Prosey’s Corner Special Guests Digital Artist Dwayne Jones & Actor Lane Lovegrove (05-19-18)

It’s Mara Prose Monday!  And now, Mondays will bring our followers the replay of the guests we have on Prosey’s Corner each weekend.  But first, let’s get some basic announcements out of the way.

Mara Prose Announcements

  • Book 1 of the Davenports goes on sale again May 31st.  All purchase links will be posted on social media for your convenience.  *All Pre-Orders should be received well before that date.  If not, please email maraprose@maraprose.blog asap.*
  • June 2018 – Prosey’s Corner will become a bi-weekly broadcast.
  • May-August 2018: Come participate in the Summer of Romance.  Each month in the Mara Prose Virtual Book Club, we will vote on and select 2-3 romances to discuss throughout the month.

Prosey’s Corner May 18th, 2018

If you missed our Saturday morning broadcast, you missed out on two great interviews conducted by Nicky W.  Lucky for you, I have the replay link:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maraprosenetwork/2018/05/19/proseys-corner-sat-may-19th-2018-930am-cst1030am-est

Dwayne Jones – Digital Artist
www.spoylerz.com

Dwayne is a rare combination of discipline, dedication, and self-education in regards to his artistry.  He began his career as a fun past time, practiced in stolen moments of free time from his growing personal training business.   With more and more demands for his digital artwork, Dwayne knew he had another business in the making.  He finds inspiration in his everyday life and spends countless hours perfecting his craft.  His art is unique and he enjoys delaying the gratification of each piece by waiting a few days after a project is completed before releasing it to the public.  The pieces that do make it to the public eye are ones Dwayne wholeheartedly believes in and only ones that prove eye-catching.  This method obviously works since it was one of his designs that initially caught the Art eye of Mara Prose in a Facebook group.

If you have any interest in purchasing his stellar work, please visit his website to submit your request.  Thank you, Dwayne, for being a part of Prosey’s Corner!  We love your talent!

Lane Lovegrove
lanelovegroveactor@gmail.com
IMDb: Actor Lane Lovegrove

Actor Lane Lovegrove is a jack of many trades – but his biggest passion in life is being a father.  This is probably why he gravitates more towards the “Dad” roles and has been able to make a successful acting career.  Residing near Charlotte, North Carolina, Lane began to pursue acting in his mid-thirties.  Once he decided to treat it more as a business opportunity, he began to book several commercials, movies, and tv shows.

Lane has been fortunate enough to work with Channing Tatum, with the cast of Homeland and on the hit tv series Banshee.  When he has spare time, he enjoys mentoring other actors and encouraging them to pursue their goals in the industry.  In the very near future, he plans to start his own blog specifically for fathers.

With an indie film and a new episode on Investigation Discovery, called Silencer, Lane continues to pave his own way towards success.  We enjoyed having Lane on Prosey’s Corner and we cannot wait to have him back on the show very soon.

Until next time,

Mara Prose

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Mara Prose Monday: Reflections at 41

Wow, another year and another Mara Prose birthday has arrived.  May 17th to be exact!!  It is hard to believe that I have been reflecting since my late twenties.   Thankfully, I have truly grown and matured; each year a better version of me is produced.

Why’s and Need’s?
I told someone recently that I feel the need for a much deeper understanding of self.  It is no longer acceptable to continue to do the same things, simply because that is how I have always done them.  I need to understand ‘why’ I do it and then determine if there is a real ‘need‘ to continue with that pattern.  It seems to me if I cannot determine the ‘why’, then there is obviously not a ‘need‘ for it in my life.

No Regrets
There was a point in my life where I had too many regrets.  First, I avoided regretting the decisions I made and then I fully embraced the regrets.  Now, I work hard not to develop the initial regret from the start.  I do not want to continue to look back on my life and know that I was never proactive enough to prevent some of the unfortunate mishaps.  With maturity, I believe comes a time where you no longer feel the impulse to act immediately on every single decision.  Thus, if I take the time to really think it through, determine what is truly in my best interest, and go after only my strongest desires; in theory, I should have a lot more peace and purpose.

Privacy
I make a lot of moves that no one hears about.  At one point, I prided myself on being an open book.  Lately, I want to selfishly cling to my most memorable moments alone and without an audience.  I think it is simply the fact that I am no longer seeking validation.  I finally feel comfortable in my own skin and honestly enjoy people’s misconceptions of my life.  It is amusing watching people try to ‘get’ you and ‘figure‘ you out.  The young Mara felt the need to discredit and prove all these misconceptions wrong.  The older and wiser version of me realizes you cannot control how people perceive you, so why bother?  I answer to no one but God and my conscience – the rest of it is just gravy.

