Angelia Vernon Menchan

Angelia Vernon Menchan is an author, publisher and public speaker who owns two publishing companies, MAMM Productions and Honorable Menchan Media. Mrs. Menchan is also a Budget Officer and former Job Corps Counselor. To date she has published twenty-three books of her own work, both fiction and non-fiction and more than eighty ebook novellas on amazon.com. You can access her bibliography on www.amazon.com search words: Angelia Vernon Menchan




Contact information:
Website: http://acvermen.blogspot.com
Email: acvermen@yahoo.com
Phone numbers: 904 714 2272 904 303 2679

Friday, June 13, 2008

Listening to the Youngsters

I had an opportunity to converse with four young writers,
They were all between the ages of twenty and thirty and I had never spoken,
To a more honest, open, funny or real group,
Not only that they are so in tune with making their own opps,
Not being at all concerned with what the naysayers are saying,
And most importantly understanding that they have room and time to grow,
One in particular told me how she knew that coming into the game,
She wasnt the best writer, but that because her readers supported her,
She went back to the drawing board and tightened up her game,
What was most enlightening and touching was their sense of support,
They talked about pooling resources and helping the next one.
One of them had me rolling out, by saying they learned from the foreigners,
They learned to put their money together,
Publish one book, hit the streets hustling it,
Then go back publish another book,
Then do the hustle thing again,
Until they all had their chance at it!
I loved that and it reinforced my belief in young folks and their tenacity,
I asked them how the dealt with the negativity surrounding,
Street Lit, Erotica, etc.,
And they told me what is probably the key to them 'makin' it...
They said,
"We don't deal with it, we continue to put in work, hustle our product and support our own habits, if we listened to all that, we would get nothing done!"
I applauded that and I knew from whence they spoke,
I also know that many of us elders could learn a lot from, Listening to the Youngsters!

Love and Blessings,
angelia
http://www.angeliavmenchan.com/

5 comments:

Gwyneth Bolton said...

Sure can! Can learn a whole lot! I'm impressed that they are working together and really supporting each others work. That's what's up! It reminds me of this film I was watching about the Harlem Renaissance. It showed all these wonderful poets living together, pointing each other to funding sources, publishing a magazine together, promoting each others work. When I think of how supportive black artists have been to one another in the past, it makes me sad about today. but your post has made me happy today. It's not lost! :-)

Gwyneth

Angelia Vernon Menchan said...

No Lady Gwyneth,
all is not lost at all, I think we have been ignoring what the youngsters are doing, and they haven't stopped to tell us, they were too busy, 'handling up'...

blessings,
angelia

Jennifer C. said...

Fascinating, words of wisdom from people my age. Somebody did something right in those young ladies' life.

Angelia Vernon Menchan said...

Somebody did, but, most importantly they took what they had and ran wit' it...

SMOOCHES,
mama deep

Yasmin said...

Great post...let's hear it for the youngums!
xoxo