Who Do You Think You Are?

Have you ever thought about where you came from; what your ancestors' lives were like? Who they were as people?  Have you ever wondered what was hidden in your ancestral lineage?

I've talked a lot of my father and I have a pretty good idea of his immediate personal history as he had told me stories of what it was like for him to grow up in Puerto Rico in the '20's and early '30's. I knew that my paternal grandparents had quite a bit of land, which is still in the family and is currently inhabited by my cousin and his family. But I don't really know much about my grandparents, his parents, except that they were together for over 70 years, raised a family and that my grandmother never worked outside of the home. I knew they were devout Pentecostals, went to services pretty regularly and I knew they were strict.

A few years ago, I started to ask older members of my family questions about them, and there was one story that totally shattered my image of them as this elderly, saintly couple. There were no crimes committed, but based on the ideals that surrounded them, I thought this particular story was kinda out there and was considered shocking in that time period. I realized that they were just people just like everybody else who sometimes did things without thinking them through.

My mother is about to be 91 years old. Two years ago she had a stroke that has left her bedridden and dependent upon others to help her in her everyday living. My mother had a tough time growing up and she never talked about her childhood. I would only hear snippets of her life: She lived for a time with her maternal grandmother, and depending on who you talked to, her mother died either when she was 2 or when she was 12. I remember a conversation when I was much younger where I asked my mother why she never talked about her mother and she said it was too hard to talk about because she had died when my mother was very young. I asked what her name was. She responded "R. Lahongrais".  The surname sounded like a song to my young ears. I swore that when I grew up, I would take that name as my own. So I asked her to spell it for me, and she spelled it the way I spell it today. She said it was a French name -- from Haiti via France and that we were part Haitian.

When my father was sick in 2005, I began to again wonder where I came from. Here was this couple, my parents, who despite all of their struggles, were still together after 58 years -- though not without incident. I recalled conversations with my dad about his upbringing and childhood and it struck me that I knew very little about my mother's background except that her grandmother's last name was Longrais.

Yes, I just discovered last night that it was spelled differently in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  I took that name as my professional name because my intention was to try and find members of my mother's family and help reunite them.  No wonder no one's come forward! I think I misspelled it!

So, I went on ancestry.com and so far I have been able to track back my mother's family, on her mother's side to 1870 via the 1910 census and in 1910, the name is spelled the way I spell it today. Now, I'm REALLY curious! Questions are now germinating in my brain: I did a google search of my name's origin. I find conflicting information. There are some in Spain with the name, and some in France; but none in Haiti. Am I descendent of African or Haitian slaves that maybe took their name from their owner upon being freed? I always knew that I was probably a descendent of slaves. Now, I'm on my way to confirming that notion and it brings up even more questions! How far back can I go? And what of my mother's father? So far, I have hit a wall regarding him.

Let's see where this all leads me!  I'm putting together the puzzle of my life, my very existence and I can not wait to find out more!!

~~ML

Andy Christofferson - Guest Blogger

Hello my friends!  Sinner here!

Did you enjoy yesterday's interview with Andy?  Hope so! I enjoyed interviewing him!  Today we welcome Andy back as our guest blogger with tips on time management for all you lovely writers!

Click here --->  Andy Christofferson on Time Management

Enjoy!!

~~Sinner

Welcome Andy Christofferson!!

Hello my friends! Sinner here! Are you ready for another great interview? This guy is awesome!! And funny too! And cute...um. um...I'm not supposed to say that! Gotta keep it professional; but then again, everybody knows I'm crazy, right?

Right???

Right,. Ok. Let's do this people!! Click here to read all about it ----> Andy Christofferson

Welcome Carmen DeSousa!

Hello everybody!  Sinner here for just a quick moment -- long enough to ask you to join me in welcoming our very special guest blogger today -- Carmen DeSousa!!

Click on the link below for this very special post.

Enjoy!!

Yes, I am a Christian, and Yes, I write Romantic-Suspense -- By Carmen DeSousa


~~Sinner

Pink Diamond Interview

Hello everybody!! The time has come for the first in our series of Pink Diamond interviews!!

