Tag: sonja lewis

Blog/

UIO Releases Podcast On Race and Racial Injustice

As a writer, I’ve always struggled with who has a right to tell a specific story.  Make no mistake about, I know that a darn good writer can serve up a good story whether it is her own or not.  Still, it is not always easy to write with compassion and empathy about something as controversial as racism or racial injustice.

Furthermore, this topic, in particular, conjures up deep emotions and can get real personal and so it should.  Getting personal sometimes is what it takes to get a point across.  Even so it is important to write responsibly and constructively. The same goes with talking.

That’s why I decided to use UIO’s platform to talk about race and to share some of my personal experiences in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement.  How To Talk About Race Now examines why it is important to talk about race and offers tips on how to do so constructively.  Check out this timely and relevant resource on Itunes or where ever you listen to podcasts.  And by all means, join the conversation, leave your comments.  Let’s talk.

 

 

Blog/

UIO Launches New Podcast Series

Kicking off UIO’s new podcast series, I have a fantastic conversation about identity with Rachita Saraogi and Rebecca Thomson, co-founders of Sisterhood, a social enterprise about turning girl’s self-doubt into self-confidence through creativity.

Out today, Series 2: Episode 1: Your Identity Inside Out delves into questions that often arise during adolescence. How to deal with gender stereotypes and so on. Also, the podcast offers lots of tips on how to tap into your girl cell and use it as your super power.

Intriguing stuff! And that’s not all. To listen, download a feed reader and sign up for my rss feed here. Also, listen on iTunes, Spotify, Tunein, Stitcher and Soundcloud and check out our Twitter, Instagram or Facebook page, all @uiopodcast.

In the meantime, not only do we have another exciting line-up of fabulous guests this season, we have also taken to the studio to improve the sound and overall production quality of the podcasts. Some of the episodes are taped in Maple Street Creative in Central London and others in the White City Place podcast hub in West London.  It’s all about making better podcasts for you.

On that note, coming up in two weeks is Episode 2: On Undiagnosed Mental Illness Inside Out with Eleanor Segall, writer and expert on mental illness. Stay tuned!

Blog/

Tough Love: Easier Said Than Done

Some things are easier said than done, most of them have to do with kicking a bad habit, such as swearing, overeating, smoking or enabling. Yes enabling – contributing continuously to an unhealthy/dysfunctional situation in the name of love, religion, support, family secrecy, and so on.

Guilty as charged for enabling, that is. Never have I been guilty of any of the other vices – okay, so I might have indulged in at least one of them. Never mind.

Anyhow, since enabling can be as counterproductive as the addiction or dysfunction in question, it is time to toughen up and practise tough love. I know, I know. That’s easier said than done.

Read more in my September Huffington Post blog, Getting Tough On Enabling. And do have your say on the matter, too.

 

 

Blog/

Reading Leads To Bigger Ponds

Even if I can’t remember the first book I read fully, I have enjoyed reading ever since I can remember.  There is something about entering another space, if you will, and imagining, if only for the duration of a novel, for example, what it’s like to be in another person or persons shoes.

Granted some of the characters, particularly tragic ones,  wear shoes that are a bit too tight. Still, all one has to do then is to turn the page and eventually the tightness loosens. There, everyone can breathe again.

Real life can be a bit like that too, all too often, which is why I advocate reading, not only as an escape route, but also as a good practice to keep the mind open to different ways of life, different perspectives, different options.

I write about this in my July Huffington Post blog: Reading Leads to Bigger Ponds.

You know what they say, ‘life doesn’t have to be a closed book.’

Who are they, anyhow?  Never mind, why not open a book, a magazine and gain a different perspective.

 

Homepage/

In Oz After Being in Hometown Parade

 

After a three-week absence from home and work, I feel a bit like I am in Oz, but am hoping that I will find my way, perhaps more expediently than Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz.

Lots of work overdo, including reporting the fantastic news that one of my short stories, The Coloured Girl, adapted as Guess who is coming to lunch, was published in Love Sunday, magazine of the Sunday People, on November 23. A paper of the Trinity Mirror Group, the Sunday People has a wide readership.

How about that! Watch this space for the pdf of the story, in case you missed it. Think of it as a Christmas treat, if you will. But still, there is time to bag The Seasons for Christmas or gift it. So I am told it is a fast and exciting read. Actually, I think so, too.

In the meantime, I must take the opportunity to publicly thank the Leary, Georgia, Christmas Parade committee for inviting me as their special guest this year. As Grand Marshal of my hometown’s Annual Christmas Parade, I had the opportunity to speak at a breakfast and lead the parade. Equally as exciting, I interacted with both familiar and unfamiliar community members. How very exciting.

It was an emotional yet fun event for me as I rode through the streets of the small town, remembering Leary when I was a youth. Like most small towns, Leary has had its ups and downs, evidently so in the population and other areas. On the upside, the town now has a library and yes, yours truly has three books in it. How about that!

Appropriately, after the parade, there was an opportunity to sign books. Many thanks to those who visited and supported!

Again, thanks to the committee and everyone who came for sharing your day with me. Having been back in the place where I grew up, if only briefly, I learned a valuable lesson about holding on to who you are, even if it means letting go of the past, so often necessary to spring forward.

Now to go forth and find my way through Oz; wish me luck in meeting the old Wizard, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wellbeing/

Before and After Running School – See it!

What a week! The sun is shining, the river is beaming and I am glistening. And with good reason – I have hit some milestones in decorating, writing and running.

Not to worry I won’t go on about the decorating except to say it is all coming together–tables, chairs, window treatments and so on.

As for the writing, the next novel is closer than you think. At the end of May, The Blindsided Prophet is scheduled for e-book release. Last week, my editor returned the first edits and this week I am working on them fervently. Equally as exciting if not more, my designer is well on the way to delivering the book’s cover. I am so very pleased and will get the promotions on the road as soon as the tools are in hand.

In the meantime, I finished the first six weeks of running school. It stands to reason that I might go back for a further, more advanced six weeks to ensure that I maintain my brand new skills.

Yes, I have some brand new skills, more like techniques. The proof is in the pudding, rather in the running in this case.

First, let me say that I can actually see the difference and feel it. Also, I am amazed that I am sharing it here–unheard of.  Never say never! All I can say is that I am properly impressed. I hope you will be too.

No wonder I am glistening.