Janie P. Bess is off and running again

 on the Promotion Trail.

 Her first stop on her book tour will be is in New Orleans

 where the Theatrical Group from The Black Repertory will be visiting.

 She is traveling with the entourage to promote her book and her

 theatrical adaptation, Visions..

 The Black Repertory group is working on casting now! Janie is finishing 

 up the last scenes of the play, scheduled to debut in August 2008.

 While in New Orleans, she will visit her long-lost relatives and friends

 who are survivors of Katrina.  She will interview them for another novel, 

 She is working on: the  Partee-Lightfoot Legacy which is

due out in  late 2009.

 Janie has just finished her final revisions on Wife in the P.I. which is

due in the Fall/ Winter 2008.

 After Janie returns from New Orleans, she will be off and running again

 to speak at the  AZ USA Ministries in Phoenix, AZ.  on April 19, 2008.

 The theme of the Conference, REFLECTIONS, appropriately fits the title of 

 VISIONS,  a memoir  which takes readers on her

life journey of  faith and love for God.

 Janie will speak about her past and how God changed her completely

 through her  struggles and encounters she faced dealing with a society 

 that believed her disabled child should be institutionalized instead of

 educated.  She explains in details the struggles, tribulations

 and trials of her life.

 She will give a moving testimony of her life from her childhood until

 the present including the miracles and blessings God performed for her,

 the family and her oldest son, David Jr. who is totally Deaf-Blind.

 Once she returns home, she packs and will be be sky hopping again!

 Her next venture will be to Houston, Texas, on May 18-19, 2008, at

 The Houston Convention Center.

 Where she will be book signing at the Black Book Festival. 

 Janie has a full year of exciting promotions and trips

 Keep checking her website for more on her ventures this year.

 Janie states, " The non-profit organization WRC has truly been blessed

 by Almighty God, with a wonderful board, members, volunteers and guest

 speakers who has helped  me and others to reach their objectives.

 I give thanks to our Father, Savior and Lord for all he has done for me."

  Keep checking Janie's website for more on her travels to other cities,

    states and countries!!

One of our members, Major Mitchell, from the Central Valley, who is a published author of several novels and children stories, His first, La Dona, just published another book! Poverty Flat. Go to his website at www.majormitchell.net AND...One of our newest members, Vanessa Jackson of Southern California reviewed it. This was her first review and Major Mitchell acknowledged her hard work on his book cover!

Can't find time for memoir? Make it a priority

By Danette Mitchell

Article Launched: 05/20/2007 06:43:42 AM PDT

After my column about the importance of passing down family stories ("Sharing Stories with next generation," The Reporter, April 2), some readers contacted me and expressed their desires to leave behind stories for their children and grandchildren.

Some had started a family memoir or other book project long ago and then put it down because "life happens." Others wondered how they could ever find the time to undertake such an ambitious project or even get started.

I thought about them last Saturday, during a monthly meeting of a writers' organization that I belong to. The workshop session topic was "Time Management for Writers," taught by one of the organization's board members who is a city editor at a local newspaper.

Anyone who is contemplating a family memoir or similar project could benefit from the tips presented. They may not be new, but they bear repeating because they can help us find the time to do those things that are most meaningful to us.

In the workshop, we first had to get rid of the idea that time management exists. It does not. We have control only of ourselves, which is self-management. Therefore, to manage our time, we must decide what is important to us.

Most workshop participants listed finances, health, family, spiritual growth, recreation and community problems. Writing, however, has to be on the list or we won't find time to do it.

Next, we had to pull from that list our top five priorities and rank them in order of importance. For the sake of the workshop, writing was included in the top five.

We then had to think about our goals for writing. Is it a hobby? Do we want to write a family memoir to give to relatives? Do we want to make money from our memoir or book, or simply convey a message? Or both? Do we want to supplement our income by writing, or become a professional who makes a living primarily from writing? Maybe, we want our book to be among Oprah Winfrey's book club selections - or even those of The Reporter's book club.

Whatever our writing goals, the bigger they are, the greater the commitment level.

Then we set three specific objectives for our goals. For instance, the objectives of someone writing a memoir might be to interview a family member once a month, read through notes every day and write one chapter a month.

But here comes the biggie: How do we find niches of time to meet our objectives? We might need to wake up a half-hour early. Some things we do in the morning might need to be done at night, or vice versa. Maybe we have to be selective about how much television we watch or decrease our recreation time.

We can spend our lunch breaks writing, too. The workshop presenter mentioned two people who "were" employed as secretaries for the county. They wrote on their lunch breaks and are now best- selling romance authors.

Our objectives must be measurable and realistic. And we must set a timetable for them.

Finally, we shouldn't feel alone. Seek out other writers by joining writers' organizations or critique groups or taking creative writing classes.

Life does happen. However, staying true to our goals helps us to realize that there is life beyond trials. It gives us power at times when we feel powerless.

I think, too, we must respect ourselves enough to do some of the wonderful things in life that we want to do, like writing a memoir that can link generations and provide an eternal deposit in someone's heart. Aren't we already doing enough things out of necessity or that we couldn't care less about?

The author, a Vacaville resident, can be contacted at damitchell@earthlink.net