Dolores Williams Penning the Sequel to her book on Catholic Racism

 

 

Among the most successful Heritage Press projects has been author Deloris Williams' two books, Institutional Racism and the Catholic Church & Saint Benedict the Moor.

http://heritagepresspublications.blogspot.com/p/past-projects.html

Dolores is currently writing the sequel to Institutional Racism and the Catholic Church and is actively seeking input as to what to include and which pressing questions posed from the first book to be addressed in the sequel.

Dolores grew up in a segregated Catholic Church, recognized the obvious problem, and after years as a Catholic educator, laid out the history of racism in the Catholic Church in her book--a scholarly, well received academic work. The problems in the Catholic Church only grow even as a new pope seems unable to mount any meaningful reform.

 

Dolores had been a member of a primarily Black Catholic Church, only to have the assigned priest be from Africa, and not really able to fully relate to the American Black Catholic experience. Recently, though, Dolores has joined St. Benedict the African, a Catholic church in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, with a diverse membership of Blacks, Whites, South/Central American Blacks, and Nigerians. The church's priest, Father David Jones, African American, has been vocal in his criticism of the racism that permeates the Catholic Church.

 

Dolores and Father Jones were interviewed by Evelyn Holmes, Channel 2 reporter. Father Jones tread lightly on the Church's racist past while Dolores was more blunt in her criticism. Father Jones' statements were completely televised while only Dolores' one positive remark was.

Despite the ongoing issues, Dolores was pleased to be back in a pew joining a congregation in worship. She notes that unlike so many other Catholic Churches of color, this diverse church seems to be thriving with every hope of continuing to shine a light on hopefully the future of a more diverse Catholic Church globally.

 

 

 

Meet the Author of...Hazel Moon & Hawthorn Moon

 

During a rare meeting in person, one of Heritage Press's favorite authors, Lisa Anne, stopped by to talk shop and work on her manuscript for Hawthorn Moon; the much anticipated sequel to her debut acclaimed novel, Hazel Moon. The pic above shows her first novel and the first half of Hawthorn Moon, 30,000 words of storytelling gold...a worthy sequel to Hazel Moon! For you serious writers out there, we also talked about ways of finding a wider audience for Hazel Moon before launching Hawthorn Moon.

It seems every writer has their own pace at which the words for their story find the printed page. For Lisa Anne, her writing cycle appears to be about seven to eight years. It's never an easy process, and yet for most writers the process is the primary reward and so has to be cherished and appreciated. Her characters come to life on the pages of her writer's notebooks, they talk to her, collaborating on how to tell their story.

 The author is hoping to complete Hawthorn Moon during 2022 and Heritage Press is looking forward to setting a publication date and attending her book launch party!

Nirvana in the News...

 

 

What's so special about Nirvana being in the news...so, yes, more amazing Synchronicity from the Storytelling Fairies...

For the past few weeks this editor has shifted storytelling gears from Hawthorn Moon to Shave Slowly and yes, some amazing coincidences have been occurring, but today, within hours of learning that the Hawthorn Moon author, Lisa Anne, was going to show up at my Mocha Lisa Heritage Press cafe office to work on her manuscript, something she hasn't done in a couple of years, Nirvana is back on a global news network.

 

Lisa's writing alter ego is the Peanut's character, Miss Helen Sweetstory.

 

 

 

I get home, turn on the TV, Amanpour & Company is on, PBS, and who is featured, Nirvana's drummer, David Grohl, pitching his new book, yes, believe it or not, titled, The Storyteller! Now, I only watch a few minutes of Amanpour each day out of the daily hour broadcast, and this interview would likely never air again...Synchronicity Magic!!

You may recall that the band Nirvana is the central musical focus of Hawthorn Moon, whereas the band from England, Echo and the Bunnymen, was featured in Hazel Moon, Lisa's first novel. The unlikely series of connections had all the hallmarks of the Storytelling Fairies. Now, let me pose this question, is this kind of magic only happening to me?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zuGiyK5uvs

 

Of course not. Even in David Grohl's interview, he talked about being devastated when Kurt Cobain killed himself, gave up music, couldn't pick up an instrument, fled to the wilderness of Scotland, but depressed and driving down an empty road, he sees someone walking, out in the middle of nowhere, and decides to pick him up...that person was wearing a Kurt Cobain T-Shirt...need I say more.

