Going All In at my Launch

I recently had a fabulous launch party to introduce and celebrate my book I'm All In. This is in fact the very first book that I have ever published, I knew this day would come but to be honest many years ago I did not think that it'll be a poetry book of mine as I anticipated releasing fiction and nonfiction novels that I would adapt into screenplays, at least for my first two books anyway. Evidently things change, in this case for the better.

I'm All In was an unforeseen collection (even for me) of my sweet and sexy poems but I am overjoyed that my plan adapted to this change and that I just went for it. The feedback so far has been fantastic and has nicely confirmed that I made the right decision.

The launch was really a listening party to a selective intimate audience, with plenty cocktails (plus my bottle of bubbly) including my signature ones to reflect the book which the Bartenders executed brilliantly. I prepared lovely gift bags that my guests appreciated with exclusive copies of the book and I had the perfect featured act named Tizzy with her Guitarist performing original, acoustic, soulful music. There was much to enjoy, to take advantage of and be grateful for as my guests were so happy, full of smiles, laughter and encouragement. They all ran through the book which I thought they'll save till they got home but I was happy to see them flick through it in front of me out of eagerness and curiosity. I let them make requests of what to perform in the second half and they surely gave it to me.

My team did everything they needed to do and more, everyone including the venue staff and some of my guests were all very helpful. I still rocked the hell out of my dress despite that my new one did not arrive, my performances adequately conveyed every poem the way that it was intended, the event and memorable moment in time was recorded for me to look back on and appreciate more in the future. People liked my playlist so much that I kept being asked to make a CD copy for them. My Alice in Wonderland theme was identified for the most part and everyone stuck to my dress code (your obliging participation did not go unnoticed!). My well thought out signature cocktails did not go unnoticed either, all was praised and tasted delicious.

I made sales! I sold both books and greeting cards! People loved my artwork of the book cover and the overall product which is the bottom line so none of my self-publishing efforts went to waste. I booked appearances out of it, pleased my readers so far, even more so my family were and are extremely proud of me. The best thing of the night is how proud people kept telling me that they were of me, to my face as well as to the camera and that is absolutely priceless. My word, that gets me all sentimental.

My audience was beautiful, including the venue staff who I noticed listening intently as they seemed to have liked what they heard so I gave them a copy of the book also. Although, I was so side tracked with my perfectionist Event Planner thoughts, I am just so very pleased and grateful that I had such a wonderful audience, everyone came full of support, love and excitement for me and what I was doing.

From what I was told I believe the favourite poems of the night were All to Myself, Love You Like Cooked Food, For Whatever Was Misunderstood and To the One That I Love the Most...Me (that's more of a therapeutic poem than a narcissistic one, you have to read to fully understand).

Next time I'll make sure to stick to my news year's resolution and smile more. Which I was doing so well with up till that week however, it is understandable considering the stress that comes with event planning, releasing a new product by yourself while tackling the issues of everyday life. Whether you're the Event Planner or the Host you're most likely going to be anxious than happy-smiley but you have to remember to enjoy the moment and have fun especially if it's your day.

All the business side of things is just headache. Like I said in my poem Thing on the Side as featured in the book, "I have a lot of headache in my life, so be my aspirin, my ibuprofen..." Will you be my aspirin? I'm addressing single, tall and nice men only with that question lol. I don't even take aspirin but a tall glass of water will do, wink wink.

Thank-you again to everyone that came out to support, endorse, enjoy and generally celebrate my book debut with me. It means than you know. And to those who could not attend but let me know in advance and still contacted me to send your sincere 'Congrats,' that means a lot to me also. I always remember those who have contributed positively to a project of mine in some way or another.

I will be doing promotion events throughout the year so look out for those. For when you read the book be sure to give your testimony and reviews on my blog or Facebook page or just tweet me.

BUY THE BOOK #ImAllin

READY TO RELEASE

My collection of sweet and sexy, arousing and heartstring pulling poems are compiled together in this appropriately titled book I'm All In.

I gave it that title because verbally I am going 'all in,' and as far as the game of love and even the risk of sex goes (fact has it) it is all a gamble.

