rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

pray for me

SUNDAY

so i been working with the son of an old family friend, i was there the night he was born, the boy is family to me, so he approached me as so many sons and daughters of my comrades have, i would like to be a writer,

but unlike many of them he actually followed my advice and wrote a novel, i tell them all, look, just write it, that 1st draft, dont judge it, dont spend months perfecting one sentence or a chapter, just write the whole

damn thing, then we got something to work with, till you get it out of your head and on paper we got nothing to work with & he did it, actually hes written two, 1st one was a little too personal, you know how 1st novels can be

so he wrote another one now what you got to understand is that boy got a real job saving the planet

still making time to write manuscripts, im just as proud of him as i can be, but when i gave him my response to that last one i was very demanding, i always am, folk trying to write and i agree to give them feedback its

like a holy commitment to me, this my religion, the craft and passing it on, i got to give them my best and call them to their best, so i was hard on him, i got to be, i care for him, i dont want him to waste his time/life

floundering around in the wilderness because i didnt give him good guidance, this go for all my students
and folk im training on the blackhandside doubly so, but then i dont hear from him for some months and

im thinking i blew it, im thinking i scared him off,  then i get a terse little email - the rewrite is tough tough going -
and im tickled now, because that mean he on it, this what i wrote him:

im just glad to hear you hitting it, you always scare me when i dont hear from you after a response, im always afraid i have scared you off, you know i got to come hard on you because i want you to be primetime, i want you to be the real thing, like sekou say in mandela, you our legacy, we dreamed you, i got faith in you and because you got a real job and dont have time to do the mfa thing we got to give you mfa training on the black hand side, same way we used to do it in the oldschool, if you ever can squeeze out 3 years we need to get you in a mfa program somewhere, get you some real training, if not then we will have to do it oldschool and its my intent that you be competitive with anybody out there, you been trained by flowers and it dont come no stronger than that, you see what im saying - and there is a literary sensibility that we been working with too, i got to make sure you thinking on the highplane, that you going deep, see - we gon do this my brother, the only thing that will keep us from winning this game is if you quit - you got the talent, you got the heart and you obviously got the drive, we gon do this - and rewrite is always hard if you going for higherground, whole damn thing is hard (writing) - buddy of mine once said if it was easy everybody would go down the street and get some, but youve alraedy shown you got the heart, youve done two manuscripts and even mfas a lot of them dont get that far, i been helping folk make books now for 40 years or so, i know when i got a winner on my hands, and that you family makes it even more special, we gon do this

 

 

THURSDAY

in case anybody is confused about what this debt struggle is about, trump made it clear the other day:

"Unless Republicans get 100% of what they want -- and that may include getting rid of 'Obamacare,' which is a total disaster -- they should not make a deal other than a minor extension which would take you before the elections which would ensure that Obama doesn't get elected, which would be a great thing. ... The Republicans have the leverage. I don't care about polls. When it comes time to default, they're not going to remember any of the Republicans' names. They are going to remember in history books one name, and that's Obama."

probably the one thing obama wont compromise on - getting reelected,

i say drop the 14th, if default is as much a crises as you say it is

 

 

WEDNESDAY

got my first rejection, crushed me, the editor i wanted most to work with - basic reasons, too
strange, not commercial enuf, last book almost 20 years ago, etc etc

it was a dash of cold water, i been thinking the litworld was going to line up for this one - apparently not,
i was hoping i would get some respect this time, now i fear i will continue to be marginal 2nd string writer

when the lineup of the writers of our times are called im not on the list, never invited to anything, books out of
print, i dont get paid, etc etc, i really hope this novel is going to change all that, also it cause me to doubt the

work - its so strange i cant judge it, its either a masterpiece or a farce, im betting masterpiece, but i fear farce

ima have to do what im always telling my students to do - be patient, let the process play out, keep working

FRIDAY manuscript making rounds, pray for me

Rest For The Weary Pitch

FRIDAY

well those of you who saw the 1st pitch, which was very litcrit, then the gearing down of the 2nd,
might not be surprised to hear that it had to be calibrated even further, felt like i was doing see dick run

obviously its been a long time since ive tried to sell a novel mainstream, damn near 20 years, last novel came out in 1994 i think, and it was sold before it was done,i havent had to pitch a novel since 1980 something

and clearly the dynamics of selling a literary novel have changed, used to be you sold it on its complexity,

now it gets a pitch like they do in hollywood, grasp the novel in 5 minutes or less, after much back and forth with the agency - gear back art gear back - this is the final pitch: take 3:

 

REST FOR THE WEARY is a novel about Jubilation Tucept Highjohn, a hoodoo sorcerer who aspires to be a prophet, and his love, Angel, an archeologist in training.  Their contemporary story is woven with a Civil War story about two escaped slaves who are trying to reunite their sundered family during the Fort Pillow Massacre and the Memphis Riots of 1866.  In the riverside neighborhoods of Black Memphis during the Civil War, Man Cargo and Othella search for their daughter, Ida, who was sold off during slavery. 