 

Think about anything magical like this happening in your life and please do share it on this blog!

 

David realized that he couldn't escape and instead turned back to his form of storytelling...founded The Foo Fighters...and 16 Grammy Awards later, his book.

 

 

 

Faith Jones...Thank You for the Christmas Miracle...

 

Remember Faith Jones from the last post...overwhelmed by the unlikely Synchronicity of her last name, Jones, connecting her in a magical way to Amy Jones, until recently, Amy Ford's married name, only hours before Christmas Eve I sent her an email to her "admin" account on her web site, not ever expecting her to respond ever, or certainly not for many weeks or months if ever...well, the Storytelling Fairies will have their way, and they have and use other resources to promote the telling of good stories, that is stories that serve the...Greater Good.

Not only did Faith respond in a personal email within hours of receiving it and on the eve of Christmas when everyone is usually overwhelmed with preparing for the big day, but she actually sent Amy's information to her literary agent to review...

I can't tell you how on so many levels, how remarkably unlikely that was...if you're in the writing/publishing business you know that for every 1,000 writers who knock on the door, only one is let in...and of the million or so books published each year, probably less than one in 1,000 will sell more than a couple hundred copies, but that said, without a doubt Faith Jones deserved to land an agent who could open the door to a successful career as a writer. She's paid the price as a child, paid her dues in college after breaking free from The Family, and had a national media connection to all but guarantee that she would be able to sell many many books.

I just ordered a copy of Faith's book, SEX CULT NUN...why do people buy books, because they connect with the author after seeing, hearing, or reading about them and their story. Big Time Publishing is a business. Agents don't make money, publishers like HarperCollins don't make money, unless the author they represent can sell books and Faith's agent knew she could and would.

 

Though author Amy Ford has a similar story to tell, she has yet to make a substantial media connection or on her own to prove to an agent that she can sell books. 

Amy still has work to do, and I knew that before asking Faith to help her, but I sent the email anyway because for the vast majority of writers, the inspiration to write, maintaining hope that one day your stories will find an audience, those things become the reward for the daily grind, along with, of course, the intrinsic satisfaction of creating literary art on the printed page.

Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted on Amy Jones, that is, Amy Ford's quest to find her audience!

 

 

 

Faith Jones...Amy Jones...Yes, More Synchronicity!

 

Those delightful Storytelling Fairies were so faithful while I was working on Hawthorn Moon, but that project is on pause, waiting for the author to review my editing, so I've shifted to reviving a ten-year-old project with great potential. 

I met the author, name, Amy White, at the time, a wonderful storyteller, and during a several-years period we wrote her memoir, Shave Slowly, and a novel based on her life, Lovely Beast, both under the pen name, Amy Ford. 

Amy was an adult entertainer, burned out over a lucrative 10-year career, and shifted gears to a simpler life in wilderness of northern Michigan.

Right now I've reconnected with Amy who is interested in reviving her writing career. First, I updated her blog:

https://amyfordshaveslowly.blogspot.com/

...then, began writing a script for a pilot episode for a limited TV series based on her life as an adult performer, Shave Slowly, based on her https://shaveslowly.bandcamp.com audio recordings. So, you're asking...when is the Synchronicity coming???

Yesterday I was listening to NPR's Fresh Air interview with now famous author, Faith Jones.

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/21/1065757559/sex-cult-nun-faith-jones

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Cult-Nun-Breaking-Religious/dp/B08YZ7F2ZP/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Faith+Jones+book&qid=1640124977&sr=8-3 

 

Until recently Amy’s name was…Amy Jones. I couldn’t help but respond to the Synchronicity connection to her both her name, that would have been enough, but also Amy's story!

As Amy’s editor at Heritage Press I was aware of all the changes in her life. While on retreat in the U.P. of Michigan, Amy met and married, her name now legally, Amy Jones. Ahhhhh, the powerful Synchronicity emerges...Faith Jones...Amy Jones! 

