Who I’ve Become is NOT who I AM, is Sonya Visor’s first non-fiction book. Her passion is to minister to the people who hide behind masks. Sonya’s calling is to break and destroy the yokes of bondage, releasing the power of God into the lives of others by the preached Word and prayers of deliverance. When you can find the strength, to step into who you truly are; you can find the strength to BE THE (Tru U). TruU Ministries is the women’s ministry that God has charged her with to help other’s become free.

Sonya shares her heart with her husband, Pastor Tony Visor, who she calls her better half, for nineteen years. She and her husband have ministered effectively in the city of Racine together at NCC since 1999. Sonya is blessed to love two sons, Jason and Tony, Jr. Visit her online at sonyavisor.com.

About the Book

Who are you when nobody’s looking? It’s time to take off what hides who you truly are…the mask! Are you tired of going around family, friends and church folk with a frozen smile and a broken heart? Unmask your true identity and learn your real name as pastor’s wife and playwright Sonya Visor cuts to the heart with dynamic testimony of sexual molestation at a young age.

BEING SILENT GAVE POWER to the hands that touched her life. Can hands meant to protect you also have the power to crush your identity? YES! But when we stop allowing a mask of shame to hold us captive with CLOSED mouths, WE CAN let Jesus be real in our lives.

Discover who you have become and embrace who you really are in a book that goes past the pews and what other’s think about you — to bring glory to God by being transparent and transformed. It’s time to take off your mask and let the true you show up!

Excerpt from the Book (CHAPTER 9)

View the blog tour schedule and read an excerpt at http://bit.ly/TakeOffTheMask.

If you enjoy contemporary romances that – make you laugh out loud, tackle sensitive life issues with compassion and grace, and introduce you to passionate couples who make you feel . . . love really does conquer all — then join me in the celebration of LaConnie Taylor-Jones’ new release, IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN! 

LaConnie, describe yourself for our visitors

First and far most, I’m a born-again Christian.  Down through the years when faced with some difficult challenges in life, my faith in the Almighty God has grown stronger.

How do you find time to connect with God?

My connection with God is through prayer.  Usually, my day begins around 3:00am with a quiet meditation period, followed by prayer.

Do you have a favorite bible verse and or quote you wish to share?

  “In my trouble I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.” Psalm 120:1

Who are your favorite authors? Favorite books?

Several authors have had a wonderfully profound impact on me both as a reader and writer.  They include and not necessarily in this order: Beverly Jenkins, Linda Howard, Brenda Jackson, Rochelle Alers and L.A. Banks, Eric Jerome Dickey, and Mary Morrison.

Two of my favorite books include: The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) and The Catcher In The Rye (J.D. Salinger)

Tell us about your journey to publication.

The journey to publication was long and let me tell you, the road was B-U-M-P-Y!! It was a tedious voyage, but I never gave up on it!!  After completing When I’m With You, I submitted the manuscript to sixty-eight agents.  Eleven requested a partial, but afterwards, declined further interest. Finally in November 2005, I gathered the courage to submit the manuscript directly to six publishing houses, followed two months later by When a Man Loves A Woman.  By the spring 2006, three of them had requested the complete for When I’m With You and the rest is history.

Tell us about your current book.

Tinsel Town is about to learn a few lessons from a Southern doctor with the courage to win the heart of a man who swore no woman ever would.

If it doesn’t have a scientific basis, Dr. Laney Olivia Houston doesn’t believe in it —and that includes love at first sight.  But she meets Raphael Baptiste. One encounter is all it takes; and she realizes her life is changed forever.  

Jazz musician, Raphael Baptist is no stranger to women or their beds.  When an illness strikes, his life is thrown into turmoil. 

But the quiet Southern belle sees beyond his past and bitterness. She sees a man who could love. . .

What influenced you to write this book?

My fans are 100% responsible for this story coming to life. It features the youngest brother of the Baptiste Clan, Raphael Baptiste. Readers will get the opportunity to revisit some of their favorite characters from my two previous titles, When I’m With You and When A Man Loves A Woman. They’ll also be introduced to a host of new characters. And I believe they’ll come to love them, too.

Did you have a favorite character(s)? Who and why?

Not to brag or anything, but the heroine in this story is absolutely awesome. God, I love Dr. Laney Olivia Houston! Finally, a woman whirls into the life of player extraordinaire, Raphael Baptiste and straight up drops a bomb on him. 

What’s next for you?

   Currently, I’m working on a couple of romantic suspense plots.

Where can visitors find you online?

• Author Website URL – http://www.laconnietaylorjones.com/
• Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/LaConnie-Taylor-Jones/322256068774
• Twitter – http://twitter.com/laconnie
• Shelfari – http://www.shelfari.com/laconnie/shelf
• YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/LaConnie1
• Blog – http://www.laconnietaylorjones.com/blog/
• Feedburner – http://feeds2.feedburner.com/LaconnieTaylor-jones
• Goodread – http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1350113-laconnie

YOU COULD  WIN A FREE AMAZON KINDLE!

