Browsing through the internet, I came across a list of authors’ blogs and I decided to pause in my scrolling and see what other authors were writing about. You guessed it, I was looking for ideas. I found an author who wrote on a subject I heard other authors talk about and even participated in. The subject was what makes an author successful. Now, if you are a reader, you know who the successful authors are, and if you are a writer you know that too.

But how do you define success as far as your writing goes? Is it when you sell your first million copies or when you sell your first thousand? Or is it when you get on the New York Times Bestseller list? The author of the blog said another author complimented her on helping her with another business, then asked how come she was not a megastar in the writing world.

Naturally, the author was taken aback. Which brings me to the title of this post A Book Goes Home. A few weeks ago I visited Trinidad and Tobago, my homeland and I took a few copies of my debut book Coming Out of Egypt. I wanted to do something I should have done years ago when the book was first published — donate them to the San Fernando Carnegie Library which is featured in the book.

I was surprised to see all the changes that had taken place over the years. The building I visited used to be the only lending library in San Fernando and it was stocked wall to wall with books. It has now been transformed into a reference library and the lending library has been moved to another location.

But what shocked me was the response I received from the assistant librarian when I introduced myself. He said, “Oh, we know you, and we know your book.”

I said, “You do?”

He said, “Yes, we know this book.”

I didn’t press him, but his reception — feigned or not — made me smile. He invited me to wait so I could meet the head librarian who was out on lunch. When I told him I was in a bit of a hurry, he wrote her name and number on a paper and gave it to me so I could call her. Later, when I spoke to her on the phone, she sounded just as happy to meet me as her coworker had.

So, is that success? I would say, yes. Are the 5-star reviews on my sales page a measure of success? Yes. When someone meets me and says how much she enjoyed my book, that to my mind is success. I know that many writers, yours truly included, struggle to sell books. On any given day, someone is giving a course or a webinar on how to sell more books so we could one day qualify for the world’s definition of success. But for many that definition remains an elusive dream.

Someone said, “Sir, there will always be a man more handsome than you; lady, there will always be a woman more beautiful than you. Stop comparing yourself to others.”

I leave you with this quote borrowed from the writer’s blog: The measure of achievement is not winning awards. It’s doing something that you appreciate, something you believe is worthwhile. I think of my strawberry soufflé. I did that at least twenty-eight times before I finally conquered it. — Julia Child

What is your idea of success? Leave a comment in the box below

Angela writes contemporary Christian women’s fiction. She is the author of four novels and one Christian non-fiction book and has written for devotionals and anthologies such as Chicken Soup For the Soul and Guidepost.

The United States Supreme Court’s ruling on the Texas ban on abortion by women who are more than six weeks pregnant continues to draw strong reactions from many sectors of our society. The reason I’m writing this post is to show the relevance of what happened to my protagonist in the first novel of my series Coming Out of Egypt to what is taking place in the news today.

So, ICYMI, here’s an excerpt of that blog post I wrote :

In my debut novel Coming Out of Egypt, the protagonist Marva and her sister June Garcia were both sexually abused by their father. Marva became pregnant and her father instructed her mother to perform an abortion on her. In a scene following her birthday party, Marva recounts to June what happened:

“I had to have an abortion because of Daddy. He made Mama do it to me. The pain was so bad he gave me a shot of gin to dull the pain. And it helped. That was my first drink. After that, I dropped out of school. I knew the teachers were talking about me. It was horrible. I don’t want the same thing happening to you. I don’t want anything to stop you from finishing your education and making something of yourself.”

In another scene where she is being questioned by a police officer:

“Marva, years ago you had an abortion, didn’t you?”

She sprang up from her chair. “Who told you about that?” She turned her back and folded her arms in a show of defiance. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Then it’s true. You did have an abortion.”

Seconds passed before she replied, “Yes, I had an abortion, and I don’t want to talk about it.” She paused. “I never had so much pain in my life.”

As you read the book, you will see that this traumatic event left a long and lasting effect on Marva, as I believe it does on a lot of women. Years ago in college, I chose abortion as the topic for my persuasive speech in Speech class. After a lot of research, I discovered that many women who have abortions either do so for economic reasons or they are pressured by their boyfriends or even their husbands.

From my biology class, I learned that life does begin at conception; that by the time a woman realizes she is pregnant, the fetus (or blob of blood as some like to call it) already has a heartbeat. All this information solidified my Christian belief that women should not have abortions. I guess my speech was so convincing I received the highest grade in all the speech classes in my year.

So what I’m going to say next may shock you. I don’t think a woman should have an abortion unless her life is at risk, however, I also believe she does have the right to choose whether she wishes to keep her baby or not. If she could look herself in the mirror and decide she wants to have an abortion, that’s between her and God. She and she alone will have to answer to Him when the time comes.

