The outpouring of love is staggering… wow… THANK YOU ALL SOOO MUCH! It feels so good to have a family… a true community of great people who have your back–those people who laugh with you, cry with you, fuss with you (when your covers or characters ain’t right–not because they’re mad atcha, but because they love ya, LOL), and who get up and do “the wave” & chair dance and holler when they hear some good news about you. THAT’S FAMILY THANK YOU for being my family… and the beautiful thing is, we’ve been together for what feels like a loooong time. This was all years in the making–and like any other family, we get new additions every day. How cool is that? BIG SMILE. Just know that I don’t take one second of it for granted. Nope. Not one little bit.

BIG PHILLY HUG & MUCH LOVE… Leslie

PS: Here’s that You Tube video I promised you. Ya might have to cut and paste it into your browser–I’m still learning how to make some of the blog features do what it do but I’m trying Have a fabulous weekend everybody!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEM1HPaHEIc
This is “home video gone digital” with my baby hollering, “Go Mommy” in the background, LOL!

We did it!!! YOU DID IT! Together we won The Essence Magazine “Storyteller of the Year” Award! THANK YOU! Bless you folks! This was the magazine’s debut literary event that they hope to turn into an annual function that may grow to the size of The Essence Music Awards one day… and you guys/gals put me on the map—HOT DANG! LOL!

No, I’m serious. I wasn’t even on the initial ballot until VHL readers hit Essence with all the energy they had, in fact, I wasn’t even aware that there was such a contest until you all kicked up a LOT of dust, ha ha ha! Then you raised Cain, literally, when the voting on-line didn’t go according to Hoyle for the first couple of days, and then you pummeled the voting tallies until a sister got her foot in the door. And check it out… of ALL the categories of nominations, “Storyteller of the Year” was the only one not decided upon by Essence judges. That was a Peoples’ Choice type of award, whereby votes were counted. You all weighed in, showed your muscle at the ballot box, and made it do what it do—BIG SMILE. For that I am deeply honored and humbled… it means so much more that this was done the old fashioned way, by reader selection and not politics. You all are simply amazing! BIG PHILLY HUG!

For the gala, I took my daughter. At 17, she was sooo excited! The publisher put us up at The Warwick a couple of blocks away from Le Parker Meridian in Manhattan where the event was held, and as you can see my boo has us playing around and mugging for the camera, LOL!
It was an awesome evening with authors, editors, publishers, marketing & PR types, media… the virtual who’s who in the literary community. Bishop T. D. Jakes received the President’s Award for his stellar work on “Repositioning Yourself” and one’s life—I’m gonna go get that book this weekend, believe me! Terri McMillan received the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was given special honors for her marvelous article on Jill Scott (a Philly sister whom I admire and adore!)

Actress Lynn Whitfield added some Hollywood panache to the opening of the envelopes, as did that fine hunk from the hot TV show The Wire, Jamie Hector (yeah, my kid got her photos on, LOL!) Appeals went out to save our community libraries and minority-owned bookstores amid the festivities to be sure that the opportunity to give back to one’s roots in reading were not overlooked. News anchor Hoda Kobt worked with Dr. Ian Smith (from The 50M Pound Challenge) to MC a fabulous event, with Essence’s own Patrick Henry Bass as head honcho

What can I say… I felt like Cinderella at the ball. Open bar, chi-chi hors d’oeuvres, the glitterati… and somehow, through some very dedicated reader fairy godmothers & godfathers, I wound up on “The A List.” Wow. How cool was that… albeit with a size 11 shoe, it would’ve taken some doing to find this chic a glass slipper—but the powers that be improvised and gave me a crystal award, LOL! Mo’ betta in the long run. Any ole way, it was fun, I mean that in all sincerity—thank you soooo much! Me and my agent, Manie Barron, his partner at the firm, Claudia Menza, and my daughter were sitting in the back of the room. I was just glad to get nominated, had no expectation that I might actually win. He and I were buzzing and chatting between clapping (about to get thrown out like bad little children—you know when the teacher breaks up a pair, ha ha ha), and they called my name. For two seconds I didn’t move. I was like, “Huh? Me? For REAL? OMG!”

The St. Martin’s row went up, my back row went up, and we CUT UP, just acted like we had no sense… ah… you would have been proud (or terribly ashamed at us hooting, ha ha ha!) But my daughter was the “technical digital one” who filmed it and showed me how to get it up on You Tube – BIG GRIN. [I promise I’ll have it up there by tomorrow, once that 18MB sucker uploads–laughing] She got the pics of me & Manie & Claudia & Monique Patterson (my editor) and some cool celeb pics and then blew my cell phone up and hers with the fast as lightening text messages to my sister, all my play daughters and family, who in turn blew up my cell (I don’t wanna see next month’s bill, but it was worth it, chuckle!)

