Latest / DA CREW Podcast / SEASON 1 BONUS EPISODE _NOVEMBER 2023 _ HOST PATRICE GRIMBALL (1)

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SEASON 1 BONUS EPISODE _NOVEMBER 2023 _ HOST PATRICE GRIMBALL (1) · DA CREW Podcast

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be heard around the world. Aspiring Author's Magazine is an international magazine founded in
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May of twenty twenty by Queen Angela. Get featured. Welcome to the sc
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Book Gall and French Check. We're going to be talking about the latest and
1:34
book reviews, author interviews and life. Come on in and join us.
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We're ready, are you? Yes? Hey, everyone, it's another Saturday
2:04
night and I am here to introduce you to another book, a new author
2:08
and a new book to add to your to be read list. Okay,
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so, welcome to sc gal French Chat. We have tonight. So when
2:21
I hit when I read the subnopsis this book, you guys, and I've
2:25
read a couple of pages. If I had to put her in the category
2:30
of an artist, and I'm gonna say a rap artist, I was thinking
2:35
Trina. Okay, this chick does not play. But then if I think
2:39
R and B, I'm thinking Monica. I get the Monica. No,
2:46
no, what, let's take it back came Michelle, because you know she
2:50
ain't had it all upstairs, but she'd been true to herself. So we're
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going to bring up the author of Mariah Missus, Alana Washington. Come on
3:00
up, hey, hey, how you doing. I am great? How
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are you? I am doing excellent? Thank you and thank you for having
3:10
me. Oh no, thank you. I love when authors come visit me.
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That if y'all can see my to be read is now went over to
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this it sir, Yeah, y'all, I can't show y'all. That's a
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lot of books here, and not including the other two notebooks I got.
3:30
But hey, I'm gonna get through it one day. But welcome to sc
3:37
book Galas and friends. Tell us a little bit about yourself. All right,
3:42
well, my pleasure. My name is Elaina Maria Washington, but my
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pen name is Elaina Maria. I'm a single mother of two little girls.
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Obviously, I'm an author also a speaker. My core message and speaking is
3:55
becoming you have what it takes to become, and that that describes who I
4:00
am at the moment, a woman that's becoming. I'm a middle aged woman
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embarking on this new journey up becoming an author and a public speaker. I
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just started writing this year, believe it or not, January of twenty twenty
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two, so I'm a brand new author and in June I published my first
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book, and I have about a good twelve thirteen books i'm working on right
4:24
now. So this has been a busy year for me and my pen so
4:27
I'm really excited. But like I said, I'm a woman who's becoming,
4:31
ever evolving, ever growing, trying to see what's next. You know,
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being in my mid forties, life doesn't stop. It's just beginning for me.
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So that's in a nutshell, that's a Lata Maria. Now see I
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love that that is just because you're in your forties, because I'm forty two.
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No, I'm forty now, I'm forty three. Oh Jesus forty three,
4:55
I'll be forty four. H oh lord, and that life does start
5:00
again in the forties. It's so true. It is so true for some
5:05
reason. You know, twenties you're wild'n out, you're just having fun.
5:11
You know. The thirties it kind of you kind of get in it.
5:15
But the something about them forties this is beautiful. You know, Yeah,
5:18
ye're old enough the sometime you have kids out of the house or they're mid
5:24
ages, but then you're not old enough to pursue the dreams that you have.
5:29
So yes, I love it. So this book. Absolutely, You're
5:38
gonna have to tell me where did you get this idea? Like she was
5:45
a baddy like yo, Like come on, yes, yes, miss Mariah.
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Mariah was the it girl, that girl, the pretty girl. What
6:00
you see on social media. I did a post a little while ago called
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Beautiful Lives on social media about how you see her by their skin and so
6:06
smooth, the hair is so perfect, their marriage is so great. Everything
6:10
you want to be like them, You kind of lose yourself trying to emulate
6:13
people. Mariah's was that girl the one you wanted to emulate and we like,
6:18
So that's that's who she was. She came from a two parent household,
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not a you know, typically the story as a crackhead mom or crack
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at dad. Nope, two parent household. Grew up, money affluent,
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went to college, lived well, met the love of her life, Keith,
6:33
and they went on this They had extravagant wedding. Oh they were just
6:38
doing it up. But as soon as they got back from the honeymoon,
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it was trying to have a little afternoon delight and the phone ring for tragedy.
