Thursday, October 25, 2007

October 25, 2007: What's Next on The Book Squad -- Bye For Now...

On October 26, 2007, The Book Squad will begin an indefinite hiatus from the air.


To go out in style, Karyn and Wendy will re-broadcast interviews that mean a great deal to them, for reasons they will discuss later. Karrine Steffan's interview from October 12 will air again, in support of her latest title, The Vixen Diaries.


Next, Roscoe Orman's interview from October 5 will air. Orman talks about his life as Gordon on Sesame St., as well as about his latest book, Ricky and Mobo.


Then joining the mix, live, via phone, is DeMonica D. Gladney, author of Willing to Wait: From Revelation to Manifestation. Gladney, in addition to being a poet and author, is a corporate lawyer and former president of the Houston Lawyers Association.


Our special live in-studio guest is Christina"Chrissie Love" Russell of 102.9 Island FM Radio in Nassau, Bahamas.


So join us for our last Friday together on wmet1160.com as we say a fond farewell for now and turn out all the lights behind us...

Thursday, October 18, 2007

October 18, 2007: What's Next on The Book Squad

We have pets... and something completely different on The Book Squad this Friday.

The "Pets" part of the show begins with Patricia B. McConnell, author of For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend. McConnell has much-needed advice for those of us who love and cherish our dogs but don't have a clue as to why they do some of the things they do.



Then Ann M. Martin joins us to talk about Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food. Martin discusses the dirty little secrets of pet food companies and offers her own alternatives, nutritional advice, and strategies to avoid scams aimed at pet owners.




The "Something Completely Different" comes in the form of Essence best seller Daaimah S. Poole, author of All I Want is Everything. In this, her latest novel, Poole says she "confronts a dilemma that many of us tackle every day -- fear. Fear of putting our all into a dream and walking into the unknown."


Marcus Robinson is in the Author Spotlight.


Plus Heather Taylor from The Heather Taylor Show loved co-hosting so much that she's back again. And there's Wendy's World.


So sit, fetch, roll over, and listen to The Book Squad on wmet1160.com, tomorrow from noon to 1:00 PM. We'll even let you sit on the couch!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

October 17, 2007: Escaping My Discomfort Zone

We’ve been hanging together now for some time now, so I’m sure it won’t come as a shock to you to know that I’m a tad on the anal-retentive side. I’m not entirely puckered, though. I still try new things, but I do so begrudgingly. And lots of colorful swearing follow along in my wake. I usually blame that on Jersey, my alter ego. To this day, though, I remain surprised at how incompatible my anal-retentive nature is with doing all of the publicity that is required if one wants to sell a respectable number of books.

Case in point. I was so excited to be asked to join the Femme Fantastic Tour. After all, the mission of the tour was for seven authors to show support for our troops by visiting military installations and autographing books. Plus I was going to be in good company. Lori Bryant-Woolridge was flush from just having released Weapons of Mass Seduction, a damned good book. Carmen Green and ReShonda Tate Billingsley have written so many books between them that they make Stephen King look lazy. Halle Berry just optioned the rights to Trish R. Thomas’s Nappily Ever After, and Nina Foxx is producing a play based on one of her own books. And Berta Platas adds her Latina flava to the mix. So it seemed like it was going to be a party like no other, replete with sisterly bonding and many martinis.

Of course, reality is always different from the fantasy. I felt this acutely as I was barreling down 95 South from Virginia to North Carolina, my alter ego Jersey cussing like swear words were ten minutes away from being outlawed. If you think that Mapquest is the Devil, then hotel directions are Dante’s ninth concentric circle of Hell. When I finally did meet up with the authors – Lori, Carmen, and ReShonda – on this, the Fort Bragg leg of the tour, I was flustered, irritated, and heart-patient sweaty. Just what you want in an author you’re about to meet, right? Mercifully, Lori had her portable GPS, which proved invaluable.