SO THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, AN AWARDS TO CHERISH… and most of all… FOR ALL THE LOVE!!! What a NIGHT!

BIG PHILLY HUG, Leslie!

Hi folks… it has just come to my attention that a fellow author who has just come out with her debut novel, Liar’s Diary, was also just diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer… therefore, Patry Francis just doesn’t have the energy right now while undergoing treatment to do all the barnstorming, road promotion, etc., required to launch her book. So her publisher asked other authors to blog on the topic to lend a hand and to get the word out about her new novel… y’all know I had to jump on it, right. It is such an easy thing to pass along good vibes and to lend a helping hand to someone–we’d all want it done for us, especially in a field like writing where you don’t have the wonderful safety net of an employer to catch you when you’re sick. That’s a tiny thing we each can do to make this world a little kinder and gentler…. so while you’re looking for reads, consider hers. Below is the link to her story that you can cut & paste to read more. BIG HUG, Leslie!

Patry’s website is http://www.patryfrancis.com/ and the amazon link for her book is:

http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Diary-Patry-Francis/dp/0452289157/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201389693&sr=1-1

Also, Penguin is offering an online discount:
In support of Patry Francis and this remarkable blog initiative, Penguin Group USA would like to offer 15% off the paperback edition of The Liar’s Diary when purchased online from us.penguingroup.com until 2/15/2008.
On the shopping cart page, enter PATRY in the ‘coupon code’ field and click ‘update cart’ to activate it.

http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780452289154,00.html

Lastly: There’s a nice article about the blogging effort at Red Room. http://www.redroom.com/articles/authors-who-blog-come-together-help-one-their-own

Hey, everybody! They tell me Mercury is in retrograde, which to all astrology buffs means that, anything written, any contract being signed, etc., will need a careful eye—plus expect travel delays (all a writer’s nightmare), but I’m still plugging away at the craft and will be trying to “make it do what it do.” LOL! I can’t always navigate by the stars, prayer works better for me, so I’ll just have to say some extra ones as we flow into Black History Month and then Women’s History month, deadlines still looming, travel still required, and yeah, contracts pending regardless, BIG SMILE. What’s a woman to do?

But I did want to let you know about an awesome newsletter – A Place of Our Own (APOOO for short) which does a lovely write up on all things literary at www.apooo.org. It’s really important to commune with others and to make sure you have sources that keep one upbeat and positive. There’s also Access Romance that does a FANTASTIC JOB of getting out all the romance updates, plus Raw Sistaz (which is great for helping the new writer get started.) These great resources are off the chain… and I wanted to give a shout out to Beverly Jenkins (author extraordinaire) who invited me to her fan club on-line for an all day yahoo session on 1/17/08. We had a BALL just laughing… I swear those ladies had me talking to the screen.

The love, the support, the camaraderie is all important, especially when you hear news about a fixture in the independent bookstore world, like Karibu Bookstore (DC/Metro Washington area), has closed its doors on six stores. That is so sad that I don’t know what to say. Those stores were where I would visit east coast readers and have a blast getting to finally places faces with names… and the chain seemed so strong that one couldn’t even begin to imagine something like this. Then, boom. So, I guess what I’m saying is, venues that you truly appreciate, try to support as much as humanly possible—and it’s also important to support the on-line avenues of connection like APOOO and others. These are some very fragile times, it seems… doesn’t just take an astrological, Mercury retrograde to make you look back and wonder.

Ok, forgive me, smile… today I just felt like waxing philosophical

BIG HUG!

Peace….

In the now famous words of Rodney King—“Can’t we all just get along?” I just got back into the swing after the holidays, opened up e-mail, saw the blog… read the posts and was like, “Whoa! What happened?”

Please, folks, let’s start 2008 with peace on earth and good will to all men & women. Call me superstitious, but my Momma used to say, “The way you start out is the way you finish up.” Might be an old wives tale, who knows—but I still have this habit of putting on collard greens, black-eyed peas, rice, and ham on New Year’s Eve… the old ladies in the family say it symbolizes money (the greens), good people (the peas), and good luck (rice & ham)—don’t ask, I haven’t figured that one out myself yet. Why can’t it be turkey and yams? Maybe rice and ham had something to do with what was considered significant bounty in some areas. Who knows? Bounty = good luck, I suppose? I digress.