6:46
Her father passes away. And when that happens, that was the start
6:53
of the end of this beautiful, romanticized relationship. And Keith, her husband,
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who she thought was mister perfect, he really began to show who he
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was as a husband. So one of the things about this book be careful
7:06
who you marry, That's the first thing. And she went through grief.
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Who doesn't have someone pass away. You don't grieve? Yes, yes,
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Ma, And she grieved and he laughed, He laughed, and he mocked,
7:24
and he was happy that he was gone. His father in law was
7:27
gone because now he was the top dog in Mariah's heart. And Mariah realized
7:33
this man was nothing but an onion dipped in chocolate. He was just a
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bit of surprise when she took a bite. When she needed him to show
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up, things went left. And that is just the tip of the iceberg
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for this book. This book takes you on a journey. It starts with
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beauty and it ends with some hard decisions. And all of us can relate
7:58
to Mariah in some type of way, shape or form, whether it be
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directly or indirectly or now, will we do some of the things that Riah
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did? Probably not, However, in this book, all of us can
8:07
find ourselves in this book when you take things that you shouldn't take. We've
8:13
all did things we shouldn't have done, or stayed when the exploration date had
8:18
was long passed, and we stay and we hurt. But then sometimes we
8:22
find that strength to fight back. Now do we go too far? Or
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do we find a sweet spot? And that's the rest of Mariah for you
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to read to unfold the rest So Mariah. One young lady. I sent
8:33
the book to a blind TikToker. This a young lady said, this is
8:37
a wild ride. She put the book down multiple times. She said,
8:39
she stared at the invisible wall, like what did I just read. What
8:43
in the world did I just read? So Mariah is a wild Rider has
8:48
some steamy moments in there, tastefully done, but there is some steam.
8:52
So there's a you know, a little bit in there, just a couple
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of triggers. This is about a couple who had some problems, so there's
9:00
some violence, so you have triggers with that, you know, just a
9:03
heads a little bit of you know, violence in there. But overall this
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is a good read, not just because I wrote it, but it is
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urban fiction. So if you like good juicy, good juice, like oh
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my god, he did what you lick your finger? Oh my goodness.
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It's urban fiction. But it's a good book. Like I said, you
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can find yourself in it. And when life starts lifing, what choice will
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you make? Do you go left, do you go right? Or do
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you just stay in the middle. So that's the part of the journey you
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have to find out when you get this book. So that's Mariah a brief
9:39
overview. Okay, so hold up one that was beautiful. You just did
9:46
a whole like the library, we call that a book talk. You just
9:52
did a whole book talk, and you should send me over here. When
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she said, the onion dipped and chocolate. This mean, lord, I
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am never heard nothing like that before. But it's like, yo, that's
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the type. That's my type of book. I like those books that carry
10:07
on a roller coaster ride. I love them. I love them. I
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love them because to me, it feels like the author invests their thoughts,
10:18
their time, their thought pattern, their characters reaction, and it's all time
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and it's broke together and let's let's just say it's cooked and it served perfectly.
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So I love that. I love that. So your main character,
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where did you get the idea? Because most of your urban fiction, I'm
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not seeing much that I can recall that have a two person household, a
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mom and a dad. Most of That's one thing I hate about African American
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I won't even say urban, I would say African American books is that this,
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oh was some parent that's missing, and I hate that. But what
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made you want the character to have a two parent household? Well, when
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I wrote the book, when when you think about urban fiction already, it's
11:16
going to be some type of trauma, right, you know, it's something
11:18
happening in the book, you know, carrying the story, right, But
11:22
it's no different than you know, Goodfellas, that's mob. So they killing
11:26
over there, you know. So they're like, why is that? He
11:28
is always black trauma if you're into any type of horror movie, somebody getting
11:31
stabbed, if you're into you know, so it's always something happened in the
11:35
book to drive the story. It just happened to be a black story.
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So, but I didn't want everything to be just so tragic, you know
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what I'm saying. I wanted there to be oh my god, Okay,
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there's a mom and a daddy, all right, Okay, Okay, I
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see that. Oh she went to college. Oh all right, yeah,
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and everything that have to be so stereotypical, you know, the story of
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My Right itself unfre It just happened to be black characters in the book.
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But everybody purple, brown, green, every the Aliens, the Martians,
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if they you have relationships, this drama that unfolds, it can apply to
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anyone. But I wanted, like I said, everything not to be just
12:16
so much trauma to give us. You know, every all of us don't
12:20
have a crackhead mom and an absent dad and we raised back Nana, you
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know what I mean. We do have mom and dad in the home.
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So it starts to book out beauty, so off beautifully, but it doesn't.