For a limited time today – 8 AM – 12 NOON EST —Written Voices readers are invited to visit LaConnie Taylor-Jones’ website to learn more about this new release and use the promotional code (WRITTEN VOICES) to enter a drawing to receive one of 5 — IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN t-shirts — and for a chance to receive a FREE Amazon Kindle to be given away Saturday, March 13, 2010 @ 12 NOON PST/2 PM CST/ 3 PM EST via LaConnie’s official blog website at http://www.laconnietaylorjones.com/blog/. So join the celebration of IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN today!

Ty: Thank you for allowing me to be a guest blogger today at Written Voices. Today, in the Celebrate Women in Leadership series, I want to highlight labor leader and community organizer Delores Huerta.

Dolores Huerta, labor leader, social activist, and community organizer was the co-founder of the United Farm Workers. She started this organization with well-known activist Cesar Chavez in the 1950s. Raised in the central San Joaquin Valley community of Stockton, California, Huerta was well-known for her leadership the early years of farm worker organizing.

Migrant workers harvest fruits and vegetables but were often paid only nominal wages for excessive hours. In addition, they were often exposed to dangerous pesticides and often subjected to less than human living conditions. What I most admire is that Huerta made people aware of the terrible living and working conditions by organizing the community and articulating the impact and devastation.

In 1955, Huerta co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization, and in 1960 co-founded the Agricultural Workers Association. In 1965, Huerta directed the UFW national grape boycott taking the oppression of farm workers to the consumers. The boycott resulted in the California table grape industry signing an unprecedented three-year collective bargaining agreement. Like any good leader, she did not wait to be asked what to do. She just did what needed to be done. I really appreciate how she saw the problem, addressed the concerns, and collaborated with others to bring about solutions.

During the 1970s, Huerta headed up the farm workers’ union’s political arm and helped lobby for legislative protections. It was during this time that she also became connected with the growing feminist movement. She has been highly politically active, lobbying numerous California and federal laws including a 1960 bill to permit people to take the California driver’s examination in Spanish.

In September 1988 outside of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Huerta was severely beaten by San Francisco Police officers during a peaceful and lawful protest. This incident and her courageous survival sparked another change with law enforcement procedures. Even in the face of her life being threatened, I treasure that she stood up for her convictions. That’s true inspiration right there!

As an advocate for farm workers rights, Huerta has been arrested more than two dozen times for participating in non-violent civil disobedience activities and strikes. She remains active in progressive causes such as the Delores Huerta Foundation.

Her perseverance in the midst of the struggle resulted in the improved lives of migrant workers and resulted in equity. But more than anything she influenced others to be courageous and to be leaders against all odds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dawn McCoy is author of Leadership Building Blocks: An Insider’s Guide to Success. As one of the youngest elected African-American elected to the Sacramento City Unified School Board, McCoy shares seven leadership fundamentals in her book. Inspiring readers to be top in their field, Dawn shares her insights based upon twenty years serving as a nonprofit and government executive.

A motivational speaker, coach, and founder of Flourish Leadership Group, a leadership development and communications firm, Dawn is dedicated to transforming ordinary people into extraordinary leaders. In recent years, she has worked with organizations to develop their vision and create phenomenal results. Dawn has worked with hundreds of individuals to help them capture their spirit of leadership and truly become the effective leaders they were meant to be.

Read an excerpt online and visit the tour schedule at http://bit.ly/LeadershipBuildingBlocks.

Did you know "Fifteen Years" by Kendra Norman-Bellamy is her 15th novel? Listen to her talk about the unexpected book title and her upcoming projects for 2010.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Fifteen Years

Josiah Tucker, the son of a substance dependent and neglectful mother, spent most of his childhood years in the custody of the State, living in foster homes throughout Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of fourteen, he was taken from  the foster family that he had grown to love, the Smiths, and returned to his negligent birth mother. Enduring the hardships faced while living with his birth mother JT manages to makes something of his life.  However, fifteen years after being taken from the Smiths and at the peak of success, he finds himself feeling empty and at his lowest.  When he decides to reconnect with the Smiths, JT finds his faith in God renewed and discovers his attraction to his foster sister.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KENDRA NORMAN-BELLAMY is a national best-selling author and the founder of KNB Publications LLC. She is the organizer of Visions in Print, an Atlanta-based national organization for faith-based writers, and The Writer’s Hut, an online fellowship for African American Writers. She is the founder of Cruisin’ For Christ, a groundbreaking at-sea ministry that celebrates writing, gospel music and other God-glorifying arts, and also serves as a motivational speaker.

A native of West Palm Beach, Florida, Kendra currently resides in Stone Mountain, George with her family. For more information, visit www.knb-publications.com.

View the blog tour schedule and read an excerpt at http://bit.ly/FifteenYearsBlogTour.