian Stafford, and I am so excited. All of my sons came home to Atlanta this week to celebrate my oldest son’s promotion to Chief of Staff at the medical center where he’s been Chief of Surgery for the past few years.

Being the mother of six boys has always been a challenge, but I’m proud to say they have all turned out to be wonderful men. I wouldn’t let them hear me say this, but I was most eager to see Marcus, one of my twins. He hasn’t been home in four years, and this time he brought a woman to the house with him that he met at the installation dinner tonight. Gianne is a pretty little thing, but I am concerned because she happens to be one of my husband’s patients. Victor is an oncologist, so that means she’s a cancer patient.

Marcus seems to be so taken with her, and it’s not like him at all, especially with a woman he just met. I pray that he knows what he’s doing.

A WOMAN’S WORTH -

Kindle- http://amzn.to/12PktK4 Nook- http://bit.ly/1dTlshdSmashwords - http://bit.ly/17nVKOH

Character thoughts from A Woman's Worth...

Hello, I’m Lance Dandridge. I am a personal trainer, and I work with my buddy, Marc Stafford at his fitness studio in Las Vegas. Right now I’m handling our clients while he went to Atlanta. It’s been crazy, but I don’t mind because my boy hasn’t been home to see his family in four years. He called to say he’ll be back tomorrow and said something that really bothered me.
Before he hung up, he said he met a woman who’s coming to Vegas to train with him. Who does that? Don’t they have trainers in Atlanta? He’s up to something.

A WOMAN’S WORTH! Kindle- http://amzn.to/12PktK4Nook- http://bit.ly/1dTlshd Smashwords - http://bit.ly/17nVKOH

Guest blogging

Today I'm sharing on Fabulosity Reads about what an author should do when preparing for a book release. Check it out!

http://fabulosityreads.blogspot.com/2013/11/chicki-brown-talks-about-what-author.html#.UnOIs3Csg68

New video trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC6fxU...

New Interview!

Today Indie Authorland is interviewing me! David Njoku asked me some great questions. Check it out here: http://www.indieauthorland.com/archives/6019

Fun Friday!

  EIGHT THOUGHTS TO PONDER:
Number 8
Life is sexually transmitted.

Number 7
Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Number 6
Men have two emotions : Hungry and  Horny . They can't tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him a sandwich.

Number 5
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.

Number 4
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in
the hospitals, dying of nothing.

Number 3
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Number 2
In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

And The Number 1 Thought  
Life is like a jar of  peppers--what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.

- - - and as someone recently said to me: "Don't worry about old age--it doesn't last that long."
*****
ARAPROSDOKIANS are figures of speech in which the latter part of a
sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.
1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on my list.
3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.
6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
8. They begin the evening news with 'Good Evening,' then proceed to tell you why it isn't.
9. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
10. Buses stop in bus stations. Trains stop in train stations. On my desk is a work station .
11. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted paychecks.
12. In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR."
13. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
14. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
15. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.
16. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.
17. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
18. Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
19. There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
20. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.
21. You're never too old to learn something stupid.
22. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
23. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
24. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
25. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
26. Where there's a will, there are relatives.
27. I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and
harder for me to find one now

Writer Wednesday - #amwriting

I wanted to post something about writing today, so I decided to share with you where I am on Till You Come Back to Me , the sequel to A Woman's Worth .

Getting this story off the ground is taking a little more research than I expected. This is Charles Stafford's book. He is a plastic surgeon who, in the opening chapter, announces to his family that he is selling is medical practice and going to Nigeria for part of the year to work with Doctors Without Borders.

Since I needed to introduce the heroine early on, I had to start researching Nigeria. I was all set to begin the storyline I had set in my mind for her when I received a tweet from a reader who said, "I just finished reading A Woman's Worth, and I was so pleased to see that your next book will be set in Nigeria, my homeland."  I responded to her and after a few messages back and forth, I asked if she would give me her opinion on my idea of Adanna's story. What I've learned has been eye-opening.

First of all, I learned that relying on Internet articles, even those written on sites originating in a particular country, is risky. As Americans, we tend to lump people together merely because they come from the same land. Growing up in the northeast, I always heard people of Latino heritage referred to as Puerto Ricans when in reality they might have been from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico or any of the numerous Spanish-speaking nations. I found out that in Africa tribal roots are very important, especially when it comes to marriage.

She also explained to me that skin color doesn't really have a major influence in dating and relationships as it often does here in the US.



Naturally, I had to learn something about Nigerian food, television, music, and daily life in general. 

This is the part of writing I absolutely love. Learning about places, people and things always gets my motor running. I also spent a while on the Doctors Without Borders web site.



This fabulous organization mobilizes volunteer doctors, nurses and other support personnel to give of their time in foreign countries where their services are desperately needed. Since Charles specializes in maxillofacial surgery, he'll be concentrating on surgeries on patients with facial deformities, particularly children. That requires me to read up on the correction of cleft palates and other deformities that are common in Nigeria. I learned that these abnormalities are often the result of malnourished mothers during pregnancy  - a major problem in most African countries.



Charles will only be working overseas for half of the year. The other half he'll be living and working in Las Vegas with his twin, Marc, to get more clients for his personal training business. This required some investigation into how top personal trainers go about getting business. 

Today I'm starting Chapter Four in which Charles goes to New York to do his DWB orientation. He stays with his brother, Greg, a television personalty, and while he's there he notices some unsettling things. Can anybody say Book Three? LOL!

OMG! I love what I do...

Author Tia Kelly interviews Marc Stafford!

Author Tia Kelly talked to Marc Stafford today on her blog. She said,

" Why didn’t y’all warn me about Marc Stafford? Woowee! I’m going to let him tell you who he is while I sit here and fan myself… (I’m starting to like having all these sexy men sitting at my desk, staring at me while I finish this manuscript… the distractions are delicious!)"

Check out the interview here: http://tiawithapen.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/marcs-takeover/