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Author Makes Mark by Inking Book Deal in Spite of Hurricane Katrina

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) July 7, 2009

New Orleans native will celebrate debut book release on 4th anniversary of hurricane.

On August 27th, 2005, two days ahead of Hurricane Katrina, Daphne Marie Doucette and her family fled New Orleans, Louisiana in her Toyota Sequoia en route to Alabama. Underestimating the threat of Katrina, Doucette packed very little and as a result left behind floppy discs of her three finished manuscripts, which represented nearly four years of work at her personal computer. By the next night, Doucette was in Atlanta, Georgia, finally realizing the gravity of her miscalculation as predictions regarding Katrina grew more grave with each CNN broadcast.

One day later, August 29th, even the darkest of predictions were not enough to prepare anyone for what would become reality. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, destroying lives, leveling homes, and leaving thousands of survivors with the same story: “We lost everything.” Despite her gratitude regarding her family’s safety, Doucette could not refrain from counting what she had lost, and it was then that she remembered the manuscripts she had left behind.

For two long months, Doucette believed that her work was gone forever. The thought of recreating it was too daunting and she tried to come to grips with the fact that her dream of being a published author had become impossible in the wake of Katrina. However, in October of 2005, Doucette’s younger sister recovered the floppy discs containing her sister’s three finished manuscripts. Thankfully, Doucette had long since developed the habit of placing her most treasured possessions in the uppermost drawer of her furniture chest. Although the chest had been pushed over by the water of Lake Pontchartrain that had infiltrated the house, it had fallen forward against a bed in such a way that the contents in the top drawer were totally salvageable.

Having the discs back in her hands again, Doucette recommitted herself to seeing her work recognized and published. The fact that the discs had survived the elements refueled her passion and she immediately went to work revising Dirty Butter, the manuscript she believed was destined to be her debut book release. “Dirty Butter has been six years in the making for me. God willing, it will do well. No matter what becomes of the book, my message is to remember that there’s always a rainbow after every storm,” says Doucette.

After a few false starts, Dirty Butter is ironically set to be released on the 4th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by Waterway Books®. Doucette and Waterway® executive, Akbar Cojoe, consider the launch date to be indicative of the fact that she has come full circle… and on this 29th day of August 2009, she has reason to celebrate. “We’ve waited for the perfect book for a really long time,” says Cojoe, CEO of Waterway Book Publishers, LLC. “Waterway is a great company and our people really understand our writers’ vision. We’re looking forward to a long-lasting relationship with Daphne and many books to come.”

About Dirty Butter:

Dirty Butter is the story of a woman whose outward parade of colossal confidence cloaks a total absence of self-worth driven deep into her psyche by a hate-filled, contemptuous grandmother. She employs, at will, sarcasm and sexuality in an effort to influence the thoughts and actions of others. Skirting around her husband’s suspicions and drop-kicking the feelings of other women, she enslaves those around her with the embittered chains that hang around her heart–courtesy of Granny Alma.

In spite of feeling thoroughly unworthy of the love her husband freely gives, she capitalizes on his crippling need to believe in her. But in truth, she waits for the day he will discover the mistake he made in loving her, and through her scandalous conduct she knowingly makes that day more of a looming likelihood.

After relocating to New Orleans, she encounters a woman who ultimately helps to steer her to the path of admission and restoration–a path that she did not believe someone of her disreputable character could ever hope to tread.

About Waterway Books, LLC

Waterway Books, LLC offers all of the professional services you would expect from any traditional publishing house: editorial, design, production, marketing and publicity. For more information, visit http://www.waterwaybooks.com.

Media Contact

Steve Cohen

404-207-3936

NOTE TO EDITORS: Please, let us know if you have any questions or would like any additional information on author Daphne Marie Doucette or Waterway Books, LLC. Contact the PR department of Waterway Books® for interviews, bookings or any other media-related issues.

