EXCERPT – Wait for Love: A Black Girl’s Story

Some women don’t leave until they get their ass kicked the right way. Not a bruise or a broken bone, but a good deep down ass whoopin’. Not enough blood for questions, but just enough to make their soul wonder why….

Wait for Love: A Black Girl’s Story – $12 http://www.wandadhudson.com/

Terrance started a fight with me that morning over my use of water. He said I should pay the water bill, along with the rent, because I was bigger than him and used more of it. It was early and I was cranky from not having much sleep the night before. He had his friends over for an all night party on a Tuesday. None of them had jobs, so no one had anywhere to be but where they were. I didn’t feel like hearing what he had to say, so I replied with a smart quick tongue, hoping to silence him.

“That’s the stupidest thing you’ve said to date. I guess you expect me to pay the cable, gas, light, and phone bill as well since your pathetic ass isn’t man enough to do it. Shut up, Terrance. It’s too early for your mouth.”

My response caught him off guard because his reply to me was that of silence. I started walking towards the bathroom to get dressed when I heard him running up behind me. My face was met with his head when I turned towards him. The fool head butted me. His exact target was my eye. I fell backwards on the floor and grabbed my face in pain. Gray stars and filthy vultures circled my face and moaned a song of gloom; it hurt so bad.

While I was on the floor crying and screaming how sick I thought Terrance was, he started kicking me in my back, sides, and face, while yelling in crazy man lingo.

“Don’t you ever talk back to me, you fat, sloppy bitch! Your stupid ass is going to pay every bill that comes into this house whether I have a job or not! Now get your sorry ass up and fix me some breakfast!”

He stopped kicking me and walked away muttering words under his breath that only a psychotic nut would understand. I managed to get up and went into the bathroom to look at my face. My left eye watched my right eye swell up, and my right eye noticed my left eye was red and puffy. My black eyes were on their way.

I took my nightgown off and looked at my stomach in the mirror. It was bruised and I imagined my back was, as well. There was no need to look because I’d felt this way before. I wanted to call into work, but I was already absent two days that week and couldn’t afford to miss anymore.My right eyeball was no longer visible, and I’d have to wear a pair of light colored shades all day as I’d done before. I was at the point of not even bothering to put on makeup to try and cover it up, knowing what I was hiding, as did everyone else. I’m not sure who was who, but I came out of the bathroom to see Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde standing in my living room in the form of Terrance’s body.

“Hey, baby. I have some interviews to go on today, so I’ll drop you off at work. I put your purse and jacket in the car, and I want to stop and grab you some breakfast, so hurry your sweet self up.”

He walked out the door and I stood in the middle of the room waiting for an answer. Someone needed to tell me Terrance was sick and I wasn’t the person that had his cure. Sure, I had the answer; I just didn’t feel like talking to myself.

Wanda D. Hudson

http://www.wandadhudson.com

Personally Yours – Author Gerald Rice

Personally Yours will give you a brief look inside your favorite authors world. We know they  write smokin’ books, but do they smoke with the Surgeon General and if they do, what? Are they left-handed or right handed? Take a personal look inside Author Gerald Rice’s  life. Enjoy Personally Yours!

1. Who is Gerald Rice? He’s a dead body rotting in the corpse of a rusted out Grand Am in the backyard of an abandoned house in Highland Park.  Hey look- I just found him that way, I didn’t do it.  But me?  I’m a guy who did a lot of different things before finally coming back to my passion.  I’m a father and a husband too.  I’m a lifelong Detroiter where ever I go.  I’m a grateful child of a broken home.

2. What are you passionate about? Books.  Reading was my first passion, writing is my second.  No, horror movies were my first passion.  Then reading, then writing.  I started watching horror movies when I was about 4.  My mother introduced me to them.  She was a huge Stephen King fan and she was really the reason I started reading for pleasure.  I was in the Horizons Upward Bound program when I decided to start writing as a hobby.  I had a creative writing class where we all had to write a story and read it aloud to the class.  There was something so addictive about having a captive audience listening to something I created.  I wasn’t really that good at first, I think I can be bold enough to say I was pretty bad.  But I never stopped wanting it.  I committed myself to learning from the books I read.  People like Stephen King (obviously), F. Paul Wilson, Al Sarantonio, Ethan Black, most recently David Wong and a host of others.

