I had the ultimate pleasure of meeting three incredible ladies in the book game the other day. One was newcomer Shamara Ray, who is signed with Zane over at Simon and Schuster. She was very cool and gave Zane many props for signing her and being a great mentor for her in the book game.

I also met the legendary Pat G’orge Walker. She is known as the first lady of Christian comedy and she keeps it more than real. I love her.

Lastly, I met Carol Mackey, the owner of Black Expressions Book Club… Well Carol and I have been speaking for quite some time now and we have saw each other in passing but this was the first time we really sat and hung out. Pat reminded me that she saw me at the African American Literary Awards in 2011, when I won the prestigious award of Breakout Author of the Year for my book “Girl, Get Your Mind Right!” (HarperCollins Publishers). I was hard to miss at that award show because I wore a fur shawl in September (don’t judge me!)

Anyway it was good to be in the presence of these established ladies in the game and we all showed love. No competition, no side eyes. The event was held at Antioch Baptist Church in Hempstead, Long Island for the Delta sorority’s ladies in literature event. I definitely want to bring this event to other cities and do it the right way because the knowledge we shared about the book business was priceless…

I am honored to be considered a great in this book game as a 27-year-old woman from the hood. What was even better was that I am a publisher and was able to hear some of the attendees book ideas, etc. I love being able to put people on!

If you have a great book idea and want to be published with my company, Talk Dat Ish Books, please email info@talkdatish.com! Thank you!