Help us welcome Carmen DeSousa, author of She Belongs to me!!

Click here ----> Carmen DeSousa

--Sinner

Sinner's Ride (II) and Pink Diamond Interviews

Happy Friday my friends!

I wanted to just touch base with you all and give you some background information relating to Sinner's latest posting.

I've been doing alot of thinking about her. She's coming back and originally, the idea was to re-introduce her and her story at the end of the year. When we (Jorge Salgado-Reyes of Indie Authors Press) and I began to discuss this, I thought I would re-release the original with an alternate ending. However, the more I thought about it, the clearer it became to me that I needed to write a follow-up story, or Sinner's Ride II. This story would pick up where the original left off. At this point, I haven't decided whether this story will be a full novel or whether it will be a continuing series but I do believe that as it stands right now, Sinner's Ride could use a follow up. That is why I thought I'd let her conduct these Pink Diamond Interviews. I want to see what she's capable of and I want you, my followers to get to know her. (She's loving this, I'm sure!)

With regard to the interviews: I'd been wanting to do a series of interviews with my favorite people for a while now and have given this aspect of my new existence a lot of thought. Now that I've come up with an idea as to what I want to accomplish, I'm ready to share. My goal is to somehow express my gratitude to all the multi-talented artists I've met on Twitter and Facebook and I think the best way to do that is by sharing their work with you and possibly introduce you to something new.

I will be posting interviews on the 29th of each month followed by a guest post written by my interviewee the next day. I chose the 29th because Sinner's Ride was released April 29th and I'm calling them Pink Diamond Interviews because ... well, you know why :)  So, right now, these interviews will take place on a monthly basis because I am in the midst of writing my next story. Any interviews conducted when I'm not writing will appear more frequently.

The first will appear this coming Sunday and my guest is someone who has been a huge supporter, friend and kindred spirit. I hope you enjoy getting to know her and reading her blog post as much as I enjoyed working with her!

Disclaimer:  I am new at this and the process will be tweaked as we go along, so please, bear with me.

~~ ML

Exciting News!!

Good evening my friends!! Sinner here!!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday season. I'm not a big Christmas person, but, you know, to each his own. I'm not going to hate! Just because I don't have anything to celebrate doesn't mean I have to be mad at those who do!

Moving on.....

It's a beautiful night here in the Bronx; a balmy (for January!) 50 degrees. It's a little humid and my hair is all frizzy, but it's ok because NOTHING can get me down tonight!! Do you want to know why? Huh? Well, get this! C'mon, get a little closer so I could whisper in your ear. I have great news to share!

Starting this Sunday, January 29th -- which, by the way, is the nine month anniversary, to the day, of my coming out -- I have been given a huge responsibility. Yep, that's right! Moi! I will be conducting the much anticipated monthly interview extravaganzas which I am officially dubbing "The Pink Diamond Interviews"! This event will take place every month on the 29th and will go for two days. Each author interviewed will also guest blog the next day. Isn't that awesome!?!?

I think it's interesting; not coincidental, because I don't believe in coincidence -- that nine months to the day after I come out, the same exact amount of time it takes for a baby to be born, that I would be "giving birth" to this new facet on this blog; this new aspect of Minnie's life? It's a sure sign I'm better, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't be trusted with this task, right? I can't mess this up; my life is such a mess already! I won't mess this up! I promise!

Jeez! Anyway, for the inaugural "Pink Diamond Interview" we have a very special author. Someone whose work Minnie enjoys and someone who makes her laugh with each email exchange they have. It's hysterical. I'm the fly on the wall who sees it all and I could tell you stories!!

This person -- well -- I'm not going to say who it is. I want it to be a surprise! He! He! He! But, I'm sure you will enjoy the interview as well as their blog post. So my friends, read it, enjoy it and leave comments!!! Do that with all the interviews!!

Good night people!!

Hasta pronto!!

~~Sinner