Refreshed and Re-purposed for the New Year

I am really looking forward to 2015. I believe that many of the things that God has promised me will be fulfilled in this year. I don't have a prophetic word or anything for what type of year 2015 is. However, I believe that God will finish what He started if you will just maintain the faith. Faith is something that sometimes comes under attack right when God gets ready to deliver you. I believe that faith is gradual. I remember one preacher saying that you need to have cupcake faith before you can have wedding cake faith. I often see politicians going for the big Congressional seat when I believe they should start out on the school board or city council and work their way up. Seems like it takes a lot of name recognition and money and a track record to win these slots. I am more committed in 2015 to finish some of the books that I have started. I should say polish some of the ones that I have started. One is finished, but sometimes my schedule prohibits me from moving forward in a manner that I would. Many times I don't like putting information out about the dates on books. I would rather just spring it on people.

GLORY...THE HAIR LATEST

EXPERIENCE THE GLORY TOUR launched this month in Chicago. We were located downtown in the Chicago Loop. I must say we were very well received and I appreciate Chicago for all the love. Glory...the Hair was on display at the 30th Anniversary of Chicago Tribune's Printer's Row Lit Fest. About 125,000 people were downtown on June 7 and 8. The weather cooperated nicely. It is an excellent family event with pavilions and speakers and dozens of other authors that I did not get a chance to see like Walter Dean Mosley and James Patterson. Andrew Zimmerman was also there. I was too busy trying to sell books and dodging wind shifts from time to time. I really need to hear their best selling tips if a sister is ever to quit her day job. No seriously, I love education. Check out my website at www.glorythehair.com for more pictures or go to http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/printersrowlitfest/ Competition was stiff with some big book stores like Pennyworth Books (http://www.pennyworthbooks.net) selling books for as low as $3 from what I could see. They had at least 3 tents there maybe more. Festival goers were gobbling up books like a famine was coming. It was truly a sight to see. One of their tents was right near us. So, we could not sell books for the regular price, but then we never do when going to festivals. It is all about exposure. Also, the Chicago Tribune columnists were very popular. Our table was located strategically by the Trib Nation tent that had plenty of programming and lots of overflow crowds. I love the way God gives us favor with festival presenters and they always try to place us in high traffic areas. For the first time, I ran into one of those sought after New York literary agents. Well, I have seen and met them before but I was glad to have someone come to me. He provided a few tips but didn't offer representation. He didn't buy a book either. I would have given him one if he had asked just so I could have the feedback. I do this for agents because it's about landing a book contract. We drove to Chicago this year so we didn't get a chance to see a lot of the scenery. We will have to fly back without selling books to soak up the sights, food, and shopping. We did try the world famous Giordano's pizza (http://giordanos.com). They will ship it to you. It's worth it I suppose. It is a stuffed pizza. I'm looking for the meat and it's inside the pizza. It was good. We had the chicken sausage with mushrooms and olives. I know you can't go to Chicago without trying the pizza. Anyway, I think that was a successful stop for the first stop on the tour. Stay tuned to this blog with other locations. I apologize that I don't just list all city sites on my blog or website. That is for competitive reasons only. In the meantime, it's all Glory...all the time.

EXPERIENCE THE GLORY TOUR KICKS OFF IN CHICAGO

GLORY IN THE WINDY CITY Glory…The Hair MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE—Author Sandra Hamer kicks off her EXPERIENCE THE GLORY TOUR in the windy city of Chicago, Illinois at this year’s 30th Printer’s Row Lit Fest June 7 and 8th, 2014. The Printer’s Row Lit Fest is sponsored by the Chicago Tribune and located in the Loop. Founded in 1985, the Lit Fest attracts tens of thousands of people each year. One of the characters in Glory…the Hair is interviewing for a job in Chicago at a local TV station. Read the book to get the inside scoop. Glory…The Hair tells the story of Jennifer Williams and Troy Smith. When Jennifer’s hairdresser, Sheila Kennedy, takes a bit too much off Jennifer’s mane, Jennifer is furious. She decides to sue her stylist! As the plot unfolds, the reader learns about Jennifer and Sheila’s love lives, their spirituality, their pasts, presents, and futures. The two women discover that men are partially at fault for women’s hair issues. Men love hair, yet the vast majority of them have no more than a couple of inches on their heads. Instead, their obsession forces women to grow and maintain long, flowing tresses; spending unbelievable amounts of money and even more time on their hair. However, in addition to men, the book blames hairdressers who destroy women’s hair—their glory. This damage has far reaching effects. It affects a woman’s self-confidence, her peace of mind, her love life, and her employability. However, regardless of all the tangles hair causes, the characters in the Glory agree that God is bigger than any head of hair. Author Sandra Hamer is a Christian. She was born in Grand Junction, Tennessee, and raised by her grandmother. She spent 13 years in the broadcasting industry working as a reporter and overnight anchor, assignments editor and desk assistant. She resides in Memphis, Tennessee and works for Shelby County Schools. Hamer is pursuing a doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of Memphis. She has penned a second novel which she is shopping around. ABOUT AUTHORHOUSE: The only profitable print-on-demand and eBook publishing company of its kind, AuthorHouse was founded in 1997 and has more than 60,000 titles released. For more information, visit www.authorhouse.com