When we got to Fort Bragg, though, I realized the upside of being forced outside of one’s comfort zone. At the PX, we met and signed books for members of our armed forces and their families. They were so happy to see us, so thankful that we’d come to visit them. Which was such a contrast to some civilian signings I’d done at book stores, where people treated you like you were trying to interest them in buying a steaming turd.

Also, my well-meaning friends told me when I hit that particular milestone that forty isn’t old. I tell you, forty is plenty old when I’m looking at young soldiers going to or coming from Iraq, along with their wives (and husbands!), some of whom were born the year I started college. They were probably conceived while their parents were listening to the same Culture Club and Prince jams that I was bustin’ a move to at the freshman dance. Being forced outside of your comfort zone, more often than not, makes you put life in perspective, makes you rethink your perception of discomfort. Getting lost on a North Carolina highway in a fancy rental car with crappy directions versus getting shot at in a HumVee in Fallujah. No contest.

I visit five more military installations on the Femme Fantastik Tour, which starts up again in 2008. If you think Jersey’s going to disappear, that I’m not going to be pissed that Fate is moving my water dish, that I’m going to stop being anal-retentive – perish the thought. Spiky when squeezed is who I am, and I do it well. I will, though, be mindful of the ever-changing perspective that one finds in the Discomfort Zone… and try my hardest to chill.

Friday, October 12, 2007

October 12, 2007: What's Next on The Book Squad -- Vixens and Secrets!

It's a day for the ladies on The Book Squad.


First up, we have Karrine Steffans -- no descriptor needed. The always controversial author of Confessions of a Video Vixen is back with her latest, The Vixen Diaries, in which she regales us with lessons learned after the ascent afforded her with the publication of Confessions.






Then Dari Dyrness-Olssen shares Seven Secrets For Girls: Simple Solutions to Survive Boys and Stay Sane. She says to girls that "THIS WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK THAT YOU WILL EVER READ. The information found in this book will positively affect your life FOREVER. After reading SEVEN SECRETS you will have the skills to become happier, healthier, and more satisfied with your life." We're all for that.



LaConnie Taylor-Jones , author of When I'm With You, is in the Author Spotlight.



Plus there's much more, including Wendy's World.
So join us today at noon on wmet1160.com. Hey, ladies!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

October 4, 2007: What's Next on The Book Squad -- Celebrating the Capital Bookfest

This weekend in D.C., it's all about The 3rd Annual Capital Bookfest. Not to toot our own horn -- TOOT, TOOT! BEEP BEEP! -- but The Book Squad is one of the sponsors of this event, taking place on Saturday, October 6 at the Blvd @ Cap Centre, in Largo, Maryland. Over 100 authors from a myriad of genres will be there. Three of them will appear on tomorrow's Book Squad.

Poet, F.O.T.B.S., and organizer of the event, Kwame Alexander, is first up to whet your appetites with what awaits you at the event. He's holding down every aspect of The Bookfest, right down to the weather, which, he promises will be in the moderate eighty-degree range.
Those of you who were rabid fans of Sesame Street in your youth will undoubtedly remember our next guest, Roscoe Orman. The actor, who has played Gordon for thirty-five years, has written his second book, Ricky and Mobo, a story of a boy and his favorite mechanical horse.





Next we shift gears to John Amaechi, author of the controversial Man in the Middle. Amaechi tells us about his life's journey, from a hardscrabble existence in Manchester, England, to being a closeted gay man in the uber-masculine NBA, to his present quest to make the world a better place.






Victoria Rowell, accomplished television actress and philanthropist, has now added memorist to her list of talents. With her book The Women Who Raised Me, Rowell chronicles her life as a biracial ward of the state of Maine who could've fallen through the cracks of an overburdened foster-care system -- had it not been for several amazing women who loved, guided, and nurtured her.
Author Heather Taylor, host of WMET 1160's The Heather Taylor Show, is today's guest co-host with Wendy in studio.
So listen Friday -- noon, Friday -- to The Book Squad on WMET1160.com. And see you Saturday, October 6 at The 3rd Annual Capital Bookfest.