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, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
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Related Alabama House Press Releases

Country Roots Star Kim Carson Brings “Real Deal Country” to the Acura Stage at Jazz Fest 2008

New Orleans, LA (PRWEB) April 24, 2008

Country Roots singer Kim Carson will command the Acura Stage at The New Orleans 2008 Jazz and Heritage Festival on Friday, April 25 at 12:30 PM. Carson is no stranger to Jazz Fest, having played the festival eleven times in fifteen years with her unique sound which evokes what critics call “the real deal country.” Carson’s influences include Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and the great Loretta Lynn. This year’s opener for the seven day festival sees Carson’s star aligned with names such as Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Susan Cowsill and Sheryl Crow.

After Kim Carson’s 2005 Jazz Fest performance, Live New Orleans said, “Kim Carson was in full control. With her broad smile and swagger, she emitted an undeniable aura. She and her band had such a hold on the songs that the Jazz Fest performance on Friday was a no-lose situation.”

Alex Rawls of New Orleans’ OffBeat Magazine has said, “Kim Carson is as fine a roots/country singer as someone like Rosie Flores. Her brand of high Octane Twang is traditional without being retro.”

Readers of OffBeat named Kim Carson “Best Country Artist” eight times. Her concert album “Live at Tipitina’s” was voted “Best Country Album” of 2004. She’s a hard working, full-time musician performing in old-time music clubs from Texas to Florida to Nashville and has appeared on several “Outlaw country” shows with David Allan Coe, Junior Brown, Dale Watson, Jesse Dayton, John Anderson, The Hollisters and Loretta Lynn.

Kim Carson is a well-known face on the Gulf music scene and is a staple at Bay Fest in Mobile, Alabama and the Gulf Shores Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Rounding out the venue roster, Carson is a regular at the dancehall in legendary Luckenbach, Texas and has played the famous Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee.

Carson and her band, with members from the Casualties and Buffalo Speedway, did a three-month tour of Europe last summer and will return to the European Union for twelve weeks, performing in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands.

“I really enjoy traveling and the people who come out to hear live music are my kind of people,” Carson says about her European audiences. “Country music is like Levi’s,” Carson says. “It’s very American. Europeans are fascinated by our western heritage.”

Carson has just released a new compilation CD. “Looking Back — 1997 ‘Till Now.” There are three new songs on the compilation, which is a retrospective of her last five recordings.

This year marks the first time since Hurricane Katrina delivered a body blow to the Gulf Coast that a seventh day will be added to the festival, which runs April 25-27 & May 1-4, 2008. The extra day is a “sign that Jazz Fest — and the city of New Orleans — is returning to normal,” said Quint Davis, Jazz Fest’s producer/director.

Hurricane Katrina hit Carson and many New Orleans’ musicians hard, but she has vowed to make the Crescent City her permanent home once again. “Going Back to Louisiana” is Carson’s ode to the state where her face and music are well known from French Quarter Fest to the Louisiana Crawfish Festival. Carson donated the song to a Katrina Compilation CD.

Jazz Fest began in 1970, and celebrates the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. Blues, R&B, gospel music, Cajun music, Zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, folk music, Latin, rock, rap music, country music, jazz and bluegrass dominate the event.

For more information on Kim Carson, including tour dates and music purchases go to http://www.kimcarson.com and http://www.myspace.com/kimcarsonmusic.

Phone:

504-486-7322

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Attachments

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, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

More Alabama Real State Press Releases

Hispanic Real Estate Firm, Casa Latino, Executes Southeast USA Development Deal

Orlando, FL (PRWEB) September 2, 2009

Based in Celebration, Florida, Casa Latino Global Development, LLC, (CLGD), owned and operated by Joseph and Michael La Rosa, became a franchise owner in late 2008 and quickly expanded to become an area developer for the Central Florida region. Now, less than a year later, the company has opened more than a dozen locations in Orlando and has forged an alliance with Casa Latino Franchise Corporation, the franchisor.

