It's the little things

Happy Sunday!

Just passing through to say that miracles are still happening everyday. Keep looking for yours.

I learned three amazing things last week alone:

I saw the first draft of the news release from HarperCollins for my forthcoming book, Call & Response: 10 Leadership Lessons from the Black Church, and I learned that this will be only the second book released by the partnership Amistad/HarperCollins-JVL Media--the new imprint by Hollywood-mega couple Viola Davis & Julius Tennon and publishing guru Lavaille Lavette. I put on my PR hat for a moment after 7 years of repressing those superpowers, and had a ball sharing notes with the amazing publicity team as the client once again. Beautifully written release, I must say!

The book begins with a post-humous dedication to my childhood pastor.

My story threads the narrative in the book while the stories of other top leaders are peppered throughout--so my home church, Good Street Baptist Church in Dallas is ground zero for the book. That also means that my childhood pastor is as well. Rev. C.A.W. Clark was a preaching titan. Google him, and you'll see. But until now, no one has written a book about him of any consequence. Not until Call & Response. They only published his sermons. In fact, someone swindled him before he passed away--he would send money to a woman in another state who told him that she was writing a book about him. No book ever surfaced. So sometimes you think you're on one mission, and you find out the mission was so much bigger than you imagined.

My Aunt Jackie learned that she is quoted in Call & Response, and it blew up my auntie group chat. She had forgotten about this. I could never! This was about my home church pastor, Rev. C.A.W. Clark. He was a preacher first, but he was also extremely entertaining.

Uncorrected galley copies are magical. I mean, my goodness, they are just buggy proofs, right? NO WAY! And the endorsements that have started to trickle in? *Chef's kiss!* 👩‍🍳😘. My father keeps the book in a vice grip. My mother steals it from him when he falls asleep and takes it to bed at night to read until she falls asleep. My daughter squealed louder than I did when she found the box of them in my truck after school. My bestie Eva Wilson, aka, Socamom text-screamed at me in ALL CAPS while she was at work just from the photos and videos I shared. My three aunts, whom I call the "Mama Variants" blew up my auntie group chat with love and excitement. Last week gave me all the feels, and we're really only barely getting started.

This video the condensed version of the story of how this book even happened for those of you who are still catching up. The story is captured from a catchup between me and my friend, opera legend Denyce Graves (who's story in the book will definitely surprise you). There's even more to this story, because the reality is that it began back in 2016.

If you don't get chills, no shade, but something is wrong with you.

Cover reveal coming soon!

LMS

P.S. And you will need to pick yourself up off the floor to learn who offered to write the foreword. I know I did.