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MANA's Award-Winning Author Elesia K. Powell Has A Passion For Poetry

Elesia K. Powell

Elesia K. Powell will tell you that she's passionate about poetry and it becomes apparent after reading her works. She incorporates her life 
experiences into her poetry. For instance, her travels throughout the United States, Europe, and the West Indies are reflected throughout her writings.

Ms. Powell, an educator, and public speaker, has won the prestigious University of Michigan Hopwood Award, an annual contest that awards prizes to U-M students for creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. 

In addition, Ms. Powell was also MarketingNewAuthors.com's (MANA's) 2014 Passion For Poetry Poet Contest winner. For winning the contest, MANA published her work titled, Sweet Ache: Poetry of the Soul, a collection of poems that reflects a combination of Jamaican and American heritage. 

There is an undercurrent rhythm and beat in her work that engages a reader. Although the subject matter of the poems varies, the spirit of the works consistently emanates throughout every poem. 

An example of this is the following poem, "Sweet Ache," the title of the book: 

Surrounded by the beauty of lush valleys,
The tropical breezes blow large green leaves,
Exposing the fruit hidden beneath.
I choose the just ripe Mango, papaya, and star fruit;
I slice them into jars,The mango and papaya in the center,
The star fruit toward the outer edges of the jars.
I fill each one with coconut water and sugar.
I want it so sweet
That their teeth will ache,
Like my insides do from wanting you.
I seal the jars and tie them with a bright ribbon
Before I take them to market to sell.
I call it Sweet Ache,
Homemade love in a bottle
with all I have for you
Locked in these jars.
Only the tourists buy my treats.
The natives hear my solitary songs in the night and
Make wide steps around me.
My own voice returns as an echo in darkness,
Sweet Ache I call out,
Homemade love in a bottle.
With each jar sold,
I pray my aching will end.
I return to the valley with Sweet Ache lingering,
Along with the sugar that creases my fingers.
The rain falls on my zinc roof,
Each drop ringing a thousand small bells,
Just a little more sugar.
Sweet Ache.
I slice them into jars,
The mango and papaya in the center,
The star fruit toward the outer edges of the jars.
I fill each one with coconut water and sugar.
I want it so sweetThat their teeth will ache,
Like my insides do from wanting you.
I seal the jars and tie them with a bright ribbon
Before I take them to market to sell.
I call it Sweet Ache,
Homemade love in a bottle
with all I have for you
Locked in these jars.
Only the tourists buy my treats.
The natives hear my solitary songs in the night and
Make wide steps around me.
My own voice returns as an echo in darkness,
Sweet Ache I call out,
Homemade love in a bottle.
With each jar sold,
I pray my aching will end.
I return to the valley with Sweet Ache lingering,
Along with the sugar that creases my fingers.
The rain falls on my zinc roof,
Each drop ringing a thousand small bells,
Just a little more sugar.
Sweet Ache.

"Help! I'm Stuck In The Middle of My Story! Now What?!”

By The MANA Staff


dfinnecy via Compfight cc 
There’s nothing as frustrating as getting stuck in the middle of your fiction novel and not know in what direction to turn.

Ideally, developing a story outline helps. However, not all writers will do this because they want to work out the plot as they go along. 

On the other hand, sometimes authors can develop an outline but then take the story into another direction. 

If you have written yourself into this predicament, don’t panic. 

Just breathe. 

Step back for a moment and see whether the following advice will help you get out of your hard place.  

Bring your story to a boil 

In the beginning, you introduced the characters and set up the conflict.  So, bring the tension and suspense that you’ve been building from the beginning to a boiling point in the middle of your story.

Expose Secrets

This is the perfect time to surprise your readers by revealing secrets about your main characters or have your characters experience tragic moments. For instance, you can reveal that your character:

• Is having an affair
• found out at 53 years old that she was adopted
• Is falsely accused of stealing classified documents from his company and now “shadowy figures” are after him. 

Readers love finding out something about the characters that they didn’t already know. The revelations you create may even confirm what readers suspected about the characters all along. If readers did not suspect anything, the exposed secrets will prompt them to either flip a few pages back to see why they “didn’t see it coming” or continue reading to find out what happens next.

Revelations in the middle of your story also give you more material to work with as you move to the end of your story.