Speaking from Celebration, Joe La Rosa, President of Casa Latino Global Development said, “Casa Latino Franchise Corporation has tremendous faith in our abilities to help grow the brand throughout the remainder of the state of Florida and the southeastern United States. Although we still need to continue to expand in our central Florida market, we have relationships throughout the region which will prove invaluable to our ability to grow the brand.”

Robb Heering, founder and CEO of Casa Latino, stated, “Our brand is doing well in many key markets despite the current economic climate. In order to continue our unprecedented growth we need to recognize the players on our team who have helped get us to this level. Joe and Mike La Rosa and their growing team of real estate professionals in central Florida have proven to us that they have what it takes to get us on the map, not only in Florida, but in many other markets as well. The newly executed agreement provides our Florida leaders to develop the balance of the state of Florida, the entire states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and a portion of Alabama.

Effective immediately, Casa Latino Global Development will be developing teams in the following markets to sell, open and operate new Casa Latino Real Estate offices: Houston, TX, Atlanta, GA, Nashville, TN, Memphis, TN, Baton Rouge, LA, New Orleans, LA, Little Rock, AR, Fayetteville, AR, Raleigh Durham, NC and Charlotte, NC.

For more information regarding the information contained in this press release, please contact Kristin Taylor at 321-939-1475 or visit our website at http://www.casalatino.com.

About Casa Latino Franchise Corporation:

Casa Latino was created in 2005 based upon the premise that Hispanic home buyers and sellers have unique needs based upon cultural differences and lifestyles, bolstered by the fact that those needs are not being effectively served by any other national brand. While the company serves everyone, regardless of heritage, the company’s model is designed to provide superior service to a multicultural market. The company offers franchisees unprecedented culturally specific and significant back office support, training, marketing tools, advertising, coaching, and much more to ensure their success. The franchise model encourages a variety of agent compensation programs which dramatically enhances a broker’s ability to recruit agents. The low franchise fee and an exceptionally low transaction based royalty structure make Casa Latino an extremely attractive opportunity. Casa Latino continues to execute an aggressive growth plan in the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico and several countries in South and Central America.

Contact:

Kristin Taylor, VP-Marketing

Casa Latino Franchise Corporation

Phone: 321-939-1475

http://www.casalatino.com

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©Copyright 1997-

, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Related Alabama Real State Press Releases

Katrina Hits Black Belt; Black Mayors Struggle for Support to Deal with Devastation, Serve the Citizens Relocated to Smaller Cities and Rebuild Communities

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) September 3, 2005

National Conference of Black Mayors, Inc. reaches out to help as Black mayors struggle for support to deal with devastation, serve the relocated citizens and rebuild communities.

Alabama and Florida, especially Mississippi and Louisiana, are in the middle of America’s Black Belt; these are the states that are reeling from the massive devastation of the recent hurricane, Katrina. Cities and towns with major Black populations have been destroyed. “It’s just like a bomb hit us,” says Mayor Jamie Mayo, Mayor of Monroe, Louisiana, and president of the Louisiana Conference of Black Mayors. “We need everything — from money to buy food and supplies for those persons who left their homes with nothing, to extra school rooms and teachers to teach the children of the persons who had to leave New Orleans and come to nearby towns,” continued Mayor Mayo.

Monroe (LA), the third largest city in Louisiana with a Black Mayor, has a population of 55,000; and even though Monroe was not hit as hard as New Orleans, it has just gained approximately 3000 new residents as a result of the storm. Mayor Clarence Hawkins of Bastrop, LA reports that his small town of 14,000 residents has doubled in size. “We have to find a way to house and feed these people immediately; the next step is to deal with unemployment,” said Mayor Hawkins.

Located in Atlanta, GA, the National Conference of Black Mayors, Inc. [NCBM], a non-profit organization that provides technical assistance to the nations 564 African American mayors, has been trying to locate its 174 member mayors in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana to determine what happened to them and the citizens of the towns they represent. “We are just getting through to our mayors and we are going to make a way to help our brothers and sisters who have been rendered homeless. Now is definitely the time for all Americans to come to the aid of our country,” says Mayor Roosevelt Dorn, President of the National Conference of Black Mayors and Mayor of Inglewood, CA.

