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A one-on-on with Raye Mitchell, author of How Women Negotiate From a Position of Strength.

Raye Mitchell, author How Women Negotiate From a Position of Strength, is on a mission to inspire women.  Mitchell is committed to helping women, particularly, young black women and girls, assert their power and better themselves.  For far too long the voices of women have been muted, their stories ignored, and their experiences dismissed.  Mitchell wants to help women find peace and common ground based on mutual respect and equality.

How Women Negotiate From a Position of Strength is an easy to follow, quick read. Complete with a step-by-step guide and an interactive work journal so the reader can instantly begin to blend thoughts and observations into an accountability plan with the insights captured in the book.

The book focuses on how to enhance negotiations with personal branding. Whether you are a woman making a decision early in your career, a mid-level manager, or a rising executive, How Women Negotiate From a Position of Strength helps you to master your rise-up in leadership.

Raye Mitchell inspired us, making us wanting to learn more.

 

Q. Why should people read your books?

A. I write about useable knowledge drawn from our common experiences as women, women of color and Black women.

Q. What is the core message you want to deliver to the world?

A. We are connected by our ability to build peace, find equality and be prepared to overcome set-backs and disappointments.

Q. What advice do you have for young black women and girls?

A. You are highly regarded, above average and brilliant contributing leaders designing a more better human condition of excellence. To beat the odds, be agile, be fair and be prepared to build bridges outside your comfort zones.

Q. What was the most rewarding part of doing what you do?

A. I love the prospects of helping someone get unstuck, breakdown barriers and personal obstacles to their personal success. I am a champion for hope and opportunity for all.

Q. Recommend a book from another author. Why should people read this book?

A. Standing Up After Saigon: The Triumphant Story of Hope, Determination, and Reinvention. Sharon Orlopp and Thuhang Tran.

This book inspires us all to hold on to what makes America work-diversity, inclusion, empathy and respect and not division, separation and isolation.

 

Rapid Fire Questions and Answers

Q.  Meat or Veggies?

A. Veggies

Q. The beach or the mountains?

A. BEACH

Q. Formal attire or yoga pants and a hoodie?

A. Yoga Pants

Q. Kittens or puppies?

A. Puppies

Q. Ninja or pirates?

A. Ninja

Q. Coachella or Broadway?

A. Broadway

Q. Selfie or group photo?

A. Selfie

Q. Alice in Wonderland or Lord of the Flies?

A. Alice in Wonderland

Q. Beyonce or Selena?

A. Beyonce

Q. Hardcover book or Kindle?

A. Hardcover book

Order your copy now on Amazon

Gabbing with author Laurel Anne Hill about her steampunk novel, The Engine Woman’s Light

Laurel Anne Hill is the author of the award-winning steampunk novel, The Engine Woman’s Light. The story is set in an alternate 19^th century California where steampunk and spirits are the new norm. A young Latina spiritualist is given a mission by her ancestors to save the lives of unwanted passangers on a train headed for misery.  Mysticism and adventure, the alternate reality of the novel incorporates Mexican and Native American cultures with steampunk enchantment.

 

Laurel drew inspiration for the novel from her own love for family, brushes with death, and belief in a higher power.  Step onboard the locomotive as we gab with the author of this exciting tale.

 

Q. What is something interesting/cool/unbelievable you discovered while researching your book?

A. I learned that my paternal Mexican great-grandmother, Hipolita Orendein de Medina, had been politically active, even in her teens. I also learned how to run a steam locomotive.

Q. Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?

A. I’m not sure about classical ghosts, but there are spirits out there. The spirit of my deceased husband, David, has made himself known to me upon a number of occasions.

Q. If your book was turned into a film/TV show, who would you tap to play the lead(s)? Why?

A. Hollywood isn’t known for its plethora of young Latina stars. Can anyone figure out how to call up the spirit of Selena Quintanilla-Perez? She might have some suggestions.

Q. Tell us something about you that no one else knows.

A. As a young child, I used to torture ants when they invaded the bathroom. Then I’d cry and apologize to their dead bodies.

Q. What is something you’ve always wanted to try but are afraid to?

A. For many years, I wanted to try sky diving. Fortunately, I grew out of the impulse before I grasped the opportunity to break every bone in my body.

Rapid Fire Questions and Answers

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Star Wars

The beach or the mountains?

The beach

Marvel or DC?