Both were victims of a cult; Faith, The Family, Amy; Jehovah's Witnesses. Each had to summon both courage and strength to break away and establish their independence. Both had aspirations to be motivational speakers and life coaches as well as authors. 

Believing this connection was a "tip" from the Storytelling Fairies, I reached out to Faith:

https://faithjones.com/contact/

After sharing information about Amy, I asked Faith to recommend Amy to her literary agent and suggested that she and Amy really should meet some day…thinking that based on their backgrounds they could become great, fast friends..

 

So, time will tell...famous people like Faith Jones are inundated with requests, but I won't be surprised if Faith responds. It wasn't that long ago that Faith was in the same desperate place that Amy found herself when fighting to first break away from the Jehovah's Witnesses, then, retreating to lick her wounds after 10 years in the flash-for-cash business, marrying a man who turned out to be a monster, divorcing, and struggling to find a new purpose in life.

Time will tell...I'll keep you Posted...

 

...Know a Snowman named Olaf...The Storytelling Fairies Do!!!

 

Well, if you've been following these blog posts about the Storytelling Fairies you'll understand, but today another miraculous guided Synchronicity...

Let me explain...Heritage Press operates out of the Mocha Lisa cafe and I have an arrangement with the baristas that every day they bring me an Espresso with some latte art that they create. Today the barista brought me...

The delightful latte art snowman I took a picture of with my phone and as I do every day, I sent it to the author of Hawthorn Moon, Miss Lisa Anne Minneti. But I wasn't done, I usually follow that up with a GIF, went into my phone, and found a GIF of an animated snowman...I didn't know that it was a famous fantasy character, Olaf, but I sent it along with the latte art pic to Lisa Anne.

Seconds later, she texted back with..."I HAVE TO BE OLAF, THAT SNOWMAN, TOMORROW!!"

Again, let me explain, Lisa, along with her sister, Lori, perform as fantasy characters for parties and apparently Lisa was scheduled to be Olaf tomorrow at a kid's party!!!

 

So, what are the odds that I would randomly first be given a latte art of a snowman, randomly text her a GIF of Olaf, not even knowing who Olaf was, and have her text me right back (which she almost never does) with the revelation that she was playing Olaf tomorrow!

Thank You Storytelling Fairies for caring so much about Hawthorn Moon that you would take the time to orchestrate this magical pat on the back, keep up the good work encouragement!

On The Road...Electric Refrigerator

 

What can I say, Hawthorn Moon is not done and neither are the Storytelling Fairies done encouraging the writing team to keep the project moving forward...yes, another incredible Synchronicity incident today. Having recently completed the final draft edit of author Lisa Anne's initial manuscript, today I was walking past a shelf full of books I haven't looked at for years and years and one book jumped out at me, Jack Kerouac's On The Road.

I pulled it off the shelf, randomly opened it up, began reading down the page, and there it was..."electric refrigerator" one of the unusual references from Hawthorn Moon indicating that November came from a poor family. And, in an even more targeted comment from the Storytelling Fairies, a few lines down from "electric refrigerator" is a reference to a "half-finished manuscript" which is exactly the status of the Hawthorn Moon project.

I've heard even more fantastic stories of books literally jumping off bookstore or library shelves and dropping into the hands of someone in need of the very information contained in the book. My case wasn't that dramatic, but I was clearly moved to pick out that book, open to that page, and there it was...another Synchronicity pat on the back from the Storytelling Fairies!! 

FROM CHAPTER 8 IN HAWTHORN MOON

Perhaps I do have more in common with my mom than I thought. She would whisper these pat phrases, like you were privy to some fabulous secret. One of her favorites was, Some women dream of Gregory Peck, some women dream of Glenn Ford, I dream of a refrigerator with Tupperware.

I was little when she would talk about the refrigerator we never got. I told dad in a whisper once that if we ever got one I wanted to live in it, but not that ugly lame green, it had to be a pretty one—harvest gold. Dad’s eyes brightened as he replied, “If you get cold in the fridge, you should wear a sweater the color of tangerines.”