Grow...n

To grow we have to be open and free…
Open?
Yes open, our hearts and our minds…
Once you have closed either one…
Growth stops…
Once we consider ourselves a grown…
We will never grow again…
This is possibly one of the reasons for the generational divide…
Once we are unable to hear…
The voices of our children…
Realizing that we can learn from them…
Because we are too grown…
We miss out on so many chances…
Mentoring can be a backwards journey…
I have learned so much from the young people in my life…
A woman recently told me that I needed to choose a voice in my writing…
“You can’t use words like androgynous in a sentence and then slang in the next…”
Oh yes I can…
My heart and mind are so open…
That I can speak the Queen’s English and Ebonics, without missing a beat…
What that does is releases me…to know everyone…
To be available to people who are just like me…
Or so not like me…
Free?
Yes Free…
To be me…
And for you to be you…
To speak our minds and hearts…
To accept and embrace differences…
To coexist…
Somewhat…
Peacefully…
So many have tried to still my voice…
Alter my words…
Didn’t happen then…
Won’t happen now…
I am growing…
And will throw…
Water…
Sun…
And fertilizer on my damn self…
If no one else wants to…

acVernon Menchan 04/27/2007

Am I What I Write...?

Am I what I write? That is the most interesting question, and a hard one to answer…truthfully… My third book “Cinnamon’s Universe” was released April 21… And the question abounds… Cinnamon was introduced in “Black’s Obsession” as an object of two men’s Obsession…. In Cinnamon’s Universe…she speaks for herself… Last weekend I was at a book discussion of “Black’s Obsession”… And it was one of my best ever… Those sisters of KUDOS BookClub of Rockledge Florida… Took me to task…many loved the book…others not so much… But most beautifully…they had much to say…from grammar to content… I loved hearing them talk about my characters…as though they were real… I was there several hours before… The question was asked… Are you like Cinnamon? I had to be pretty careful… But I was truthful… “Yeah there is a lot of Cinnamon in me…” I don’t feel you can write without exposing… Bits of yourself… However I would beg that readers understand… That there is no way… We can be…or can be expected to be… Our characters… For me writing is a way of exploring… Inner selves… But it’s mostly a way of communicating the what-ifs… Getting the reader so caught up… They think… They know… And can identify with… Get mad at… Cry for… Feel for… The characters…after all was said and done…they bought my other books… Chose my new book for the June Selection… This weekend… I felt I did my job… Thanks ladies… acVernon Menchan Cinnamon’s Universe – now available –www.acvernonmenchan.com

Struggling?

There is always an internal struggle…between faith and the world… If we are honest we have to admit… We love the world… I am a spiritual girl… Love to go to church… And hear the word as it’s written… But no one loves to bop her head to a funky beat… Or lose her self in the pages of a good, sexy book… Or most importantly write about people caught up… In all the struggles…that love and life brings…my characters make no excuses… They just are... I had a funny experience a while back… A friend from church found out I was a writer… Asked me many times over to bring her a copy of my books… I told her… ‘Go to my website, read an excerpt, if still interested… Let me know’… My sixth sense told me, the mind was closed… The next time I saw her she was a little reticent… Finally she told me… "Wow, you write about interesting topics…" I giggled inside… I knew she had seen my cuss words…I cuss on paper…to avoid cussing people… I cheat on paper…well you feel me… "True…I do…I write what comes to my mind… Pours out of my heart onto paper…” We are still cool, but now she thinks… She knows something she doesn’t… But that’s okay… I want to keep them guessing… Yeah I can believe… And still achieve… Does that make me versatile? Or just controversial… I am not real sure… And am really not tripping… I am just doing it… How I am doing it… acVernon Menchan…angelia Cinnamon’s Universe now available… acvernonmenchan.com

No More Waiting...

