Signed with Literary Manager - 1st Publisher Said "No"

I've spent quite some time researching publishers, days at the library...making lists of which publishers I thought would be open to my material.

My next step was to do the same with literary agents/managers. I felt that having a list of publishers first would help my meeting with representation because I would know who I was targeting and be able to ask them if they had ties to those particular publishers.

However before this little plan of mine was complete, I met who would now become my literary manager on one of those social networking sites of all things. I sent them the excerpts of my five complete manuscripts and within a week they had pitched me to a major publisher.

This week I found out the publisher said no...but that's just par for the course. I had no expectation that the first publisher to read my stuff was going to sign me. I'm continuing to refine my work and confident in the fact that I will find the right publisher, it may not be the first or the tenth one, but there will be one out there that "get it".

Performed Poetry at the Kingdom Economic Yearly Summit in Los Angeles

The past few days I had the opportunity to volunteer at the K.E.Y.S. (Kingdom Economic Yearly Summit) conference at the Marriott LAX. One day I did camera, one day I MC'd and another day I just came to receive. On the day I MC'd I was asked to read a poem between the transition from speaker to speaker.

Since this summit focuses on business, money, the market place, being a good steward of our finances, I chose poems on these topics.

Here are some excerpts from a couple of the poems I read.



Excerpt from "The Love Of Money"

...I am not happy about this over-consumption thing;
Since Visa came into your life; I’m no longer King.
Time spent away from your Master is really getting hard;
You do not serve Me, like you serve your MasterCard.

Your lust for much more is the culprit, you guess;
You no longer save, just whip out American Express!
It’s all in My Word, did you read it from cover to cover?
Maybe you should have bought the Bible with your Discover....




Excerpt from "Try Me Now"

I have raised my level
Of expectation;
Because Jesus gave me
The invitation.
He said to “Try Me now
See if I am good;”
So I never have need
Of knocking on wood!

A blessing You’ll pour out,
That I can’t contain;
And that I will not need
Wall Street to sustain.
Many others I’ll bless
Because I am blessed;
When I do, I always
Have more manifest....



Excerpt from "Talk To The One In The Mirror"

...The reason I have what I have and the life I now live
Is because of my past seeds and what I’d chosen to give
I determine my future, there is no one else to blame;
The number one destroyer is my tongue I need to tame....



Excerpt from "Keep Up With Jesus Not The Jones'"

...Don’t compare yourself to your neighbor, and lust after more stuff;
Give your blessings away to those who have it even more rough.
You are spending kingdom finances playing this one-up game
Of who’s got more and better of what?! It is clearly insane.

Keep up with Jesus not the Jones', stop committing this sin;
End the competition now, go tell your neighbor that they win.
Start using finances for things that will eternally count;
Then watch Me multiply your heavenly and earthly account.

Trusting - On So Many Levels

Desperately cried out to You, You came through;
Gave me strength to do what I needed to.
Didn’t need to calm fear, I didn’t have any;
No fear heeded, Your power is plenty.
I won’t despair no matter how it looks;
Trusting the words of Your ‘66 books’.

This poem was originally written the first week when my son was in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit. It was going to go in my book "The N.I.C.U. Roller Coaster: Poems and Prayers for Parents of Preemies" book, but I decided it would go in my book "Poetic Prescriptions for Your Pocket" vol. 1 instead, because I thought it was relate-able on all levels not just for struggling parents.