I am very pleased to bring this book to you and release it prior to my original debut book project as it is very fitting for this period of time and it gives a good idea of my writing and storytelling to intrigue you with. Some poems will make you laugh, some will make you gasp, words will make you cringe, think, tear up or grunt in agreement. Either way it will certainly spark a reaction or debate in some cases.

This is the first of many books to come from me and it is now available exclusively from Shop Infiniti  as a pre-release of the hardback edition.

Purchase, read, enjoy, share and comment.

Love Lauren

Best in Ages

I performed at a newish show called The Poet's Corner this week and I have to say that it was one of the best poetry events that I have been to in ages, yes indeed. Not just because of all the talent, of which everyone who touched the mic' surely came to represent, but because of the overall positive, encouraging vibes and the pleasant intimate venue of which it was held (Dee Dee's Bar). My only complaint was how far and awkward the venue was for me to get to and get back home from being that I reside far away from its location. Otherwise, I have nothing but praise.

I and some fellow performer friends of mine have begun to notice a nasty trend of audiences behaving kinda stink lately, to be quite frank. Since last year, with more and more shows that I went to whether I performed or not I could not help but notice that audience members were increasingly being disrespectful to Artists, as if they just came to hate on them, discourage them or hear their own voices heckle in the background, if not to hear their own silence of stushness. We call this being stush where I'm from and there is simply no need. It was starting to take all the fun out of coming to such shows that I love and adore. My heart goes out to every Artist who had to endure any such unwarranted attitudes that brought down their performance or made them question their work.

So I was completely elated to come to this event and be reintroduced to APPRECIATION of the art. Everyone came to enjoy themselves, to hear 'the word,' a diverse group of talented Artists came to speak 'the word' and just do their thing and it was beautiful. I didn't detect any egos and I felt like any politics among us were at a minimum and that was so refreshing. Everyone was friendly, happy and social, I met many beautiful people that night and was glad that I came down under my friends influence despite my complaints about the journey.

I debuted 2 of my poems that will be in my book coming out NEXT MONTH! They were widely received which always warms my heart. I also noticed that the audience really liked if not favoured, my first poem My Sermon, My Plea which I have only performed a few times. That actually meant a lot to me because it has been one of my favourites since I wrote it last year and with that performance in particular, most references were recognised among the audience and my delivery was exactly as it was intended. I couldn't have been happier and this just makes me more excited for the performances that are to come for when I do my promo tour for my book.

I really needed this, it was just 'what the Doctor ordered.'

BIG UP to everyone else who performed and the host with his organisation Poetic Unity keeping poetry passionate and positive.

People still often ask me about Poetic Justice and I love that the love from the public is still there as it is also a positive show with passionate performer's being all about the art, but that is going to have to wait a while. Not too long though as I can't wait till its resurrection either.

A Quote from Me

I love a good quote as in most cases they're inspirational. Here's a quote that I came up with randomly  this week due to my current circumstance. It may inspire you somehow:

"If life is like an obstacle race then you must learn to jump, crawl, prepare to sweat, fall and be determined to make it to the finish line."

-Lauren Kaye

Giving You What You Want

My latest newsletter for ya!

I issued it last week, includes information about recent performances, future events and a food/wine article of mine from Deevah's Cravings. Click here to view it properly in your internet browser.

All this marketing is no joke people let me tell you and this is coming from someone who works in media. I can promote a film or an event all day long but to promote myself has taken a whole lot of elbow grease lol. However, the positive feedback and demand from fans of my work makes it ALL WORTH-IT.

I'm happy to share with you as long as you are happy to receive. No innuendo intended.

Want more of my newsletters? Sign Up Now 

Alternatively there is always social media; Miss Lauren Kaye on Facebook, @LK_ReelDeevah and LinkedIn.

Have a great weekend peeps.

         

SAVE THE DATE

I have an announcement to make....

Further details will come to those who are keen to learn more so join my mailing list for more info.

