âChronicles Of A Seawomanâ is my first book â a collection of poems due this year!
The original manuscript was awarded an Honourary Mention at the 2001 Frank Collymore Literary Endowment (close, but no cigar) and many of the poems have been anthologised and some have won awards. Since then Iâve put it down, crafted it, added and subtracted to it and tweaked and put it down some more. Years later, here we are.
Well, to follow one of my dear mentors, digital content guru & author Sharon Hurley Hallâs advice, âJust get it done!â
I got to steppinâ and found Emily (Pro Book Covers), a talented graphic artist, to design the eye-catching cover you see above. She really understood my vision. The arresting Seawoman photo, mind you, was done a while back by Barbadian artist Tracy Greenidge. But Seawoman was clearly waiting for Emilyâs magic to bring her to life for my book cover.
So,âChroniclesâ is just about done now. To confirm my commitment, I thought Iâd share my journey with you.
And, I also did a cover art reveal at an event called âGun Hill By Moonlight: Wine & Wordsâ, hosted by the Barbados National Trust. With assistance from Soulmates Barbados, my poster display was enhanced by decor. I was also a feature with 4 other award-winning writers: Sharma Taylor, Edison âTheoâ WIlliams, Stephen Sandiford and Margaret Gill. To encourage support, I promoted it via social media, in particular, the FB event page, which got quite a bit of engagement.
It did feed my soul soar by sharing my poetry again after so long. The decent-sized crowd were pretty receptive to everyoneâs work. What made it even sweeter was the support of my hubby Fred Sealy and a few awesome ride-or-die friends, like Personal Coach & Podcaster, Maria Collymore and Solopreneur & Bajan Passion Poet, Robert Gibson.
Iâm hoping The Trust along with other organizations (whether corporate or not-for-profit) will recognize the hunger for regular Arts events and specifically, that of Literary Arts. Very importantly, they must also include honoraria in their budgeting, since this is in fact WORK (with expenses also incurred before reaching the stage) for all of us cultural practitioners â exposure can only take you so far (topic of another blog post!). I must say though that the organizers, particularly Vice President, Peter Sandiford, was quite receptive to feedback offered. That was appreciated.
Now, as I continue to share this trek to self publishing, I hope youâll be intrigued enough to sign up HERE to be among the first to see the âChroniclesâ book trailer and for pre-ordering updates. You can also simply scan the QR code, and away you go!
One of the other things that will be shared, is what I was up to just before driving up to Gun HillâŚa professional photo shoot!
*Sandra Sealy is Principal Consultant & Writer for Seawoman Creative Media, an award-winning literary artist & creative writing tutor, Founder of Seawomanâs Caribbean Writing and (very soon) an author.
Chronicles Of A Seawoman â The Journey Part 1 By Sandra Sealy "Chronicles Of A Seawoman" is my first book - a collection of poems due this year!
