Take A Front-Seat Approach To We Missed A Meeting by Mistah Marvel including Plot Summary, Introduction by Author And More!So, it's done! We Missed A Meeting is now come to full life and is ready to start the full process to publishing. This is one of the craziest feelings I've realistically ever had - crazier than standing on stage to host an event, and even crazier than releasing music. This is releasing and packaging a body of work that may literally change how people feel about the world they perceive, or even about themselves. For sure, We Missed A Meeting both as its writer and first reader has definitely put an impression on me so strong that it pushed me to continue writing it, even when I had no idea where the story was heading. Now, for the first time, I will be releasing my first sample read to the first act, "They Chose You, Mr. Ferguson" online along with information about the prospect of publication and how you can support! I admit that I've spent a majority of my time keeping the general plot of the story relatively secretive. Excuse me for that. I was opting for the route of keeping my mouth shut about the story until I was done, or at least at a place where I could release a good piece of it and continue working on extended pieces. That first section of the story is officially done, capping off what I'm calling Act I, titled, "They Chose You, Mr. Ferguson". Below is the official front cover art for We Missed A Meeting. You'll notice that the cover includes "short stories by Mistah Marvel". I have taken the opportunity to add in some additional short stories to what will be the final packaging that all generally relate to the motif and theme of what We Missed A Meeting looks to drive home. As mentioned in my previous post about the story, I was both triggered and inspired by a lot of the conflicts we were seeing in the news during what I've called "the hot summers". From 2012 to 2016, African-Americans have literally had the front row seat to the victimization and antagonization from police brutality, to gun violence, and the media campaigns that have made these situations equally if not far worse. Situations like Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri ignited conversations that ultimately lead to the inspiration to this story. In short, I started to wonder if Blackness (or the Black experience) was connected at the hip to whiteness. I actually had a conversation with myself that forced me to ask the question, who are we when we're not comparing ourselves to White America? Richard Ferguson (and yes, I purposely gave him the surname Ferguson) is like a lot of young Black millennials: he's ambitious, wants the most for himself, and values his career in terms of placement and where he fits in over what he's actually doing. He also initially started out a character that originally started out supposed to be a lot like me, however, I had a lot of room to grow him into so much more than that and did. General Synopsis We Missed A Meeting's first act takes place in June of 2020, two years after Richard begins working at H.L. Powerman. At Powerman, Richard has been promoted to a Team Lead position, but often is asked to serve in a capacity as a manager. He has disciplinary permission, he can send people home, he can write people up, he can conduct one-on-ones, and because Richard is so articulate, he's often asked to lead or moderate company town halls, meetings, and even the annual Thanksgiving gala. The problem is, Richard is doing more than his job entails, and hasn't even been compensated for it. It's for this reason, he's both respected and slightly hated by others at Powerman. Having had to make tough decisions against other employees who are either equally tenured or more, especially his Black colleagues, Richard has countlessly been placed in a position to make really tough decisions. The world takes a complete change on one particular Monday morning, the same Monday morning at Powerman's once a month meeting. Set to moderate yet another meeting, Richard is confronted with the sudden uneasiness because no one has arrived to work outside of himself and 45 other Black employees. With not a clue as to what's going on, Richard tries to hold his cool, only to learn that the problem far exceeds just a few hundred missing employees. Both haunted by his tough career decisions and tougher decisions he'll have to make in the future, Richard battles with having to accept what has come to fruition and who he had to be in a world completely and suddenly void of White People. We Missed A Meeting's sample read is currently available via Wattpad, including my introduction to the story and more. My goal is publication, which I'm currently working towards by creating awareness and accepting pledges to help me get to publication of the full We Missed A Meeting book including three short stories "Two Strand Twists", "Of Darker Nights", and "Strangers' Ears". Pledges are beginning as low as $5 and merchandise to show your support is coming very soon! Once again, I'd like to thank Talia S., Paul M., Natalie L., and Maya G. for supporting this project with their help, feedback, and for helping with editing. I cannot leave out my beautiful wife, Coco, who put up with my "Alright, Boom"-ing in the car, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, and in the bathroom about this story. She helped a lot with the motivation to continue writing and asked many of the questions have been a vital part of this story's development (also, she's kind of just dope). #WEMISSEDAMEETING As normal, subscribe to Written By Mistah Marvel to learn more and be kept up to date about updates, news, releases and more regarding We Missed A Meeting.
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