3. Why should the world take notice of you? I’m different.  Not that I’m the only unique voice, but I think all unique voices should be heard.  You won’t pick up another book on the shelves like mine.  I’ve always been the ‘what’s next’ or ‘what’s new’ guy.  If I’m writing about monsters I want it to be THAT monster you think of when you lie awake at night.  I want to push any genre I write in, to create someone else’s favorite or most hated character.  I’m not a black writer; I’m a writer who just so happens to be black.  Just like I’m a writer who just so happens to have feet.  It’s a part of me, a major part even, but not my sum total.

4. Old school music or todays Hip Hop and R&B? I’m going to say both and neither.  My tastes are weird.  There’s a lot of old stuff I just never dug and a lot of old stuff I only liked because my parents liked it and a lot of stuff I just got burned out on.  And whenever I had control of the radio in the car I was always flipping past stuff other people probably liked.  My mama used to have nights where she would let me or my brother pick the music.  We could go through her extensive record collection and play a dozen or so songs.  I picked stuff like ‘Electric Avenue’ (back when nobody was listening to Eddie Grant except like 5 people and we were 3 of them), Billy Ocean and Rod Stewart (don’t pretend like ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy’ wasn’t the jam).  Stevie Wonder is my all-time favorite artist but I can’t STAND ‘Ribbon in the Sky’ anymore; give me ‘Do I Do’ or ‘Creepin” (I also can only listen to like 2 Luther Vandross songs and his version isn’t one of them).

But the new guys, I don’t know, I don’t keep up with music like I used to so it’s tough to name who I like.  Jaheim, I think his name is, every time I hear him I have to turn him off.  I liked ‘Ain’t Leavin’ Without You’ back when George Benson called it ‘Gimme the Night’.  But I’m a huge fan of Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Corinne Bailey Rae.  Some Alicia Keys is okay and Rihanna is like junk food.  I know it’s not really that good, but I can’t help myself.
 

5.What are your life rules?

 Don’t expect to get something you don’t give

Expect me to pick at you if you let me know something bugs you (it’s a Rice trait–we’re jerks like that)

Be careful who you step on today, they might be standing over you tomorrow

Don’t touch my food

Stay out of other people’s bedrooms

Seeing your mother naked after 12 will give you eyeball cancer

6. If God sent you a text message what would it say?
What did you put in the turkey burgers?  Those were awesome.

7. 5 Favs –

 

a. color – Green

b. food – steak (medium well)

c. movie – The Thing

d. song – ‘What You Won’t Do for Love’

e. drink – Cranberry juice

 

8. Do you forgive regardless of what someone has done to you? I like that JFK quote: Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

 

9. If you could change your past would you? Sometimes I think I would, but it then again everything I’ve done up until now has lead me here.  My life isn’t the greatest, but I can’t imagine life without the people I have in it or the things I’ve accomplished.

 

10. Random thought – If there’s something you really want to do with your life then you won’t let any obstacle stand in the way of you doing it.

 

11. Where can we find you on the net?

 www.feelmyghost.webs.com or my Facebook page, which I have no idea how to find.

 

12. Fill in the blank with one word – To know Gerald Rice is to be touched by the squishy brain of Gerald Rice.

The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women

The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women
Written by Elaine Meryl Brown, Marsha Haygood and Rhonda Joy McLean

Little Black Book is a #1 Bestseller on Amazon in the “Management and Leadership” category!

In this engaging and invaluable “mentor in your pocket,” three dynamic and successful black female executives share their strategies to help all black women, at any level of their careers, play the power game—and win.