I know I’ll receive a lot of flak for this but I believe there’s a lot more to being a Christian than just being against abortion. There’s no big sin and little sin where God is concerned. I believe women should not have to suffer the way Marva and countless other women suffered long ago— when abortion was illegal — and some still do today. ‘Nuff said.

To learn more about Marva and June, go to my author page where you will see the other books in the Egypt series. The first book Coming Out of Egypt is just 99c. and if you are in Kindle Unlimited, you can read the other two books for free. Also, for Labor Day and until the end of this month, the other two books in the series, In the Wilderness and In the Promised Land are both discounted by a dollar each. Enjoy!

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“I could not put it down,” the lady said to me. “I could visualize everything clearly.” Those words were music to my ears, as they would be to any author. In my case, the lady was referring to Coming Out of Egypt, the first book in my Egypt trilogy.

The series chronicles the lives of two teenage sisters who survived sexual abuse by their father to eventually “come out of Egypt.” As you know, Egypt in the Bible represents a place of bondage–the place where the Israelites were kept in bondage for 400 years, until God delivered them by the hand of Moses. Therefore the title “Coming Out of Egypt” is a metaphor for the girls’ situation, but it’s also a literal one. The place where the story begins is called Egypt Village, or just Egypt, in Trinidad.

This compelling book is now available in paperback and will make a great Christmas gift for that book lover on your list. To whet your appetite, here’s the first chapter of the book. Just click on the link below.

Coming Out of Egypt – Chapter 1

If you enjoyed this chapter and would like to get the book in either kindle or paperback, just use the following links:

Coming Out of Egypt  

Coming Out of Egypt – paperback

If you want to learn more about my books and other projects, just sign up for my newsletter on the pop-up page. You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and  Book Bub

I will be participating in a book club reading and discussion of my book Coming Out of Egypt at the South Regional Broward College Library in Pembroke Pines on Saturday Sept. 28th at 2.00 p.m. If you live in this area, I would love to see you there.

In case you haven’t yet read Coming Out of Egypt, it is the first book in a series that features two sisters, sexual abuse survivors, and their heroic journey out of that horrible experience. I wrote this book to inspire victims of sexual abuse and to show them that just as the children of Israel came out of Egypt with God’s help, in the same way they too can come out of their Egypt and live a new and fulfilling life.

While the book is written from a Christian viewpoint, it is also entertaining and crosses genres of detective work, women’s fiction and YA. If you can’t make it on Saturday, please invite someone who may be able to attend and check out the book from your library. Also, right now , you can obtain the sequel In the Wilderness at the discounted price of .99c when you join this promo:
https://books.bookfunnel.com/fallforfiction/gdpabmdx53

My debut novel and the first book of the Egypt series, Coming Out of Egypt, is a timely tale. Although set in the 1980s, the subject matter is one that never goes away. In fact, it seems to be more relevant today than ever. This is why I am running a special promotion on Book Cave for the whole of this month to mark Sexual Awareness month. You can now get a copy of this gripping novel for just .99c.

As you can see from the graphic above, the statistics are alarming. Many sexual abuse victims are either afraid or ashamed to tell anyone about their experience, especially when the perpetrator is someone known to the victim. Coming Out of Egypt shows the effects that sexual abuse can have on the lives of the victims and gives hope to the readers that life does not end because of sexual abuse.

You can read what others have said about the book in a post I wrote earlier.  

During a phone conversation with a friend yesterday, I asked as casually as I could, “Did I ever tell you I’m a writer?”

Now, this is a friend, mind you. Someone I’ve known for decades and I’m now telling her that I’m a writer. Better late than never, I guess. Anyway, just as I expected, my friend told me she’s not a reader, but she did ask a few questions, which I was hoping for.

After asking me what my book was about–I told her it was actually a series of three books–and gave her a brief synopsis of the books. Then she wanted to know how I was able to sit down and write three books.

I explained it was not difficult because the first book was based on a true situation I knew of when I was a teacher back in Trinidad. For those of you who never heard the background to Coming Out of Egypt, here it is in brief:

It was rumored that two sisters attending the elementary school where I taught were being abused by their father. Their mother had died, and the girls lived in a secluded home with their father. They appeared very shabby, were isolative and did not do well in school. We, the teachers, had no legal authority to do anything in that society during that time period, and I transferred from that school without knowing what became of those girls.

So much for the background. How did I write the book?

1. The idea. It was easy for me to get started because I had the basic idea – the above synopsis – but the ending would be different. Instead of transferring from that school to another, the teacher would stay there and try to help those girls out.