Life changes on a dime… We always feel we have enough time… But do we? Someone is always waiting for something…. From the simple… “I will wear that when I have somewhere special to go…” To the profound… “I will tell her I love her the next time I see her…” STOP IT ALREADY… There is never a better time than now… Get dressed up in that suit and your good jewelry… Whenever you feel like it… No matter what day it is… Anywhere you are going is special…. Tell her you love her… Tomorrow she might be gone…. You know what…. Do whatever you choose to… But me… I am going to live like today is the last day… Of my life… I am going to tell everyone I love… I love them… I am going to laugh till my side hurts… Kiss till my lips pucker… Hug till my arms ache… I am waiting for nothing… acVernon Menchan

Faith...

All of us at some time express our faith…
How strongly we believe…
Let us all say “Amen”..

What I have discovered is the truest test of faith…
Is when the chips are down…
When things aren’t going well…
That is when the true measure of one’s faith comes into play…

I know so many people who profess their faith…
All the time…
All the time that is…
When things are good…
But when a trial or a tribulation comes along…
Faith is the first thing to fly out the window…
In comes doubt…
Fear…
Worry…
There is nothing sadder than hearing someone say…
“I lay awake all night worrying…”
As though that is a badge of honor…
What it is… is a way to look…
And feel tired….all the time…

Faith in adversity is when our mettle is proven…
When we sincerely believe in our deepest…
Softest places…
That no matter what the trial…
The tribulation…
Or difficulty is…
We believe and know that faith will be our way through…
It…
We will come out on the other side of it…
And will have richer lives for what we have gone through…

Truth will set you free…
But faith will keep you free…

acVernon Menchan
04/09/2007

Strong...

STRONG, BLACK WOMAN….
Those are words that have inspired pride in me…
Then caused me to cringe…
Bringing tears to my eyes…
I was raised by a platoon of SBWs…
They were smart, money-earning…
Handling their business…
Raising good children Amazons…
Everyone looked up to them…
No one more than me…
But one day around my teen years…
I started seeing them differently…
When I would catch them unawares…
The looked tired…
Lonely…
A bit sad…
I accepted my legacy…
By age thirteen…
I was on the planet Amazonia…
Repping hard…
Smart…
Sassy…
Sharp-tongued…
Five feet ten…in stocking feet…
Damn…ain’t that something….
But I knew I was more than…
Just another SBW…
I got married first…amongst my friends…
My girls were aghast…
They wore me out with…
You will never…finish your studies…
You will just be…
Some man’s wife…a baby machine...
I didn’t listen to them…
I did me…married that man I loved…
Who loved me…loves me...
But I defied them…
Did the school thing…
To death…
Several careers…
Good kids…
But…
I also got to be not strong…all the time…
I got to wake up at night…
Saying…
“Baby I am thirsty…my back hurts…”
Hearing him say…
“Lay right there, I got you…let me get you some juice…while I rub your back…”
Now that might not seem like a big deal…
But damn is it real…
It shores me up for those times…
When a sister has to be fierce…
Amazonian…a SBW…
Aint nothing wrong with that…
But there is a time…
And a place for everything…
Don’t be ashamed to sometimes be a different SBW…
Sweet Black Woman…Sexy Black Woman…Satisfied Black Woman…
It’s ALL GOOD…
acVernon Menchan…angelia…

Stripped Down...

Writing is like getting naked in public…
How?
Well…check this out…
Most of us look better clothed…
We can hide so much with our control-top…
Panty hose and well cut outfits…
However…
When we strip down to nothing…
It’s all there for the looking…
Writing is the same way…
Once that book is out there…
Readers assume they know us…
That they can see us naked…
She got to be like that…
She wrote about it…
I have danced on the edge with my books…
I touch on topics…
Push the envelope…
I have written about…
Open marriages…
Un-requited love…
Women-who-love-women…
Interracial preferences…
You name it…
I will claim it…
I try to do it in a way that just is…
Not to titillate…
But to communicate…
Because my world is so large…
I know all of these people…
But that doesn’t stop the questions…
Is that you?
Are you her?
Do you?
Have you ever?
Why does it matter?
It doesn’t to me…
I just want you to think…
Smile…
Cry…
Gasp…
Say “Damn…no she didn’t, did she?
Yes she did…and she will again…
acVernon Menchan
Cinnamon’s Universe…April 21, 2007