 Jubilation’s story is based on Highjohn the Conqueror folklore.  He is living in a treehouse alongside the Mississippi, and attempting to manifest as a would-be prophet of the hoodoo way, while conducting a problematic relationship with the married Angel.  The legacy of Man Cargo, Othella, and Ida’s rugged transition from slavery to freedom, as well as the slaughter at Fort Pillow, led by the Confederate Nathan Bedford Forrest, reverberates through the book and impacts Jubilation and Angel.  Although there is a tragic ending, through the vehicle of Jubilation’s prophetic stories, the reader realizes that his influence on human destiny is in fact profound, and his tumultuous relationship with Angel legend. 

now i got it, backcover marketing copy,  even this truncated version frustrates me because this is more what i tried to do than what i actually did - the literary life, you got to love it, this below was the 1st pitch, you can see how much im out of the loop here, RFTW pitch: take 1

Rest For The Weary is the story of a hoodoo sorcerer who aspires to be a prophet.  He’s a good sorcerer, but a failure as a prophet, which I assume to be the lot of any sincere aspirant to the prophetic.  The prophetic impulse is the primary concern of this novel.  It is based on Highjohn the Conqueror folklorics as laid out by Zora Neale Hurston, positioning the Conqueror as a wouldbe prophet trying to found an African American Way through the illumination of hoodoo as a spiritual tradition.  The narrative style is an attempt to litericize African American folk language as both a literary and sacred language.  It is also influenced by the digitization of literature, which I assume will appeal more and more to readers of the future, narrative that’s tight, hypertextual, multivalented.  Accordingly I tried to make each passage in itself a piece of standalone flashfiction.  The narrative innovations I fought against but it was the only way I could get the story told.  I tried to develop a voice that allowed me to say pretty much anything I wanted without breaking the narrative spell.  By making him a storyteller I was allowed to tell a multitude of stories in stories on stories.   As befitting the tale of a conjuror/storyteller/mythworker, I want this text to work the shapeshifting dynamic between fiction and reality thru metaplay.  A work of and about conjuration.  Destinywork.  As it manifest through narrative.  Tried to wrap it all up in a love/relationship that spoke on muses and art, on immortalizing people thru art/mythwork, the cost of too much pop/historical spotlight on fragile realities/relationships, on the primacy of love and the role of creative imagination – o it gets complicated, there’s so much I tried to do with this novel I don’t know that I can express it all in a paragraph.  I guess more than anything I wanted to explore what it means/what it cost, spiritual and otherwise - to be a prophet. 

 

i look at this now after being educated on what the industry really wants and its amazing in its cluelessness, in particular that little chatty tone, i like to think im a professional through and through but i guess the definiition of professional means you always learning and evolving

i wasnt comfortable with this one anyway, felt like it took all the magic out of the read to give all the codes like that
im out, trying to do the paperwork to get PALF back on its feet, before i saddle up for that last (hopefully) draft

THURSDAY

young black football player suing AA airlines because they took him off when he got beligerent after
being asked to pull up his pants, i have no sympathy for black kids with their asses hanging out

i agree it shouldnt be criminalized but i got no sympathy, when i see them on campus i go oldschool on them
this is indicative of the part of black culture i want to cleanse in my campaign of cultural illumination - its

disgusting on so many levels

read this provocative book awhile back that said this equation of gansterism w/authentic blackness was
born in the harlem works of chester himes (gravedigger jones and coffin ed) as manifested through the

blackploitation films when all the current stereotypes of gangster blackness were formalized, it was an interesting
read if for no other reason than it chronicled the influence of literature on culture/society convincingly

part of my mission is to put african american culture back on the good foot thru the power of the word
would be nice to live in a world in which black men dont think its cool to show the world their asses

WEDNESDAY

sent it off, done deal, ellen told me to write a pitch but i blew it and analyzed the tech, she say no go:
she want storyline, not analysis: so this is RFTW pitch take 2:

Rest for the Weary is the story of Jubilation Tucept Highjohn, a hoodoo sorcerer who aspires to be a prophet, and Angel, an archeologist in training.  It is a quiltwork tapestry woven of contemporary and Civil War scenes based on the Fort Pillow Massacre and the Memphis Riots of 1866.  The historical sequence captures the founding of black Memphis during the Civil War as two escaped slaves first find each other then search for a daughter sold off during slavery - while the three of them separately and together, experience/survive Fort Pillow and the Memphis Riots.  The contemporary sequence follows the ramifications of the historical incidents as Jubilation Highjohn, based on Highjohn the Conqueror folklore and living in a ‘treehouse’ alongside the Mississippi, attempts to manifest as a prophet of the hoodoo way.  His problematic off/on relationship with the married Angel explores the artist’s muse.  Through a framework of the stories he tells as a storyteller, the past, present and future ramification of his prophetic aspirations are explored, as are the shapeshifting dynamics between fiction and reality.  At the end of the novel he has died/been sacrificed by the gods, apparently a failure, but thru the vehicle of the prophetic stories the reader realizes that his influence on human destiny is in fact profound and their tumultuous relationship legend.

