Vanessa Miller's Sunday Brunch & the Essence Bestseller's List

CLICK HERE to visit Vanessa's Website.

Come celebrate Vanessa Miller make #9 on Essence Magazine's Bestsellers List(6/08)

Others on the list:
#4 hardback: Sin No More By Kimberla Lawson Roby

What next: Subscribe or Join the Network

Best Blog Week Ever: Too Little, Too Late

Week ending May 22, 2008

My write or die chick, Rhonda McNight is spotlighting Victoria Christopher Murray's Too Little Too Late.
Cindy Swanson shares Steven Curtis Chapman condolences link. David Foster praises Thomas Nelson's Michael Hyatt for Christian publishing optimism. Literary agent, Rachelle Gardner allows a published anon author to rant. Purple Hearts recaps more publishing talk. Hop over to Christian Bookshop Blog to see who Phil Groom nominated for The Encyclopedia of Christian Cheese's The Cheesiest Christian Book Title Contest. Hint: It's a Baker Publishing Book. I like the title. Rebecca Miller defends Christian Sci-Fi

CSFF blog tour is up and they are promoting the webzine, Mindflights.

Participants’ Links and TEXT DOC:
Brandon Barr,
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Pamela Morrisson
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Mirtika or Mir’s Here
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Linda Wichman
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise
Nominate your blog entry to be include next week at vidae at writing dot com.

SIMON, PAULA & RANDY MOVE OVER for GOSPEL DREAM

SIMON, PAULA & RANDY MOVE OVER BIG Jim, Martha & J. AS JUDGES FOR GMC’S GOSPEL/CHRISTIAN TALENT SEARCH

Gospel Dream 2008 Premieres Sunday, June 1 @ 9:00 PM (ET/PT)

ATLANTA - May 19, 2008 – The fate of 16 aspiring Gospel/Christian music singers from across the country competing in Gospel Music Channel’s American Idol®-inspired talent search series Gospel Dream 2008 will be in the hands of the Gospel/Christian music’s version of Simon, Paula and Randy: famed producer Big Jim Wright, Award-winning artist Martha Munizzi and multi-platinum artist/producer J. Moss, the network announced today. GMC also announced that Gospel Dream 2008 will be hosted by Sparrow Records recording artist and Award-winning songwriter Matthew West.

The season premiere of Gospel Dream 2008 is set for Sunday, June 1 and the series will run for five consecutive Sunday nights at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT), culminating with the grand finale coronation of the winner on June 29. Gospel Dream 2008 invited performers from all Gospel/Christian styles, including traditional, soul, rock, blues and country, to audition in Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Miami and Atlanta. The winner will receive a record & music video deal and a Royal Caribbean Cruise.

Gospel Music Channel (http://www.gospelmusicchannel.com) is the fastest-growing network in television today and can be seen in nearly 40 million homes on various cable systems around the country and nationwide on DIRECTV.

Girl Talk: A Stage Play about BookClubs!

GIRL TALK
The Stage Play
June 21 & 22

"GIRL.TALK." It's all about a women's book club discussion that evolves into an explosive evening of confession, declaration and liberation! First Lady Katrina Katrell (the over the top prissy from The ME Nobody Knows) is back!

Katrina, who has struggled with insecurity most of her life, made a decision that embarrassed her husband, the church and her entire family. Hoping and praying that it would all just blow over, someone calls her out at her book club party. Oh my goodness!

The exposure is devastating for First Lady but proves an entertaining and unforgettable time for all who witness it! Candid talk about self-love, sexuality, the color complex and sisterhood meshed with an entertaining presentation you'll be talking about long after it's over. Bring your girlfriends! Book Clubs! Women's Groups! This is one you want to see for yourself!

Doors open at 7:00 p.m. with light refreshments and an opportunity to meet friends and network!

The Gaithersburg Arts Barn is located @ 311 Kent Square Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878. For tickets and more information, visit www.sherithabowman.com or call 301.802.315.

