New Collaboration with Author Monica Dale

IF I haven’t mentioned it before now – I have the greatest publisher in the world.. It’s a tiny niche publishing house, A L Press Publishing, but I love them for that! It’s run by people that love books and writing. They aren’t looking for the next slick self-help psychobabble New York Times Best Seller.. They actively seek out new and different voices, and more importantly, welcome all genres.. It’s not vanity publishing for a price – it’s an out-fashioned publishing house, operating in a digital era, embracing on-line publishing.

But, why I am talking about all this? Well, because A L Press is also the publishing house of another female author, Monica M. Dale. Her first book, “Losing Andres & Finding Helen: How Diary of a Mad Black Woman Saved My Sanity,” is an incredibly personal story of personal betrayal, the breakdown of a marriage, menopause and illness. I first met Monica at an author’s event in Memphis, where we shared a table sponsored by A L Press. We spent the afternoon together, and exchanged contact information along with copies of our respective books.

As I was drawn into this incredibly personal book, I felt compelled to reach out to Monica. I had just started writing lyrics, as part of my current writing project, and I mentioned it to Monica. That was all it took. She listened to some of my songs, and immediately suggested that we collaborate on a soundtrack to her book.

I am thrilled to announce that we finished and published the book soundtrack this week!

Losing Andres and Finding Helen: the soundtrack is out and available on Spotify, Amazon music, iTunes, Youtube and other music platforms.

I am particularly proud of this work – it’s different from anything else I’ve done. Not only that, but Monica graciously invited me to sing on the album (which is not something I’ve done before..So that raspy, scratchy voice on the tracks, well, that’s mine.. It was a real challenge to sing in Spanish, but that’s kind of why we did it. (One of the things we both have in common is the idea of embracing challenges.)

Anyway – my newest chapter.. Not a journalist, more than a novelist, now SINGER – songwriter…