12:31
It goes left, but it starts off beautifully. But that's where it
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was, just to give a different view of us as people. And I
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love that. I love that. I love the fact that you did not
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do the stereotypical type book. I love that. I how did I say
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this? Yes, I love urban streetlet that is where my heart is.
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But sometimes you needed to be a little softer. I want to be able
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to My mom wasn't on crack, my dad wasn't on crack. My grandma
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was in my life. I had both my grandpa and grandmothers, both of
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my parents, loving family. So sometimes I want to know that. Okay,
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you know there are other people that actually lived the life that I lived,
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not all of us on the street with the mom and anito and the
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boyfriend who's the gun. Yeah, so it was like a breath of fresh
13:26
air. So I love that. So what would you could study your genre?
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Yes, ma'am for the books that you write for in general, for
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this book? Ooh, so what kind of genres you write for me?
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Boo? Okay, okay, let's back okay, all right, Well I
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may with myself a three sixty author, okay, meaning I write across genres
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urban fiction. Mariah is just the first book that I released, so that's
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just the first glimpse into the author Elena Maria. Actually coming December, I
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have another urban fiction book coming out called fat Baby. And then I have
14:16
an interactive book called Sticks and Stones. I'm six and Stones Healing from Word
14:22
Scars. So that is an interactive word journal where it helps deal with word
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scars. All of us have had somebody said you're not good enough, You're
14:30
just like your daddy, whatever the case may be, those crazy words scars.
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So in that book, I arm the reader with tools to be prepared
14:37
to fight your own mind to heal. And then after you read the book,
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in the back back there is thirty one days of journaling where you journal,
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and then at the bottom there's an affirmation to read every single day of
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that thirty one days to help begin to start the healing process. So that's
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gonna be a whole series healing from this first one is word scars, and
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I'll be healing from grief, healing from different situations. So that's going to
15:01
be a Whole series. I also have a poetry book coming out called Poetry
15:07
for the Whole Me. That book will be coming out earlier next year.
15:11
And I'm also writing two sci fi novels, Till More Aura, which is
15:18
an African American led sci fi novel, and then I have Soul Jumper,
15:22
which is just a multi culty book. But that's sci fi. So I
15:28
am not just a one note Johnny. I, like I said, I
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leave myself a three sixty author. No man would be left out for entertainment.
15:37
You know, not a fan of urban fiction. Go get this poetry.
15:39
Not a fan of poetry. Need some help, self help, Let's
15:41
go get this self help book. Let's journ a little a little bit.
15:43
You need to see mystical stars in the sky. Well I got some sci
15:48
fi for you too. So I'm I'm all over the place, but I'm
15:52
all over the place, but put together. And I'm so excited. You
15:54
know just that you asked that question because I'm excited to show all the different
15:58
parts of me as an artist. So yeah, I love that. I
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love that you didn't continue yourself to that one box. I love that to
16:07
somebody like me. There are days where I'll be like, I just want
16:11
to read something different. For instance, this past week, I told a
16:17
cowork I said, can you give me a book that you have read that
16:18
you would recommend? The book that she gave me. I was looking like,
16:22
oh, okay, we're gonna try. But it took me out of
16:27
my element and I didn't enjoy it. So I was like, okay,
16:30
little house on Prairie, all right, now, me talking, but we're
16:36
gonna take a commercial break, you guys, and we're gonna come back.
16:37
So y'all know what happens at when we come back, we get the fun
16:41
questions. So stay tuned, come back, you guys. One two,
16:52
one two, Here we go the kind of right, it's my time show,
17:04
it's my time to live. It's my kind all right. And then
17:11
you get turn off the legs, light a candle tonight, a man of
17:40
a merchant, let's take a shower shower together. I was abandon you was
17:57
my I'm sorry, y'all. Y'all know that's my song. Y'all should be
18:15
back and dancing and singing. That's my song. But hey, guess what
18:18
she has. I think she has a special going on. So you guys,
18:22
get in touch with Black Diamond my the Crew podcast sister for some Black
18:27
Friday specials on her candles. But were you're back? So you're ready?
18:33
Put my fun questions? Ready? Alright? So a dy your characters and
18:47
they're all sitting down together. They all kumbay, y'all whatever, and they're
18:52
coming together. You're they're on the screenplay. This is the last scene of
18:59
the play, and they're all coming together. What song would be playing to
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end your screenplay? Up your book? No, I'm not gonna cry.
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I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna shed no tears. No, I'm
19:22
not gonna cry. Is not the time, m because you're not worth my
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tears. That's just gonna play. So why did you choose Ma J Blind?