Rich with wisdom, this practical gem focuses on the building blocks of true leadership—self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration, and courage—while dealing specifically with stereotypes (avoid the Mammy Trap, and don’t become the Angry Black Woman) and the perils of self-victimization (don’t assume that every challenge occurs because you are black or female).

Some leaders are born, but most leaders are made—and The Little Black Book of Success will show you how to make it to the top, one step at a time.

Praise for The Little Black Book of Success“Good counsel comes to us in myriad ways. The Little Black Book of Success clearly qualifies as one. It’s chock full of sound and thoughtful advice on how to build a successful business career. I commend it not just to black women, but to anyone seeking wisdom on leadership and success.”—Richard Parsons, Chairman, Citigroup

“The Little Black Book of Success is, without a doubt, one of the most comprehensive and relevant books that women can read to achieve the job success they desire. It answers the tough questions, offers experience-based insights, and outlines strategies that are sure to make you a front-runner in the race to workplace excellence.”—Elaine McCollins Flake, Co-Pastor, Greater Allen Cathedral

Excerpt from Chapter Three- The Little Black Book of Success

Racism Is No Excuse, but It Can Be a MotivatorAs a Black women in America, you will be confronted by or exposed to racism, but instead of getting angry, letting it defeat you, get the best of you, keep you down, prevent you from growing, exploring, realizing your full potential, and manifesting your dreams, use racism as a motivator to accomplish your goals.

Allow the racism that exists to move you in a forward direction and make you all the more determined to achieve your goals so that no outside forces throw you off balance and make you lose focus on what it is you set out to achieve. In this case, your objective is to acquire the skill sets necessary to become a good leader, a better leader in the workplace.

A recent Harvard University study reveals that while most fair-minded managers judge you according to your merits, there are some who judge you according to unconscious stereotypes and attitudes. It’s the kind of prejudice that is not overt. It’s prejudice that’s subconscious and made through associations that are learned early on. Things commonly associated with each other like thunder and lightning, or gray hair and old age, don’t always coexist.

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Excerpted from The Little Black Book of Success by Elaine Meryl Brown, Marsha Haygood, and Rhonda Joy McLean Copyright © 2010 by Elaine Meryl Brown. Excerpted by permission of One World/Ballantine, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
ELAINE MERYL BROWN, former VP, Special Markets and Cinemax Group at HBO, is an Emmy® Award-winning writer and producer who has won numerous awards in the broadcast industry. In 2007, Brown was chosen as one of The Network Journal’s “25 Influential Black Women in Business.” A favorite of Black Enterprise, she was featured in the magazine and at their Women of Power Summit. A Wheaton College Alumni Trustee and member of the Coalition of 100 Black Women (Bergen/Passaic Chapter), Brown is also the author of two novels published by One World. She lives in New Jersey.

MARSHA HAYGOOD is a powerful motivational speaker and a dynamic career and personal coach. She is the founder of StepWise Associates, LLC, a career and personal development consultancy that represents the culmination of her 25+ years experience in human resources. She was the EVP of Human Resources and Administration at New Line Cinema and at Orion Pictures, among other companies. Haygood has won numerous awards including the YMCA Black Achievement Award and the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources Trailblazer Award. In 2005, Haygood was chosen as one of The Network Journal’s “25 Influential Black Women in Business.” She and her husband live in New York and Florida.

RHONDA JOY MCLEAN is Deputy General Counsel of Time Inc. and former Assistant Regional Director of the Northeast Region of the Federal Trade Commission. A graduate of Yale Law School, she served as chair of its alumni association, which has more than 10,000 members, and was recently elected to its fund board of directors. In 2007, McLean was chosen as one of The Network Journal’s “25 Influential Black Women in Business.” Born in Chicago, IL and reared in Smithfield, NC, McLean is a classically trained pianist and mezzo-soprano. She performs sacred music with chorales throughout the New York metropolitan area, where she resides.

Book: The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women

by Elaine Meryl Brown, Marsha Haygood, and Rhonda Joy McLean
Foreword by Essence® Magazine editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murray

Visit the Author’s Website: http://www.littleblackbookofsuccess.com