Marvel

Zombies or aliens?

Aliens

Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter?

Harry Potter

London or Istanbul?

London

Selfie or group photo?

Group Photo

Kanye West or Taylor Swift?

May I ignore both of them?

Evening gown or yoga pants and a hoodie?

Evening gown

Cats or dogs?

Dogs

Find your copy of The Engine Woman’s Light on Amazon. 

An insight into the motivation behind the all-American book, Journeyman.

Mark Rose, author of Journeyman, has a fascination with the challenges humanity faces as technology rapidly evolves and interacts with science and society.  Rose goes back to a simpler time – colonial America – to take a look at America’s beginnings and the people who helped build our nation. During a tumultuous time in present-day American politics, Journeyman paints a refreshingly optimistic picture of America’s future using the colors of its past. Just in time for the 4th of July!

Mark Rose is the author of the new series Matt Miller in the Colonies. Journeyman, book one of the two book series, tells the tale of a 21^st century man who time travels to colonial America only to find himself trapped, unable to return home. Now he must learn the skills required to survive in the new world as he gains the trust and friendship of his colonial brethren.

 

Q. Your genre, time travel/sci-fi, is popular right now, why do you think that is?

A. We are all fascinated with having the power to travel back in time and fix our mistakes, or to know the future so that we can prepare. Humans are the only creatures on the planet that sense time. As a scientist, I believe there is more to time than just its tendency to pass, and that our minds are just on the very edge of comprehending this other dimension. When humans sense that something is possible, they usually find a way to make it happen. We will eventually master time travel because we’re motivated by a deep emotional need. Until then, we’ll live our time-travel fantasies through good stories.

 

Q.  What is something interesting/cool/unbelievable you discovered while researching your book?

A. There are a number of phrases that we use today that have their origin in colonial times. One example is the phrase “saved by the bell.” I always thought this had something to do with modern boxing, but it actually comes from the fact that people were sometimes accidently buried alive in the eighteenth century. Because of this, they began tying a string to people’s wrists before they were buried and they would run the string to a bell on the ground of the cemetery. If you woke up in your coffin and pulled the string, you were known as a “dead ringer.” The people they hired to sit in the cemetery and listen for ringing bells worked the “graveyard shift.” Their job, then, would be to dig you up as quickly as possible. That’s cool stuff.

 

Q. What is the core message you want to deliver to the world through your writing/books/stories?

A. I want people to resist the temptation to try to judge colonial Americans based on the standards of today. These were good people and they were very progressive for their time in history. Colonial Americans created a system of government that hasn’t been fundamentally improved since the writing of the Constitution in 1787. Granted, it took a while for us to realize their dream of equal rights for everyone and we may still not be there, but that shouldn’t detract from their legacy. The United States has pulled more people out of poverty and tyranny than any society in the history of the world, and we owe it all to colonial America. Our first feeling towards our founders should be awe, plain and simple.

 

Q. What book haven’t you read that you know you must?

A. I’m halfway through “Crime and Punishment.” I set it down and never finished. Also, I bought a copy of “The Origins and History of Consciousness” by Erich Neumann. He was a student of Carl Jung. I’m hoping both books will help me sort out human emotion and motivation. I’d like to use this information in my writing as well as a way to help me understand the increasing negativity in US politics. We live in the greatest society the world has ever seen and have historically low poverty rates, yet it feels like we’ve become more and more miserable. What does it take for a society to be optimistic and happy?

 

Q. What advice do you have for other writers?

A. 1. Plan a time to write and then sit there and write, whether you feel like it or not. I’ve heard a number of successful writers say that they’ve done their best work in those times when they have felt the least inspired.

 

2. There is no good writing, only good rewriting. It’s a lot more fun, too.

 

Rapid Fire Questions and Answers

Q. Guardians of the Galaxy or XMen?

A. Guardians of the Galaxy

Q. The beach or the mountains?

A. Mountains

Q. Zombies or aliens?

A. Zombies

Q. Sponge Bob Square Pants or Bugs Bunny?

A. Bugs Bunny

Q. Coachella or Broadway?

A. Coachella

Q. Chess or Candy Crush?

A. Chess

Q. Invisibility or mind reading?

A. Invisibility

Q. London or Istanbul?

A. London

Q. Hippies or hipsters?

A. Hippies

Q. Reading or writing?

A. Writing