I still have a long way to go, but THANK GOD I am not where I used to be. ~ Joyce Meyer

Until next time,

Mara Prose

Mailing The Davenport Copies This Week!

If you have already placed your order, thank you so much!  The printed book copies will be delivered later this week and we will begin completing all orders this weekend.  I refrained from uploading the book to any other platforms until we finalized the proofs of the physical copies so you will have several new links to purchase from this weekend – to be announced on Saturday’s Prosey Corner episode.  The Journey to Mara Prose (A Book of Poetry) will be released in May 2018!

Hardback and Softback Announcement

Wakanda Forever!

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*Keeping this brief until the movie has been out a little longer.*

I was fortunate to be able to see the “Black Panther” movie the very first opening night.  This movie is so captivating from beginning to end.  It is so much more than simply a superhero movie, it delivers so many messages, ideals and traditions.  It is not only shattering movie records, it is shattering negative stereotypes.  I will not go into a lot of detail about the movie’s premise because I feel everyone needs to see the movie for themselves and form their own opinion.  However, I will discuss the messages I derived from the movie.

First, let me state how proud this movie has made me.  It was refreshing to see our black community depicted in such an elegant and regal manner.  The movie managed to entertain while educating without preaching; and that is a rare achievement.  The overall message to me is about Unity – unity in our community , unity between our black men and women and unity among different races.

There was honestly so much I wanted to say but with the movie being so newly released, I did not know how to say it all without giving spoilers (enough reviews have already done that).  So let me just pay homage by sending a clear message to Hollywood – “All you have to do is look at the opening weekend numbers, and you will clearly see we are starved for my diversity in our movies.”

I will follow up with an additional blog to really dive into this movie after a couple of weeks have passed.

~ Author Mara Prose

Touchstone (A Mara Prose Poem)

Dedicated to my best friend and touchstone, Nicky W., in celebration of not only our friendship but her birthday month.  Thank you for all you do and your willingness to go where I go.

It started with a little girl in tears and it’s been thirty years
A bond was formed that day and remained despite some strays
No matter where we are in life, you are always willing to sacrifice
To go where I go, help when I need and encourage when my heart bleeds

You are the wind beneath my wings
You encourage me to flourish and grow
You keep me grounded and on my flow
You accept all that is me, and help to make life more carefree
You have nursed me through some hard times and celebrated the best of times

Thank you for being you
Thank you for being true
Thank you for being not only my friend
Thank you for being a Godsend
You are truly my sister from another mister

We will be best friends no matter the distance
And our bond will carry on even after our existence
To the woman who has dried many tears, squelched many fears and always sends cheers
Never change, God bless you, thank you and much love to you…my Touchstone!

~Author Mara Prose

#LevelUp – Are more women single because they walk in a ‘Girlfriend’ spirit?

There is a current mixed emotional disucssion taking place on social media, concerning the musicial artist Ciara’s recent instagram post about women learning their true value and not settling.  Her post was based off of a John Gray sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFpHCBubf_E.

I have included the article below for more details.

Here is what Ciara posted and I am not sure how it can be misinterpreted as her trying to shame single women.

ciara

If this message causes a woman to become offended and assume they are being belittled by a married woman, they obviously have some soul searching to do.  There is nothing wrong with encouraging women not to settle, focus on their relationship with God and become secure in themselves as a person before becoming a “WE”.  Too many of us rush into relationships without thinking it all the way through; this only leads to regrets.  You do have men preying on the loneliness of women and that is not male bashing, that is a simple fact.  Therefore, we as women have to use our discernment, go with our gut and pay attention to the red flags.

pexels-photo-226166Who has not made the wrong decision at one time or another in their love lives?  Who is without regret for past relationships that are seen as failures?  The point Ciara was making in my opinion, is that women need to learn from their past mistakes, learn to love themselves more and make better choices for their life.  Besides, why attack her for supporting a sermon she agreed with that was delivered by Pastor John Gray – why not attack him?

Once again, if that encouragement causes you to feel bad about your life, then I believe it has simply hit a nerve you have been trying to ignore for some time.  I find it exhausting the way people get offended over every little issue.  No one wants to take accountability and accept the hard truths.  We have to do better, ladies!  We need to stop bashing each other and support one another more.  #LevelUp

Source: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Getty Black Twitter is pretty upset with Ciara. So…what exactly did she do? Apparently, the mother of two posted a clip co-signing with pastor John Gray, who insinuates that too many women act like a girlfriend instead of wife. The “Goodies” singer captioned it, “#LevelUp. Don’t settle.” Take a look: Interesting, depending…

via Ciara Dragged On Social Media For Instagram Post About Marriage — Black America Web

~ Author Mara Prose