In the meantime, all you need to know is that the date to save is SATURDAY 15th AUGUST and that it will be for a very special GUEST LIST ONLY event hint-hint ;-)

#WomanOnAMission

For Father's

There is something incredibly sexy about the loving visual of a man with his children, many women agree and I am sure that many men have used that to their advantage not that I blame them. It is enduring and just simply adorable, but as a fellow Poet Prentice Powell made his point in his video 'Good Father,' this should not be praised as he is just doing what he should be doing. True, however as life has it, it is debatably uncommon to see loving, responsible, consistent relationships between men and their children. Which only makes it that much more appealing and inevitable of praise when we do see it.

I wish it was the norm but it's not, I am glad to have noticed and witnessed an increase in fathers (single dads as well as dads within an unbroken home) holding hands with their children, playing with their children, holding the baby or pushing the pram while going about their day. I didn't see much of this growing up so I am loving all this. I hope the trend continues which is interesting considering the changes and current debates of modern society.

Side note; I nearly fell off my chair when I was watching Mob Wives and I saw Drita's incarcerated husband call up in the evening to do his daughter's homework with her over the phone!! I know that many children particularly boys, have lost out on having a relationship with their dad due to incarceration but what I saw on Mob Wives just showed that it is down to the responsibility of the individual to beat the odds in such situations as opposed to just allowing you and your family to suffer from it and that was beautiful to me.

I was really bothered a couple of weeks ago at the fact that leading up to Mother's Day I had tons of enquiries and orders for Mother's Day cards and yet leading up to Father's Day I had practically no orders! This was a concern of social ethics as opposed to profit. I know there are some good fathers out there that are deserving of a special gift such as what I have to offer with my Custom Poetry Greeting Cards. I can actually think of some friends of mine who would be ideal recipients due to their admirable 'hands on' parenting. It is a damn shame that the unquestionable difference in the customer behaviour that I have observed is merely a social reflection of most people's relationship with their fathers, if any relationship at all. This bothered me so much that I voiced my opinion on Facebook while giving a shout out to some of those male friends of mine that I admire.

I will not deny that many men have been absent or flat out deplorable as parents however, I have met some wonderful men that are the complete opposite. I personally know men that have raised children that weren't even theirs, lovingly as if they were their own. I also know of some men that have voluntarily been a father figure to children within their communities, uncle's that have taken on a commendable father role to their nephews and nieces and even godfathers that have more than taken their role seriously.

Men seem to automatically have a bad reputation as parents and guardians due to the negligent actions of many men prior, so it is easy for fathers to get ignored on the larger scale of things or have people be quick to bash as oppose to praise but I would like to praise all the good dads out there. I wish that the paternal instinct was stronger in general or that effort in relationships from father to child/child to father were stronger but that is just not within my power. However, what I can do is encourage it like I am doing right now.

Another person encouraging this or least trying to give young men a positive experience of a father figure is Comedian and Host Steve Harvey. He actually has a Father's Day weekend that I heard of where he runs a mentoring programme (spelt as 'program' for my American readers) for fatherless young Black men and takes them to Disney World, something like that. Check his website for more information, hopefully it'll take place this year and continue to thrive as a foundation and initiative. If you really want to have an idea of what his children think of him as a dad watch this tear-jerking video clip.

If you have a father figure in your life who you happen to have a good relationship with and would like to let them know how much that means to you then show it! It is important to say and show someone how much you value them. As much as some people think that celebrations such as Father's Day or Mother's Day are unnecessary, they so serve a good purpose. For some parents it is the only time that they can expect to be spoiled per se by their children or even spend quality time with them.

The greatness of my Custom Poetry Greeting Cards is the impact that it has on the recipients. It comes totally unexpected to them as it is an unusual gift therefore, I would suggest a sentimental, fun, loving card custom made by yours truly. Then again in saying that, not all men appreciate cards so if you don't think that your recipient will then that's ok all is not lost. Alternatively, just remember that the best things in life are FREE and there is really no better gift than just giving your time and attention.

If you are in London and stuck on where to take your father or father figure for a nice day together, then here is another little something; 'Father's Fun Day Out' which is a family event taking place Sunday 21st June 2015 1pm-6pm at Poplar Grove Community Centre, Wembley, Middlesex HA9 9DB.

CLICK HERE to order your CUSTOM POETRY GREETING CARD for Father's Day. INTERNATIONAL ORDERS ACCEPTED!