Then, still working with the theory of starting things off right for the year, if you follow the old wives plan, you’d add a scripture or two (if you’re out partying, LOL) or a Watch Night service in a church, if you’re being particularly diligent spiritually… but top on the list was, drum roll please… “no drama.” You had to be laughing, hugging, eating, and being merry with friends and family wherever you were or it was a foreboding to a potentially not so good year. Okay, people, don’t be messing with my mojo, LOL (or yours)—BIG SMILE! After a particularly daunting 2006, followed by a hard 2007, my personal campaign motto is “Celebrate in ’08,” all right

So when I came back and saw everybody in a whirlwind of controversy, my first reaction was, “Aw, maaaan.”

See, here’s the thing—I want us to have some “safe place” to be on line… where we can debate, share differences, discuss issues, lob opinions, and ultimately have fun—but I so don’t want anyone attacked for any reason. No attacks for opinions, sexual preferences, race, creed, religion, you name it. Very uncool. If folks don’t like a video or book I’ve created, I’m ok with that. Next time I’ll try to do better. I also understand passion. People have become passionate about the VHL series, the characters, and the story-lines. I’m beyond honored and very, very flattered that they are.

You’re also right when you say I’m trying my best… but, yep, sometimes I miss the mark. If I had a Michael Jackson budget the way he did “Thriller,’ – one of my ALL TIME fav videos (LOL!), lemme tell you, it would be on and poppin’! Sad truth is, ha ha ha, the authors pay out of pocket for these little trailers and most of us are writing as fast as we can to keep the lights on, let alone getting esoteric and sexy with filmmaking. That’s the problem… someone in the response posts said it best that, making these vids is really, really expensive. True dat! Getting great actors is really expensive, and the finer the person is, the more they cost—go figure, LOL. Same with purchased images, music to underscore things, editors, directors, producers, blah, blah, blah. Sigh…

Therefore, all criticisms are accurate. Conversely, so are the defenses that say, Ms. B did the best she could at the time. Also true (even though it wasn’t what folks liked at all.) But the real deal is, beyond our varying artistic sensibilities, which ranged from applause to Apollo Theater-like boos for the cover, the video, et al, we’re still a family of individuals who all share the one thing in common, and that is passion about the series.

So, for real, y’all… I’m going to ask you a BIG favor… actually to make a New Year’s resolution to be kinder and gentler to each other. Let’s not cuss anybody out, call out anyone’s intellect, jump on anyone’s opinion or heritage just because it’s different than our own. I really want peace on the boards so people can feel free to participate. I’m not thin-skinned—if someone really doesn’t like something I’ve created and has an issue, they’re entitled to that opinion… I ain’t mad. Same deal with if they really love it when no one else seems to. Balance. We’re going for openness and a good place to share.

However, even with all that said, please don’t ever lose your passion; it’s a great thing to have. It’s a Neteru blade on your hip. Passion inspires, mobilized, gets things done, fires people up and motivates, cuts away obstacles and moves mountains. You just have to be careful with the other side of that double-edged blade. Passion can also cut to wound deeply, can create divides that exclude and overwhelm others, rather than moving mountains. Let’s always use our Isis and Blade of Ausar to cut to the good. Okay? We always want to be “positive” agents of change—gotta know how to wield our passion so we don’t wind up doing unnecessary damage to our fellow Guardian brothers and sisters in the heat of anger.

My Momma woulda said, “Now, y’all stop. That ain’t no way for family to act.” Then she would have fed everybody and made ‘em eat together to stop the feud. She would have put on a spread so fantastic that even while you were standing in her living room with your mouth poked out, what was on her dining room table would just break you down to eat with your temporary enemy. Breaking bread is one of the oldest tricks in the book to solve a dispute. Very basic. God, I miss that woman. My Dad was more “colorful” and a tad more unorthodox in his approach… he would have poured a round of ‘licka’ and it would be solved once folks got ‘nice,’ chuckle—miss him, too.

Sometimes, and this seems like one of those times… there’s wisdom in that “old school” approach of not ferreting out who was right or wrong, or who started what, but just agreeing that in the grander scheme of things, family is more important than all of that. So, in lieu of the old school solution of breaking bread together, and given the distances that make getting together impossible, we’ll have to do this cyberspace style and just say peace and agree to let it go, if we can… cool?

All right, whew, with that said… Happy New Year!

