Business Brunch with this dude.

Today I spoke at Temple University for the Domestic Violence Awareness Forum, thoughtfully organized by Temple University Klein College of Media and Communications and, Author C. Y. Marshall, Founder of R.O.S.E.B.U.D.S. Mentoring Program Inc. 📚🎙️We cane together to raise awareness about domestic abuse and its impact. This was a FREE EVENT! #growingstrawberries #authorlife🌹 #AuthorLife #DomesticAbuseAwareness #SpeakingEngagement #TempleUniversity

Dream catching. An award winning magazine and a multi book deal.

It's an Erick Thomas type of morning!

The smile you have when you WIN LITERARY MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR!!!! #BlackMedia

Keep losing until you win!

**Day 3: Behind the Scenes** 📖 Want a sneak peek behind the scenes of creating "Strawberry Mansion: A Philadelphia Story"? Read on as I share some of the inspirations and stories that shaped this book. 1992 - North Philadelphia At fifteen years old I fell in love with a young man who stole my innocence and pushed me to the brink of insanity. At sixteen I was a young mother who was effectively cut off from her family. At seventeen I started to write my story. He found it, beat me bloody, and burned it in the backyard. However, you cannot erase words from the soul of a writer. 2007 (Harrisburg, Pa) I was having a really fucked up day. I made it to the clinical portion of the nursing program at Harrisburg Area Community College. I forget the name of the nursing home I was assigned to, but I remember being completely overwhelmed while there. We were given green sheets to do nursing assessments on select patients. Most of my classmates completed their sheets at the facility but I was thinking about getting home in time to make some sort of dinner and manage not to be late for work. I worked at Bethany Village in Mechanicsburg in the mornings and at Spring Creek in the evenings. Long story short I went to the wrong job and had to hightail it to the other side of town. I was late, we were short-staffed and I was given the worst assignment. I bought my green sheets to work thinking I could complete them during my breaks. I received no breaks. I came home exhausted. The house was a wreck and on the verge of a mini-breakdown. I ignored the mess, sat down at my computer, and pulled out the green sheets. It looked like Swahili, I couldn't remember my patients, their diagnosis, or my professor's instructions. The sheets were due in the morning, and I had no idea how to complete them. I started to cry; I mean ugly cry. My son woke up at that moment. He sat down beside me, took the green sheets out of my hands, and wiped my eyes. “Mom, why are you going to school for nursing when all you do is write? I never see you cry like this when you’re writing.” One little question rocked my world. I dropped out of college the next week.

Excuses??? WHAT ARE THOSE??? “Where there is a will, there is a way!” #queentings #writer #editor #media #badbitch #bigtittyenergy #writerslife #authorsofinsta #author #writersofinsta #bookstagram #GirlsReadToo #WomenWriters #StrongWomenRead #WomenInLit #HerFiction #WomenEmpowerment

**Day 5: The Heart of Philadelphia** 🏙️ Get ready to explore the heart of Philadelphia through the eyes of our characters. "Strawberry Mansion" is not just a story; it's a love letter to the city and its people. Are you ready to fall in love? #PhiladelphiaLove #JuliaPressSimmons

In bloom 🌺

I can be your biggest cheerleader on my positive vibe... or I can match your bullshit with my bullshit #Balance