Thinking About Writing a Book?

While most of you know that my passion is music and entertainment, a lot of you do not know that I like to write as well. I have been told by several people that I should take my vivid dreams, eventful life, and inspiring thoughts of wisdom and put them on paper for others to enjoy.

I know you are probably wondering why I am talking about my love of writing on a blog about music and entertainment. The reason I wanted to address this is that there is a lot of money to be made in the world of literature—especially for musicians. They already have a musical following and writing a book could potentially open the door for musicians to reach reluctant readers and readers who would not normally read books from R&B and Hip-Hop artists.

If you are interested in publishing a fiction book, a children’s book, or interested in publishing any other genre, there are certain steps that you must conduct before shopping your book to different literary agents and publishers.

The first step is to make sure to complete your manuscript. There is no way to be able to secure a literary agent without providing them a point of reference. Trying to shop an unfinished manuscript is unprofessional and makes you, the author look unreliable. A key step in the publishing process is to refrain from sending unsolicited works. An unsolicited work is work sent without being referred from an agent or attorney. Most unsolicited works are not taken seriously and receive an “unaccepted” response.

Another step to take when trying to shop around for literary agents is to submit a query letter. A query letter is a letter sent to a literary agent (who specializes in the genre you write) asking for a chance for them to review your manuscript. The query letter could be compared to a resume’s cover letter—it gives the literary agent background information about the work you are trying to shop, information about yourself, and it requests a chance for you to submit a few chapters of your manuscript if they like what they read.  If they are interested, you can look forward to meeting with them to have an interview and have them read a few pages, sections, or chapters of your book.

I hope that this blog post has been interesting and informative and good luck in finding the perfect literary agent!

The Weeknd is Finally Here!

People, who know me, know that I am a huge Weeknd fan. I have all of his mixtapes, that were on his website available for free download and I attended his concert in Atlanta, which was EXCELLENT! The Canadian singer of Ethiopian descent has recently inked a deal with Universal Republic Records to release a three- disk, 31- tracked album entitled, Trilogy. Trilogy is a re-release of Abel’s three mixtapes, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, with three unreleased tracks.

‘Twenty Eight’ is the first unreleased track featured on disc one, which happens to be House of Balloons. This track flows perfectly with the rest of the melancholy and drug-laced tracks of the first mixtape. This track is about a woman The Weeknd found in the club and regretfully invited to his place. He falls for her and he wishes he had left her where he found her because she belongs to someone else. Although there aren’t any vocal surprises on this song, I give this song 4 out of 5 stars.

The second unreleased track, ‘Valerie’, is about the relationship he has with a woman who doesn’t trust him because of his infidelity. Instead of her leaving and being alone, she would rather pretend she trusts him and continue the relationship. Lyrics,

“There comes a time in a man’s life

He must take responsibility

For the choices he has made,
There are certain things that he must do

Things he must say

Like I love you…and nobody is going to know if it’s true,”

alerts the listener that Abel realizes he’s being mature about the situation, but he’s telling the woman he loves her—not something he necessarily means or believes, but something she wants to hear. I really like this song and I give this track 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The last new song on Trilogy, is the track entitled ‘Til Dawn (Here Comes the Sun).’ Unlike the song, ‘Valerie,’ where Abel talks about him cheating, ‘Til Dawn’ recounts moments of The Weeknd being the “other guy” and him being okay with it. This song gets 4.5 stars as well.

Even though I already own the three mixtapes, I had to buy this album because of the three added tracks and because it’s The Weeknd…everyone enjoys a three-disc/day weekend!

The Weeknd’s Trilogy was released on November 13, 2012.