Peace and hair grease, Leslie!

Remember… let’s ALL stay in The Light!

We have been giving away goodies all month long… six more folks just won off the website–and we’ll post the winners names in the next newsletter. Today we’ll do the last drawing in this last blog post update of the year. Secret Santa is on the move, LOL! I’ve been having a ball, and loving the response posts… Thank you all for that

I have some pics, too–as promised–sent in from the Philly AA Book Club ladies (when we had a great seafood dinner and talked about “No Trust” in Darby, PA), and from the ladies at Karibu Bookstore in Bowie, MD, where we had a blast discussing The Vampire Huntress Legend series. See holiday pics below.

Philly AA Book Club

Some of the folks at Karibu, in Bowie

Ahhh…. but the best part of the holidays for me, (in addition to having sooo many laughs with wonderful people), is giving away goodies… drum roll please

The winners are:

–Rebecca
–Dontana
–V22
–P
–Terri W

Yaaaay! Congratulations everybody! May everyone who frequents this blog have a Happy Holiday and Wonderful New Year! I’ll chat back in January 2008!

BIG Philly Hug, Leslie!

Hi, folks! I’m being silly, having a crazy “little kid-like” day… been on the phone, not doing my work, LOL, playing on e-mail–’cause it’s my birthday, LOL! Can’t stay focused, so I figured… heeeey… why not give out “double stuff” on my birthday? Sooo…. drum roll please…. this week’s winners are:

–Vicky
–Shari
–Camille
–Jackie777
–Amy
–Marquita
–Seven

Had to keep the number/numerology straight on my birthday, LOL! So, seven prizes it is!

This weekend was like a non-stop party, too. Went to the annual holiday event that Nakea Murray throws for “As The Page Turns” book club at 3801 Market Street, Philadelphia. My sister-girl ALWAYS hooks it up and makes it fun, and those ladies are awesome… Brenda Thomas was there–Shout out to my Philly author sister who just came out with a fantastic MUST READ BOOK, “Laying Down My Burdens”, along with new authors Dwayne Murray and Dashawn Taylor (look for these brothers!) The food… aw dang, people, was craaazaaay! Caribbean jerk chicken, curry chicken, red beans and rice, fish, vegetables… I was in heaven–bless you Miss Nakea for the invite. BIG HOLIDAY HUG, Lady!

That was Saturday… then on Sunday, I was hanging out with the wonderful ladies of the Philly AA Book Club, hosted by Lisa MaRie and Gina up at Keya Graves Seafood Restaurant in Darby, PA (10 N. 9th Street.) We ate, we laughed, the ladies were fabulous there, too, as was the food–and then we got down and dirty with the politics in the Betrayal of the Trust series… they were reading the last book in that 4 book extravaganza = “No Trust.” (THANK YOU for the gifts, too, ladies!!!) They hospitality was so warm, the ladies just lovely!

As soon as I get digital pics I’ll post them on the blog–but I wanted you all to know where I’d been Guess I’d better get back to that werewolf book. The third one in the series is on my desk as we speak–calling my name and due in to my editor by the end of this weekend, ha ha ha—ooops… gotta run, y’all. So have a great weekend!

Much love and Happy Holidays… Leslie!

This is just a little somethin’ somethin’ extra for the holidays… have a good weekend! Hugs, Leslie!

WATCH TRAILER

Hi, folks… this week I’m mailing out goodies for the first wave of Free GIFTS!

Winners - Don’t forget to mail me your addresses at Vamplegend@AOL.com Next week, more goodies will be given away… yaaaay! Happy Holidays, Leslie!

Ok, folks… like I said earlier, LOL — I LOVE to play Santa !!! So, in a totally unscientific approach (of putting all blog responders’ names in a hat and having my kid randomly pick), we pulled:

–Numbah1Mom
–DragonRider
–Tyhitia

Yaaaay!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Just send me a private e-mail with your name and address to Vamplegend@aol.com and I’ll get your surprise in the mail this weekend… BIG CHEESY GRIN!

Now, if you didn’t win this round, never fear, I’ve got MORE “stuff” and will be pulling names again next week… will make sure everybody gets a lil somethin’ somethin’ — BIG HUG! We’re gonna do it like this until Christmas week… and don’t forget–if you go to the www.LeslieEsdaileBanks.com contest page, there’s still MORE STUFF to win that way too. This was just an extra bonus for the folks who frequent the blog. (Love y’all!)

Happy Holidays!
BIG HUG, Leslie!