2. The characters. I already had the protagonist – the older sister. Her younger sister June would be the second most important character. Then I added another character– the teacher–and I gave her a name. If there’s a protagonist there would be an antagonist. Guess what? The teacher’s boyfriend, a detective,  became the antagonist.

3. The setting. I already had that too. A rural village in Trinidad.

4. The plot. That is what happens in the story. How do these characters act on this idea in this setting? The pieces began to fall into place. The girls would go to school, the teacher would teach, and the detective would … He would have to find something to detect. Right? More ideas.

In order to make the book interesting, I had to throw in a few more elements. So I threw in some romance–the teacher and the detective, Marva and her boyfriend and even June has a boyfriend or rather, boyfriends. Then I included some police work –our detective is a hard-working guy–so we give him a crime to solve.

By this time I had an idea what I wanted the title to be. The real village where the girls lived is called Egypt Village. Egypt in the Bible represents a place of bondage. Since the book was being written from a Christian perspective, I used the story of the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt as a metaphor for the story of these girls’ journey out of their bondage, and thus came the title Coming Out of Egypt.

This whole process may sound easy or complicated depending on how you look at it. However, if you are going to write a book, I would suggest you become familiar with the craft by doing the foll.:
1)Begin reading, if you are like my friend –not a reader.
2)Take a few courses–online or at a community college or some such place
3) Join a writer’s group and
4) Start writing

If you enjoyed this blog post, I will suggest two things:
1. Buy the Book
2. Sign up to join my mailing list. You will be the first to know about my giveaways, special offers from time to time and updates from other authors.

Here is an interview I did with Ndeye Labadens, author of How to Crush Social Media in Only 2 Minutes a Day and moderator of the Ndeye Labadens Book Club.

In this interview, I talk about how I came up with the title for the first book in the Egypt series, Coming Out of Egypt and other behind-the-scenes information of my debut novel. Some of it you may already know if you read my blog regularly, but regardless, I invite you to grab a cup of your favorite beverage, (tea, anyone?) pull up your chair and enjoy.

My name is Angela Joseph. I am the author of one non-fiction book Women For All Seasons and the Egypt series, three fiction books. I am also a blogger and freelance writer for health and wellness sites.

What’s the story behind the title?

The story behind the title goes back to the time when I was a teacher in Trinidad. Two sisters attended the school where I taught, although neither of them were my pupils, and it was rumored they were being abused by their father. They lived in a secluded home in a place called Egypt Village. Coming Out of Egypt deals with the journey of two sisters who lived in the same locale and were abused by their father. I have also used the Biblical story of the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt as a metaphor for the turbulent journey of these two sisters out of an abusive childhood.

Why did you write this book?

Stories of sexual abuse are in the news every day. It is neither obsolete nor pertinent only to third world countries, yet victims of sexual abuse do not receive the help or attention they deserve. I wrote this book to inspire and encourage women, as well as men, who have been sexually abused and let them know that they have self worth. That they too can “come out of Egypt” and find love, understanding and forgiveness.

How do you keep the reader attention?

I keep the reader’s attention by pacing the plot points in such a way that the reader wants to know what happens next, but at the same time doesn’t skip over any part of the narrative. For example, a high-tension scene where Cicely’s father tells her fiancé that Cicely was a nightclub dancer in an attempt to break them up, is preceded by a tropical rainstorm in which she is almost marooned on the beach. The reader can feel the tension building. I also sprinkle cultural titbits throughout the novel that give them a glimpse of Trinidad culture and add depth to the story.

How did you come up with this book idea?

The idea came to me when I saw TV personalities like Oprah Winfrey and popular televangelist Joyce Meyer and others talking openly about their experience with sexual abuse. I thought if these women could “come out of Egypt” to become who God created them to be, then anyone, with God’s help, could do the same. So, I decided to rewrite the story of those two pupils I knew in Egypt Village.

What publishing elements do you most enjoy and most like to avoid, and why? (e.g., design, marketing, formatting, etc.)

Once the ink has dried, I wish I could wave a magic wand and make all the rest involved with publishing disappear, but unfortunately that is not case. So, while I don’t enjoy any of them, I get some satisfaction when I see even my limp marketing efforts bear some fruit. I strictly avoid design and formatting. I tackle editing with a vengeance because I know how important that is.

What’s next on your writing journey?

I am currently working on another women’s fiction set in Georgia. It deals with three friends and their secrets. I also have a fun, romantic novella that I started some time ago that I would like to complete. In addition, I will continue blogging and freelancing for health and wellness sites. I will also continue to promote Coming Out of Egypt and the other books in the series, In the Wilderness and In the Promised Land.

Where would my audience find your book?

Just click the image below.