 

just trying to make a better world - so sue me

MONDAY

i been dug in, tryng to fix as much as i can before tuesday, though im likely to squeeze wed in - been enjoying
myself, basically fixing glitches, lets say i got 10 and ive fixed about 4, which pleases me, but now im dug in

on one thats kinda pervasive, im burning the creative fire, getting a couple hours sleep a night, i will pass out thurs
but for right now im dug in, off the grid and in the zone - bonnie out of town, just me and the novel and every

hole fixed makes it a better novel before i put it on the market - this what i call living - good thing im
supposed to turn it in wed because i probably couldnt sustain this mode - in fact i know i couldnt

i can feel myself burning up mojo & shortening up my days

 

FRIDAY

so yesterday i got a call from ellen, shes read it, she thinks its ready to go, she gave me a list of who she wants to send it to
you of course will not be surprised dear regulators, to hear that i asked her for another week to work on it

i had just broke it down and detected some flat notes, had a couple of passages i want to work on
told her i would send it to her next week, she said anytime before thurs, i told her tuesday

then i got this fan email today, ive taken the guys name off but it encouraged me, thats what im talking about - spiritwork
i come thru for him when he in need, he come thru for me when im flagging, regulation, me and you dear regulators:

Dear Mr. Flowers,

Earlier this evening I was at my school's library trying to find a place to sit and read MLK's 'Where Do We Go From Here?" All of the seats are the same, but I chose a seat that was a few feet away from a shelf containing graphic novels. I read MLK for a few minutes, but started to deal with a bit of readers block. My attention drifted toward the aforementioned bookshelf, and settled on a novel with a spine unlike the rest. It read, "I See the Promised Land." I recognized the phrase, and was instantly curious. I grabbed the book, eyed the cover, and immediately began to read it. I read it in one sitting, and delayed my supper to do so. If I would have had to go without supper to read this book I would have done so. Your book basically expressed how I feel about Dr. King. I see him as a spiritual leader. That's why I was reading 'Where Do We Go From Here,' in the first place . . . to guide me through a difficult valley that I find myself in now. Your book let me know I have an ally, even if it's a distant one. Your book let me know I'm not crazy for looking at King with religious eyes. Your book lifted my spirits.

 

 

THURSDAY

olddraft dead, newdraft in my head, im back in panicky - what if i step in front of a car today - mode
came up w/some great ideas yesterday, sat down to work them into the text and let myself get distracted

so now im nervous, now i feel like im losing, like life is kicking my ass, ima have to get started today

no if no and no but

did you hear: obama offers socsec/medicare cuts to contrast repub wall on taxes, so he can say i
tried, drop the 14th and walk, you go boy, scared of you

course if the repubs do say its a deal i guess its another ballgame, i aint trying to hear that, but
i guess it doesnt really matter, obama fighting his game, im fighting mine, and if i dont

get busy today, im losing

 

 

WEDNESDAY IM SURE

have not dug into novel yet, taking care of backed up business, starting to feel a little nervous - clock ticking and woodshed will be over in about a month and a half, need at least a month for a good draft,

right now letting internal computer process the breakdown while i finish TCBing - get back in the saddle this weekend

im in total agreement on this article saying obama should go rogue on debt deficit talks - drop the 14th amendment
on them - article says current 2 options between the unthinkable (give them what they want) and the

unimaginable (let them drive the economy into default) which would cripple obamas reelection chances
and put the repubs even more in charge than they are now (and we see what thats got us) come on obama

we cant help you if you wont help yourself - drop the 14th on them and walk away - showtime

MONDAY 4th of JULY

hello world, provocative article here on obama by frank rich in his new longstylee:

"To differentiate himself from the discredited Establishment, he will have to mount the fight he has ducked for the past three years. The alternative is a failure of historic proportions."

im doing an op ed that ima try to place in the nyt op ed, a spoof of the repub future - as you know dear regulators, i am

irked that all this pain america is going thru is the result of conscious repub policy of defunding america they
are trying to turn the clock back, send america back to the stone age when minorities and women knew

their place, a simpler america while the rest of the world leaping into the complicated future, they want the
american government to be crippled to the point of not being able to provide basic services, its just wild, and

the america voting public is going for the okeydoc, and obama is parrotting their rhetoric in an attempt to
outflank them but we cant let this no taxes thing continue to be validated like its been, its madness, political suicide

and i aint saying america dont have to tighten up, just want the effort to sincerely be about a better america
a more viable america, instead of a cripple america and exploit the weak strategy

so ima write a spoof, the world republicans see, one in which teachers have been demonized, one in which america cant afford to provide the most basic of services, one in which the elders no longer have socialsecurity or medicare, one in which nobody has healthcare, so forth and so on

got my usual fear of not being able to pull it off, ive come to expect that w/pieces that are impo to me, but im very excited about trying, and if i can make the point so that folk, well some folk, turn against this defund america strategy

this piece just might make a difference in our world and that of our generations, i know, not likely, but
thats what drive me as a literary man - trying to make a better world, through the power of the word -

so sue me