Sunday, October 26, 2014

Launching a Book. Applying to Doctoral Programs. And Being a Fabulous Professional. Oh My!

I like juggling multiple plates, projects, and processes. I do.

So in addition to being an author, a friend and son and very social person, a Student Affairs and Higher Education professional, a scholar, a speaker and panelist, an advocate for ethnic, gender, and social justice awareness and equity... I'm shopping around for grad schools.

Specifically, looking at Doctoral programs in Educational Leadership and Higher Education. While I'm concentrating on Southern California programs at CSU Long Beach, UCLA, Loyola Marymount, and USC, I've had scholar friends encourage me to consider some out-of-state/fly-in on weekends for classes programs. Yikes!

Launching a book and completing school application processes -- both happening simultaneously in January 2015 -- is a fun juggling act. I need to do GREs again, write statements of purpose, gather recommendations... AND I need to do events to promote Play It Forward. And that's on the side of being a full-time professional at a University.

I've always been an overachiever, wanna do everything, like staying busy type of person. I'm hoping I can stay above water with multiple and equally important processes in my life.

Oh my!
fs

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Bloggers, Reviewers, College Cultural Centers & LGBT Centers: My New Book Needs You!

Hello Readers,

My novel, PLAY IT FORWARD, will be published in January 2015 by Bold Strokes Books (ISBN: 9-7816-2639-2359). I am writing to you in hopes that you will consider:

§  Visiting my website, www.FrederickLSmith.com, for Chapter 1 excerpt from PLAY IT FORWARD and for information on my previous novels, Down For Whatever and Right Side of the Wrong Bed.

§  Ordering the novel from Bold Strokes Books, your local bookseller, or online retailer for personal, professional, or academic use: http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/9781626392359.html

§  Inviting me for an in-person or Skype reading, discussion or writing workshop with your organization

§  Writing a notice or review about the novel in a publication or online/social media site you work with

§  Telling your friends and colleagues about the book and its upcoming release

PLAY IT FORWARD
Malcolm Campbell is the director of a south Los Angeles organization focused on mentoring gay youth, and his nineteen-year-old nephew, Blake, is being sent to stay with him for the summer. Malcolm has always been a community and family role model everyone looks up to. But he also has a secret he never knew he had… until it pops up on the Internet.
Across town, in the closed and closeted world of Black Hollywood celebrity, pro-basketball player Tyrell Kincaid and R&B singer Tommie Jordan are public heroes in a very private relationship. After a series of indiscretions and slipups, the relationship becomes fodder for speculation and outing by the paparazzi and nationally-known gossip reporter Livonia Birmingham.
Despite living in two different worlds in L.A., Malcolm, Blake, Tommie, and Tyrell find themselves in the same arena, where they’ll have to risk it all to protect their hearts and their destiny.

Originally from Detroit, Michigan, I am a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and Loyola 
University Chicago. 

A finalist for the PEN Center Emerging Voices Fellowship, and an alum of the VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation) Writers Workshop, I am a social justice advocate. I live in Los Angeles and work with college students to help them find their voices and develop pride in their cultural and gender identities. 

I am the author of Down for Whatever and Right Side of the Wrong Bed, a Lambda Literary Award finalist.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope that you will love PLAY IT FORWARD as much as I enjoyed writing it. I look forward to discussing the possibility of a review, feature, or reading.

Sincerely,
Frederick Smith
Author, PLAY IT FORWARD, January 2015
ISBN: 9-7816-2639-2359