When I began writing Coming Out of Egypt sixteen years ago, I never dreamed that sexual assault, the book’s subject matter, would be so much in the news today. But it is, and women from all walks of life are coming forward to tell their stories and they are inspiring others to do so. Does that mean that sexual assault will go away completely? I don’t thinks so, but it may deter some would-be perpetrators from carrying out these vicious acts.

Coming Out of Egypt is set in the 1980s, a time when such things were only whispered about. The protagonist is seventeen-year-old Marva who, along with her younger sister June, was sexually abused by their father. As with most sexual assault victims, the girls were too ashamed to tell anyone what they were being subjected to. One night, unable to take it anymore, Marva killed her father. This is where the story begins.

I am still amazed at the timeliness of this story and I think you will be too. Also, the psychological traits displayed by sexual abuse victims are well portrayed in these characters. But despite the disturbing subject matter, there is much light-hearted content to balance those agonizing moments:

June and her penchant for attracting boys; the passionate romance between Cicely and David; the vivid descriptions of the exotic setting and most of all, the redemptive message that unfolds as a flower (according to one reviewer) throughout the book.

Here is what some reviewers are saying about Coming Out of Egypt:

Solid book. Well written. Important topic. Engaging characters – CM

Coming Out of Egypt is a story of survival that grips your attention from beginning to end.- Eunice Matchett

The story of abuse in any form is hard to read, but more, when it is incest by a trusted parent. Who do you turn to when there is no one to turn to when a relationship goes wrong? God! This story shows what it looks like when the trust in a relationship is gone and there is no one to whom you can turn. Through many different relationships and through many different eyes we see how this walk looks and possibly feels. We are never alone or forsaken. – Titagee

If you would like to judge for yourself if what these readers said is true, why don’t you get a copy for yourself? Just click on the image below.

Hope you are enjoying your Labor Day holiday. I am taking full advantage of the stormy weather we’re having in South Florida today to catch up on some writing and reading as tropical storm Gordon moves through. Whatever you do today, take some time to rest and prepare for tomorrow.

When you think of a library, you think of a place that is always quiet, where people speak barely above a whisper, so you can read or browse the bookshelves with little distraction. Well, this past Friday evening, one of my local libraries, the South Regional – Broward College Library, did not fit this description. And no one complained because everyone was there to celebrate the 56th independence anniversary of the twin-island nation of Trinidad & Tobago. It was a time of food, fun, laughter and, as happens with every T & T occasion, music.

I was fortunate to have a table at the festivities where I met a lot of fellow Trinidadians, and sold a few copies of my book Coming Out of Egypt. I must tell you I was a little surprised, and pleased, at how much the title drew people’s attention, and here’s why. The story of the two sisters who came out of an abusive childhood begins in their hometown of Egypt Village, Trinidad. Egypt in the Bible represents a place of bondage; a place where the Israelites were kept in slavery for 400 years until God sent Moses to deliver them. The girls’ situation when the story begins is one of bondage – they were abused by their father, although that took before the story began. They eventually flee Egypt Village to elude the police and so they came out of Egypt literally. With the intervention of Marva’s teacher, they begin to overcome some of the effects of the abuse and therefore came out of Egypt figuratively.

That’s the reason for the title Coming Out of Egypt, and I had lots of opportunity to explain that to curious passersby, some of whom were familiar with Egypt Village. I just kept thinking I hope I have all the facts surrounding the setting straight, which is why it’s so important to research settings carefully when you are writing about a place.

You can also follow this gripping series with book 2 In the Wilderness and book 3 In the Promised Land by clicking these links.

Some time ago, I wrote this post about the many ways authors can benefit from their local library. Most of that information is still relevant. For instance, I mentioned that it is difficult, but not impossible, for indie authors to get their books in the library. From recent discussions posted in some Goodreads groups, some authors still lament this fact, while others report having had their books placed in the library system with not much trouble.

With all of that information at the back of my mind, I decided to approach the African American Research Library in Fort Lauderdale where I’d done a book signing for Coming Out of Egypt. I spoke with the very pleasant lady in charge of acquisitions, and she requested a copy of my book so she could evaluate it. After several phone conversations, she got back to me with the good news: my book was deemed acceptable, and she would recommend it be placed in the collections. This was another process and required some more waiting.

Finally, a few weeks ago, I was notified that Coming Out of Egypt is now in the collections at the library and may be placed in other branches in Broward County as well. I am thrilled, to say the least. My goal is to have all three books in the series on all the shelves in the county. You can see the other books here. If you live in the Fort Lauderdale area, will you do me the favor of visiting the African American Research Library and Cultural Center on Sistrunk Blvd., and checking out my book? If it’s not available, please ask the librarian to put it on hold. Thank you so much!

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