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Why Mary J Blige? I don't know why I chose Mary J Blige,
19:45
but that song just came to my head because it kind of sums up
19:49
Mariah without giving anything away. I mean, when you make decisions in life,
19:56
you gotta own them. But you no no need. It's no time
19:59
for crying. You pull the plug. You gotta deal with electricity being off,
20:04
whether you shiver or find a blanket, how do you survive? I
20:07
don't know, but there's no electricity to keep you warm now, so you
20:10
gotta go through it. You can't cry, you gotta walk through whatever comes
20:14
next. Tears aren't necessary at that moment and all that on. All right,
20:23
I love that. So her husband, well aka the Jerk. Yeah,
20:34
so we all knew Chef had his theme song and we know that her.
20:38
The ending of your movie would be I'm not gonna cry? What would
20:42
his song be? Hmmm? Now I'm gonna tell you what I thought.
20:52
I was thinking. I was thinking Chris Brown and Buster Rhyme. I forgot
21:03
the name. It just went away. But then I was thinking Usher his
21:10
whole confession CD. I think you could choose one of them for him.
21:14
But who do you? What songs are you here? Yeah? What is
21:22
that song? You're nothing but a liah cheetah to see if a heartbreaker?
21:30
And I back in my life. So I'm taking the house, the kids,
21:34
the dog, I want the dog, I want it all. Yeah,
21:41
I're nothing but yeah, yeah, I see you know your music.
21:48
You pull that one out that I haven't heard that one of the Wow.
21:52
I had somebody play after me and I was like, really, dog,
21:57
I have no dog? What you talk about? Oh my God, you
22:00
came out with that one. I got another one. Carl Thomas, I
22:07
wish I never met her at all, You remember, Carl, I wish
22:11
I never met her at all, even though I love us so and she
22:15
got love for me. Who. Yeah, be careful who you married.
22:22
Going back to earlier part of the interview, all of this just ties into
22:26
what we were talking about earlier. It's be careful who you married. You
22:32
go, girl. So let's say if you had your characters, and what
22:37
would you want to say to your characters right now? Like, what would
22:41
you say to them if they were standing right in front hours Mariah, Girl,
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you're beautiful, you're wonderfully maid, and learn how to let go.
22:55
It's okay to let go. You don't have to be perfect. People love
22:59
you, Jessica. You are flaws and all. And if the sooner you
23:02
realize that, the happier you can become in life. But unfortunately you held
23:06
on just a little too a little too long. But it's okay to make
23:08
mistakes. You're not perfect. To keep Go see the people. Go lay
23:14
on the couch and talk to the people. Go lay on the couch and
23:18
tell them what's going on your head. Go talk to the man. Go
23:22
lay on that brown leather couch and let it out. Let it out,
23:27
Let it all out. To the parents, Maria's parents, you did a
23:32
wonderful job raising your children, and once they become grown, you have to
23:36
accept them where they are and love them through it. You can't fix everything,
23:41
but you can love them through. So that's what I would say to
23:44
the characters that are in the beginning of the book. Of course more introduced
23:48
later. I can't talk about them because that's where the book starts doing this.
23:52
Oh, but that's what I would say to those those main characters.
23:56
Can you tell us about one of those one? Well, Mariah has okay
24:03
okay, and the set and they are super duper fine, and how they
24:10
call Mark oh what oh cute? Okay. So if we're if we're talking
24:19
actors, who would they be we talked about the Morris Chestnut are we talking
24:29
about ears considered fine? Fat? It just depends on into its elba fine.
24:34
You know, I don't know. If it was into the Chocolate Brothers,
24:38
that it elba fine. If you're into the Lighter Brothers, that shamar
24:41
more fine, Boris Kojo, you know, you know, real real fine,
24:48
like eye candy like you smell the cologne and you turn to look that
24:52
fine, Oh that's that's man man, the Man method. Yes see the
25:04
method man, fine, yes, Season Method Man. I don't read Man
25:10
that them to back, you know, I want the the hanging out with
25:15
gold Sun method man. Yes, Season, Yes, yes, come back.
25:22
You're talking about there. So as we close out tonight, what is
25:30
the most valuable piece of piece of advice you Season Office? Upcoming authors?
25:40
Just what type of advice would you give them? Just right, that's right.