Respect & Leadership

I look at what is happening in the world. I look at what is happening in our cities and I look at what our youth are experiencing. A lot of the things occurring in the world have to do with leadership and respect. Many people aspire to leadership. I saw a news report once that said the most sought after Master's degree for teachers is in administration. That's not threatening. Many people give up to easily when they feel like it will be a battle to become a leader. What they fail to realize is that the enemy and I am talking about a spiritual enemy is not too quick to give up any ground. For whatever reason, he likes to get in and around our kids. So, we have to have the best working in this industry. This is true in education. It is true in entertainment and I am sure that it is true in other areas. Years ago before I fully realized the call to education, I applied to law school. People talked about how there were too many attorneys. I submit to you today that there are not too many attorneys. Too many times people become corrupted along the way and their mission is not what it should be. That can happen in any industry. You have that happen in medicine. No one wants a negative doctor. You want someone telling you, you shall live and not die even though their faith is wavering inside but they are trying to have faith for you. Let me justify myself with leadership experience by saying that before I was in front of the camera, I was behind the camera. I desperately wanted to be on air. Most of the leaders wanted me to take the management track and become a news director. I had been an assignments manager for a few years. Perhaps, it was that I knew how to treat people because of my humble beginnings and had been through some things. It could have been that I had been a past supervisor at MCI Telecommunications. I won two Leader's Rings, a few President Club Awards and one nomination to the Circle of Excellence. I have an ED.S. in Educational Leadership and I have been an Assistant Principal. I also helped to start a non-profit and ran it for several years as Director. I know a little about leadership and who I like to follow and what I look for. Anyway, people give up too easily because they encounter others who may be insecure or those may intimidate them. So for this reason, some folks give up on their dreams. I only switch when I feel like God is switching on me. I am very dogged and determined to have the things that I feel that I should have. One of my fellow colleagues in education told me I was going places in television. I had it planned that way. I had secured a job out of college. I had the best mentors. I networked and attended convention and I thought that I was good. I spent time and money working on my voice, but 13 years into it God switched on me. When I left Channel 5, I had a few decisions to make. Was I going to pursue the will of God for my life or was I going to use my connections and get another TV job? Understand, people were telling me what positions they had available that I could accept. However, I did not want to go through the embarrassment of God breaking me down to the lowest common denominator because I wasn't listening. I took the easy route. I just did His will. That made life so much easier. No longer did I have to worry about getting in a chopper and perhaps getting motion sickness. I didn't have to worry about doing a live shot from the studio and not being able to smile even if my life depended on it because I couldn't. I had spiritual pressure on me. When I finally left television, someone asked how was I able to do it with the pressure that was on me. I guess they saw it too. You will bow now or you will bow later, but you will bow. We just want to bow before we leave this earth. Let me get back to leadership. I don't really know how I got to all of the above. Our young people seek out gang leadership because some fathers are too busy working, chasing women or caught up in their own addictions to stand up and be present. Don't get me wrong. My father did not raise me, but I have the utmost respect for him because my grandmother respected him and she knew what went down with him and my mom. My father was always welcome to our house. I went to his parents house and stayed frequently. I love my dad very much because he's real and that's that. He has never tried to hinder me. He has always tried to encourage me. Today, he is a gospel singer and pastor. I have a step mom and several step siblings and other half siblings. He and my step mom have a daughter together. Anyway, we are in need of good leadership at all levels in all areas. We need leadership among NBA owners. We need leadership in the pulpit. We need leadership in the school house. We need leadership on the outfield. We need leadership everywhere. In order to get people to respect leadership, you have to respect them. Bishop T.D. Jakes talked once about whenever he travels to other churches he has to ask some members just not to go. So many people are going and he probably doesn't want to toot his own horn, but he is an excellent leader. I am sure it took some time to get there. There is nothing wrong with going to seminars and conferences to learn how to best do your job. I have always done this and it has been of great benefit. However, we shouldn't beat up, pimp or disrespect people because of a lack of training.

Stepping out in 2014

As usual in 2014, I made my New Year's resolutions. I promised to promote my book more, lose weight, stay connected and finish school. There are so many things to be done in the Kingdom of God. I was prompted to write this post because of a message from Bishop Clarence McClendon. There is so much talk about the end times especially with John Hagee and the Four Blood Moons. The Four Blood Moons refer to lunar and solar eclipses that are to take place before the end comes. Sometimes, I find myself trying to figure out how to minister to people since I don't have a particular title in church or anything. I do at times try to minister to people on the job if I feel that is what I am led to do. I feel that if I am positive to an individual that is ministry enough. Sometimes the opportunities don't really present themselves. I have decided that my book is a witness when people read it. GLORY...THE HAIR is not just a book about a hairstyle gone bad. As one TV anchor so gleefully declared to me years ago, "This book is about relationships." That it is. GLORY...THE HAIR takes you inside various relationships. It deals with dating relationships, work relationships and church relationships. Relationships are key to promoting anything. I have found that to be true in publishing. I have read stories on how to get an agent and how people have queried agents and when they finally get an agent it wasn't one whom they have queried. Their information was just passed along to others. Completing school and working on a doctorate is about relationships. It is about maintaining a good relationship with your major professor who will be your dissertation chair. It is about developing a good relationship with other adult learners in your cohort. I had promised myself about two years ago that I wouldn't be entering another type of cohort but here I am. It seems that everything that is to be done is done by cohorts. I know I am in my 5th cohort. I was in a cohort when I was getting my initial certification to teach. I was in a cohort when I decided to get a middle school certification for language arts. When I was working on my Ed.S I was in a cohort and that was to continue on to a doctoral cohort. I left that school and went to the U of M where I am in a doctoral cohort. I was also in another cohort called Urban Education Center or UEC. So, when it comes to working with people in small groups, I think I got that down pretty good. Families are cohorts. Churches are cohorts especially in small churches or Sunday school settings. What exactly is a cohort? I am glad you asked. A cohort is any band of warriors or associates. How many cohorts are you in or have been in?