EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 2

Excerpts from Chapter 2 of Evergreen Uprooted

After walking past the kitchen, using the distant dimmed light from the hallway to see, I would tiptoe on the squeaky hardwood floors until I reached the cluttered boxes filled with second-hand clothing and all sorts of junk mail. When I reached those boxes, I knew I was at the living room. I would stand at the door of the living room, which had been transformed into Mommy’s bedroom, and strain in the dark to see if she was home. My eyes always landed on her dresser first. She had enough medicine bottles on her dresser to supply a pediatric clinic. She had albuterol, nebulizers, pain reliever and fever reducer, amoxicillin, penicillin, calamine lotion, ringworm solution, chicken pox medicine, corn starch, diaper-rash ointment, A&D ointment, and empty methadone bottles that she had obtained from her drug rehab at the Lee Building in Harlem, with a little bit of orange juice mixed with methadone a

t the bottom. I have to admit I was often tempted to drink it, after being outside all day and having only water.
Her vanity display consisted of an eye-pencil, and a lipstick tube that was always half empty because it served as her lipstick, blush, and eye shadow. She used her pinky finger to dig it out. Next I would look at her many pocketbooks, filled with old food-stamp book backs and empty pill bottles. These hung down from the edge of the mirror that was located in the middle of the dresser. Then I would notice that, as usual, she wasn’t home.

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MY JOURNEY TO BECOMING AN AUTHOR

MY JOURNEY TO BECOMING AN AUTHOR

Becoming an author surprised me as well as my family, friends, and my community.  I didn’t grow up writing poems and reading books, but for me, writing was just as easy as breathing.

During my early 30’s I decided to go back to college.  After taking a placement test and scoring really high on the writing portion, but low on the reading—I was placed in a remedial reading class.  That was where my journey began.

Being brutally honest—I was pissed that one out of my four classes was remedial reading.  Life moves fast after thirty and I felt a non-college level class was a waste of my time.  I was forced to read book after book and then engage in group discussions.  Half the class came from hard knocks like me and the other half used English as their second language. 

Professor Steve Cohen taught us.  From the neck up he looked nerdy in a good way.  He wore seeing glasses with a thick black frame.  He had a head full of black hair that was parted down the side and slicked down neatly.  From the floor up he was tore up, wearing sneakers, jogging shorts, and a t-shirt.  He did a rhythm-less dance as his students entered class.  He kind of favored the famous actor Kevin James.  And then he opened his mouth and began to speak.  By the end of the class everyone could relate to him.  He became all things to all people in our class: goofy, smart, ghetto, Black, Caucasian, Hispanic, working class, welfare class, and no class.  We all felt a bond with him and soon began to bond with each other as we engaged in classroom discussions about reading and how it relates to our lives. 

Professor Cohen shared a book that he wrote while he was in college.  It was a book to help new college students find their way around school.  It was then, at that moment when I decided to write a book about my life.  Writing a book would make sense out of no sense.  Give my pain and struggles reason.  I asked “What do you think about me writing a book?”

            He responded, “That’s great! Bring me your first five pages.”

Now I was just running an idea pass him.  I hadn’t written anything and had no idea of how to begin to write a book, but I was excited.  It consumed my thoughts for days. Where do I start? What do I write about?  How honest should I be?  Whose voice should tell the story?  Questions multiplied as the days passed.

Well I started with the most dramatic thing I could remember happening to me.  Professor Cohen read my first five pages and loved it.  He said, “Keep writing.”  I wrote every night for three months straight.  My book was complete and it was all over the place.  Only I could understand it.  I had to rewrite the whole book.

This blog is my journey to becoming an author.  Let’s get started!  Please read my next blog titled, GETTING STARTED

 

Click on the link below to read an article I wrote about Professor Steve Cohen in 2010 

http://nccvoice.com/family-economic-security-program/ 

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BECOME A SELF PUBLISHED AUTHOR: Chapter ONE

BECOME A SELF PUBLISHED AUTHOR: Chapter ONE: And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them .   Isaiah 10:19 ONE I was standing in th...

*****FREE*****

Read EVERGREEN UPROOTED for FREE on 10/13/2012 ALL DAY on Kindle

N.A.Z. Pankey wrote her first book!  It's her life story.  A story of redemption, hope, and inspiration about overcoming the adversities of life, and most importantly about faith!

"Faith is the highest passion in a human being.  Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further." Kierkegaard, Soren

God inspired Pankey to write a memoir about her childhood--how a young girl, living in the South Bronx, New York, triumphed over adversity.  Her story takes place in the eighties.  Her mother was addicted to crack heroin, Valium, alcohol, and methadone.  Pankey writes about her experiences as a child being abused, economically, physically, and sexually.

BACK COVER READS:

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO, TO HIDE A SECRET?

"I walked with my head facing the ground, unable to face the world."

"Everyone was on a mission except for me.  I had nowhere to go.  I felt the evil and coldness all around me."

"I shocked him with the element of surprise.  I jumped over three tables, and tackled him down to the floor."

She leaned over and whispered, "The candles are suppose to drive away evil spirits.  This room is the safest place in New York."

READ MORE AND REVIEWS ARE WELCOME.

http://www.amazon.com/Evergreen-Uprooted-Memoirs-Secret-ebook/dp/B009HYTC3G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1350027352&sr=8-2&keywords=evergreen+uprooted