25:48
Don't try to be perfect. Your first draft is just that. Write
25:53
your story, and you can always go back and edit. But Season old
25:59
knew everybody. Just write when the inspiration comes to you. However, if
26:03
you talk in a cell phone to get it down, or if you you
26:07
know some people jot on paper or have your laptop, whatever your method is,
26:11
just get it down and get started. Write your story. Get it
26:15
out of you, get it out of you, because when the story comes
26:18
I can tell for me, it pulls and the beats on me. Sometimes
26:22
I'll stop one story and start another one because it's pulling the inspiration. Just
26:26
write and enjoy releasing what was inside of you. Then you go back and
26:32
stress over getting it right and getting the editing and doing the cleaning and doing
26:34
your alpha and then doing your beta reading and then all that good stuff.
26:38
Get it out. That's the best piece of advice I got because being new,
26:42
I was like, oh my god, it's not making it. I
26:45
don't know. It's okay to not make sense at first. Get it out.
26:48
And that was the best piece of advice because now I'm able to write,
26:52
and I feel so much better. When I go back to it,
26:52
I'd be like, what, okay, But at least I got a flow.
26:56
So just write and enjoy the journey and appreciate the gift. Don't frustrate
27:03
your gift trying to be perfect. Enjoy the gift that you have and get
27:07
it out. So that would be my best piece of advice. I love
27:11
that. That is beautiful. That is now I see why you wrote a
27:17
poetry book, and I see it now, I see it. So you
27:23
know you've gained some readers here. You know you've gained some followers, but
27:29
we need to know where to follow you, So go ahead and give us
27:33
social media links so we can follow our new author. Absolutely well. Everything
27:41
is my name, Elina Maria A L L A I N A Maria.
27:45
If you type that in it's a cross off Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
27:52
Twitter, TikTok. You know I have a doll, so please I would
27:56
love you. Also, I have a website, Elaina Maria dot com.
28:00
When we are currently updating the website because like I said, I got the
28:03
two new books dropping in December, so that will be updated soon. And
28:08
then also Mariah. Actually that next week I have did a little Mariah two
28:15
point oh. We added a little something extra to Mariah. So the first
28:19
group of readers got Mariah Original, the second group of readers after if you
28:25
purchase now, it'll just be the original book. But in about a week
28:29
it's at with the editor be coming back and I'll be uploading, you'll get
28:32
Mariah two point zero. So it's about a little bit more content added to
28:37
the book, just to give a little more dialogue, just to dive a
28:41
little deeper into the world of Mariah, because there will be part two.
28:47
So stay tuned. Ooh, so I should hold So should I hold up?
28:53
See? I don't like Wheaton just I might have to do. You
28:57
don't have to wait. Maria is a is no, she's dope as it.
29:03
She is dope. I'm telling you, she as dope. As Is
29:06
is a great book. It's just some things that I just wanted to just
29:11
like I said, I'd a little more dialogue to it. But when I
29:14
tell you, she's a good cake, as is, just gonna put a
29:15
little more icing on her. But she is a delicious cake. Delicious came
29:19
right. So you guys go ahead and get her now, and I will
29:22
make sure that I close up the links follow sci book. Gallen. Friends,
29:27
we will have the links posted up there. And MSS Washington, we
29:32
thank you for bringing Mariah to us tonight and all the rest of the books
29:37
that you have coming out in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. We
29:41
are looking forward to to getting to know more of the new three sixty off.
29:48
I doesn't think I'm gonna call you from now on a three sixty offer.
29:52
I love that for you, but thank you for joining us tonight to
29:56
it. I like it. It does. It does all that you all
30:03
the genres you're touching, and then there's self help, and there's poetry,
30:07
and then you have to siphi and then Mariah coming back again. Yes,
30:11
you should pin yourself as the new three sixty author. I love that.
30:18
So you guys another Saturday night in the books, and we thank you again
30:23
Missus Washington. Guess what, you guys, The whole crew is going to
30:30
be together tomorrow. So at eight o'clock you're gonna see me Missus, Angela,
30:37
Tamala, who else we got, Trevita, LaToya, Alma. We're
30:44
all gonna be hanging out, you know. On the third Sunday is all
30:48
of us. You can get to see us in our natural element. So
30:52
we will see you tomorrow night at eight pm. Again. Grab Mariah.
30:59
Okay, you guys, grab it. I'm telling you you will not be
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disappointed. Thank you for getting us Washington aka three sixty author. You guys
31:08
have a great night. Bye, thank you, thank you, thanks,
31:17
thank you for joining us tonight. We hope you found a new book to
31:21
read or a new author to explore. Join us again in two weeks for
31:26
sc book gals and French Chat