A NCBM Katrina Relief Fund has been created, by the National Conference of Black Mayors, to provide hands-on relief to the displaced victims of the hurricane. “We encourage people of concern to make their tax deductible contribution to NCBM,” said Mayor Dorn. Our Mayors are in the middle of the storm, we know where the people are and what is needed to save our cities, provide needed service to our citizens, and rescue our people.” Mayor Dorn has personally contributed $ 10,000 to the NCBM Katrina Relief Fund. Calls are coming into NCBM from professional athletes such as Joe Horn (New Orleans Saints) and Eddie Haratwell, (Atlanta Falcons); entertainers including Vivica Fox and Erykah Badu; and Tommy Dortch, (former Chairman of the Board of 100 Black Men of America) to name a few. “We could use some help from major corporations like John Deere, Home Depot and Lowes,” said Vanessa Williams, the Executive Director of NCBM.

After assessing those member mayors from the states affected by Katrina, approximately 950,000 citizens from their respective communities are in need. “Since we are still unable to reach many of our mayors, I am sure that these totals will escalate during the coming days, added Ms. Williams.

For further information about how to give to the National Conference of Black Mayors, please contact 404-765-6444.

Contact: Bunnie Jackson-Ransom

     404-505-8188 / 404-226-8000 cell

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, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Quiet deal on Obama’s judge nominees in the Senate
After a monthslong blockade, Senate Republicans have agreed to let at least 19 of President Barack Obama’s non-controversial judicial nominees win confirmation in the waning days of the congressional session in exchange…

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Deal presses lawmakers for tax plan, new reservoirs
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ALABAMA NOTEBOOK: Uniform change no big deal
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At least 10 states are now raising questions about the legality of the deal that Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat, cut for his home state of Nebraska during the health care negotiations.

Under the agreement, which is on the verge of being approved Thursday by the Senate, Nebraska is permanently exempt from paying for its expansion of Medicaid, shoving that cost onto taxpayers in every other state.

Mr. Nelson was able to exercise such leverage because in exchange, he was providing the magical 60th vote that Democrats needed to advance their health care bill.

The deal has enraged other Senators, especially those from red states, whose Republican Senators didn’t bring home any pork at all because they were not part of the negotiations with Democratic leaders. Several other Democratic senators did get concessions for their states, but no deal has hit the nerve struck by Mr. Nelson’s.

Attorneys general in at least 10 states held a conference call late Tuesday to consider how they might challenge the deal, which they call federally subsidized vote-buying.

Some say it is certainly unfair and may be unconstitutional.

Troy King, the attorney general in Alabama, told MSNBC on Wednesday that the Constitution was not written to allow “the subsidization of a backroom deal.”

The Constitution, he said, was written to protect citizens from arbitrary and capricious decisions by Congress, not “for Congress to force Alabama to subsidize vote-buying.”

Bob Shrum, a Democratic strategist, defended the Nebraska deal on MSNBC. He said that brokering legislation was a long American tradition and said there was nothing unconstitutional about it. In fact, he said that Mr. King of Alabama had been “incoherent” in trying to back up his assertion that it was unconstitutional.

Could the growing backlash threaten passage of the health care bill? Mr. Nelson has said that he would vote for the bill only if nothing in it were changed. That makes it seem unlikely that Democratic leaders would try to undo the bill before the Thursday vote because doing so could threaten final passage.

But if anger builds — and especially if it spreads to Democratic senators — it may be harder for the Senate and House to keep the Nebraska deal intact when they meld their two bills in January.

Deal travels Georgia on eve of runoff
Gubernatorial hopeful Nathan Deal stumped in south and Middle Georgia on Monday in a last-day pitch to voters who will decide Tuesday which Republican lines up against Roy Barnes in November.

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Battle in the skies: EADS and Boeing fight it out for refueling fleet deal
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