Hollywood Screenwriter Takes On Real Life

Hollywood Screenwriter Takes On Real Life "I thought my life was over." Hollywood's Dirty Little Secret by Misty Taggart I was living my dream. To be a Hollywood writer was everything I had wanted since I was a very young child. There was never a time in my life when I didn't know absolutely what I wanted to do. And there I was, a member of the WGA, a working Hollywood screenwriter. It was glorious. My life was so exciting! Each day was an adventure full of running to studios, pitching stories, writing and rewriting. Location shoots and lunching with Hollywood insiders. I was so very fortunate to meet William Hanna of Hanna/Barbera fame. He told me he liked my "drive" ... my passion. It reminded him of his own. Bill quickly became my mentor and very good friend. He believed in me and my talent so much that it was this famous and very generous man who made it possible for me to be one of the first women to ever write for animation. Until then, it had been a closed boys club ... and yet, there I was writing dog dialogue for Scooby Doo in my own office at Hanna/Barbera Productions! How incredible it was to be sitting in the many recording sessions with all the big name voice-over talent. I was so proud as I watched my talented husband, Joe, appearing on Days of Our Lives, General Hospital and Three's Company. Our friends were all in the business. We were surrounded by lights, cameras and action, all the things I had dreamed of and worked so hard to attain. It was an exciting time in my life. The strange thing was, I thought it would go on forever. But under all the glamour and the fun, if you are in this industry very long you will find Hollywood's dirty little secret. What is that? Well ... Hollywood will not allow you to grow older! They simply won't allow it! They don't say it ... but it is made very clear. Opportunities to pitch stories stop coming your way. Meetings are difficult, if not impossible to get. It is heartbreaking and irreversible. You are on your way out! It is as though the "Hollywood Powers-That-Be" believe a human brain stops working, in any cognitive fashion, when you near the BIG 50! (A testimony to that thinking can be had by simply watching current TV.) I laugh when I think that just perhaps their skewed thinking has come back to bite them in the behind! When it was clear that my life as a Hollywood Screenwriter was over, I was truly devastated. I felt my whole life finished. Depression and fears set in--stealing any joy I had left. Hollywood had done a good job on me. I bought all of the lies. And those lies almost killed me. I was convinced my dream had been stolen. I was too old to ever have other dreams or to truly enjoy my life ever again. Going on living that way, wasn't an option. But I was so very wrong! God simply had new dreams for me in this season of my life. But I didn't come to this discovery easily. It's taken time and the willingness to work with my own Life Coach. No, she didn't do it for me, but she listened to me ... gave me new ways to look at my life. Things I hadn't thought about in my devastated, crisis state. She asked the hard questions and I found answers. It was an amazing process. Could it be that I was getting excited about life again? Together, my coach and I made a PLAN OF ACTION that fit me perfectly. I began slowly but surely to move toward a new dream. My life coach shared her knowledge, giving me many incredible and solid life tools to deal head on with my depression and feelings of worthlessness. My faith became stronger and I was empowered to see the possibilities God was offering to me. And, with her encouragement, I had the desire to reach out and grab them! Wasn't this what Bill Hanna had loved about me? My drive! My enthusiasm? I realized I was the only one who had given up on me. God had done His part, as always .. now it took action on my part. Would I give up on the rest of my life, brokenhearted over the past? Or would I find new vistas to conquer? I had a choice to make and I chose LIFE! I chose TODAY and all of my tomorrows. I looked at my life and all of the many trials and victories. I longed to share that with other women. To let them know they could achieve their dreams. It all became so clear! I began the study necessary for me to become a Certified Christian Life Coach. With my faithful readers, like you, at Ordinary Woman/Extraordinary God, who had been with me for so long, I began my practice. Now, I want YOU all to experience the POSSIBILITIES for your lives! Don't give up! The definition of life is CHANGE. Helping other women walk through transitions using what I had been through myself became my passion ... My life is once again filled with excitement and I get up each day with true joy. I look forward to the day. God had not taken dreams away, but given me new ones. This is why I'm so passionate about Life Coaching. I've been where you are! Let's do this together. Don't you want a Life Coach who has been in those stuck and dark places ... a coach who knows how it feels to be frozen in place by fear and hopelessness? Give it a 4-week try! You will be amazed at what you will accomplish. See: http://www.ordinarywoman.com/TASTEYOURNEWLIFE.html For more about Misty's Life Coaching, go to: http://www.possibilitiesbootcamp.com/

GRAND PRIZE DRAWING! Misty is making this new 1-month Life Coaching experience available to you for free, if you are the grand prize winner of this blog tour drawing. Did I say free? I meant to say FREE! $75 value. Great opportunity. Don't miss out! Leave your comment here to be entered in this great contest. And for those of you who don't win, here's another freebie for you: INTRODUCTING MONDAYS WITH MISTY! Start your week off with inspiration & a coaching tip of the week! Listen as Misty gives 2 - Live 10-min Laser Coaching Sessions. Each Monday! 10am (Pacific) - 11am (MNT) - Noon (Central) - 1pm (Eastern) To join us on this Free call or to receive a Free Laser Session with Misty on the call CLICK HERE to SEND an Email! You will receive a return email with the Dial-In number and Access Code! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Gospel High Schol Musical

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
Gospel High School Musical
Friday, May 30, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Willow Run High School Auditorium
235 Spencer Lane, Ypsilanti, MI
For more information call 734-487-7054

Send Me Your First Chapter Today

Not blogging today, but would love to read what you're working on. If you want me to take a look at your first chapter or short story, send them today and today only. I will email my comments and suggestions for improvement back today. Email me at vidae at writing dot com.

Pray for the Chapman family.