August 5, 2025 • 41 mins
Ever wondered what happens when someone plays with the wrong person's heart? Dr. Rhonda Lawson's romantic suspense novella "Trust" explores this dangerous territory with a page-turning intensity that keeps readers riveted from the very first scene.
In this illuminating conversation with Dr. Jacqueline Cox, Rhonda reveals the careful craft behind her compelling storytelling. Drawing from her 23-year career as an Army journalist, she shares how military training taught her to make readers feel emotions rather than simply telling them what to feel. This show-don't-tell approach creates the rich character development and authentic tension that have become hallmarks of her 23 published works.
The discussion takes fascinating turns as Rhonda explains her technique of leaving narrative "breadcrumbs" throughout her stories—a method learned from the late Eric Jerome Dickey that allows plot twists to surprise readers while still feeling earned. She also opens up about balancing her Christian faith with mentoring writers across all genres, maintaining that creativity flourishes best without judgment.
Looking toward exciting new projects, Rhonda shares plans for the revival of her powerful stage play "Twilight" addressing teenage sexual assault, and the upcoming 10th anniversary of the Black History Month Literary Weekend returning to New Orleans in 2026. Her three-step approach when doubt creeps in—"Remember your why, always pray, and stay focused"—offers wisdom applicable far beyond the writing world.
Whether you're an aspiring author seeking guidance or a reader curious about the mind behind the stories, this conversation offers rare insights into the delicate balance of craft, faith, and authenticity that creates truly compelling fiction. Connect with Dr. Rhonda Lawson on social media or at www.mtwimagesolutions.com to discover how she can help elevate your literary journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey there, I'm Jacqueline Cox, but you might
know me as ListenLinda.
Um, where do I even begin?
I guess you could say I wearmany hats Podcast host,
entrepreneur, Mrs Illinois, usa,and so much more but it all
started with a simple passion totell stories and empower others
(00:26):
.
Building a platform wasn't easy.
There were days when I wonderedif anyone was even listening.
But then something amazinghappened.
I realized the power of myvoice.
Suddenly, my words werereaching people, touching lives,
making a difference.
Now I see my mission clearly tocreate spaces where every voice
(00:47):
can be heard, because when welisten to each other's stories,
we grow, we connect, we becomestronger.
Every voice matters, everystory has power.
So what's your story?
I'm here to listen and togetherwe can make our voices echo far
and wide.
To be a guest on Listen Linda.
Contact Jacqueline Cox onFacebook Messenger.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Hey, hey, hey.
Listen, Linda family, I am yourhost, dr Jacqueline Cox, and
today we're sitting down withone of our 2025 Awesome Authors
of 2025, the one and only DrRhonda M Lawson.
Hey, not so, hey, girl.
(01:32):
Hey, hey 23-time publishedauthor, army veteran educator,
playwright and the founder ofMeet the World Image Solutions.
Y'all know she poured life intoothers through her authorship
and literary coaching and todaywe're going to talk to her about
(01:53):
her latest romantic suspensenovella, trust, which the
reviews say it's a page turner.
It's given suspense, sass and aserious plot twist.
So grab your coffee if you'reon the bus, if you're on your
way home, because tonight wewelcome a queen, a mentor and an
(02:18):
inspiring trailblazer, drRhonda Lawson.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You are so sweet.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, you, my girl, this is my friend girl,
y'all Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah, that's true, we friends, friends.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So, before we get started, y'all know how I do
when I do what I do I got tothank the Lord first, so let's
pray us in, and then we're goingto get started.
Father God, thank you.
Thank you for this divineappointment.
Bless Dr Lawson and everylistener under the sound of my
voice and under the sound of hervoice, lord God, may her story,
(02:57):
her conviction, hope andboldness to trust you more In
Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Amen Amen.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Alright.
So, dr Lawson, for those whodon't know who you are, which is
very few, okay, tell them whoyou are, your own word.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Okay, well, hello everybody.
This is your girl, dr Rhondaand Lawson.
I am the founder and owner ofMeet the World Image Solutions,
which is a publicity andliterary services company.
I am based here in the DMV inMaryland, so the big M for DMV.
I'm also a 23-time publishedauthor.
(03:38):
I'm a book coach, I'm an editor, I'm an oral storyteller which
is something new.
I just started doing that inthe past year and I'm just all
about supporting authors andhelping business owners expand
their platforms, because everybusiness owner needs a book.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
So, before we get into the book, share a little bit about your
journey from army journalism tobecoming a literary leader and a
Globetrotting mentor.
And when I say Globetrotting Imean that this lady.
You look up, she everywhere yougo from there to there, she on
(04:19):
a jet Like where is going?
Oh, this girl be everywhere.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And I'm traveling right now.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
How, how, how, how.
And what was your journey likefrom transitioning from that
army journalism to being theliterary what I like to call you
guys literary giant that youare today?
23-time published author?
That is a giant in its ownright, okay.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Amen, amen.
Well, I will tell you you, Ihave to go even further back.
So, um, writing is somethingthat I've always done.
I mean, I actually wrote myfirst book when I was 12 years
old.
I just never did anything withit, and if I ever find that
manuscript I might actuallypublish it.
But uh, so I always knew Iwanted to be a writer and I went
(05:04):
to college, at LoyolaUniversity in New Orleans and
sorry if I'm speaking too low,let me know if I go too low.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Oh, you're okay.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh, okay, I went to college at Loyola University in
New Orleans and I studied.
First I studied communications,because I just knew I wanted to
be a lawyer and I decided Ididn't want to be a lawyer.
So I switched over to Englishand that's where I really fell
(05:32):
in love with writing.
I had probably some of thehardest instructors, but what
they did was to help me tostrengthen my writing.
So then, when I joined the armyand they told me I could be an
army journalist, I said yes,that's exactly what I do so I
spent.
I was only supposed to spendfive years in the army, because
(05:52):
Loyola got expensive and Iwanted some army benefits so I
could go back to school.
Amen but I wound up doing 23years in the army and about
midway through the army I wantedto go back to fiction writing
because I love writing, and Ipublished my first novel.
It was called cheating in thenext room and it was kind of.
(06:16):
It was kind of on and poppingfrom there.
So I went from cheating in thenext room I wrote my second book
, a dead rose, and then my thirdbook was Putting it Back
Together, which was kind of acontinuation from Cheap and
Extra.
And then I went on to publishSome Wounds Never Heal, which is
(06:36):
like a part of the trilogy Onesecond, somebody's trying to
call me Okay which is like partof a trilogy.
And then I went on to Twilight,which is all about sexual
assault and teenage sexualassault.
Yeah, that book is my baby.
It's very, it's very raw, butthere's such a powerful message
(07:00):
in it.
So if I have to choose, I'llsay that's probably one of my
favorites.
And I actually turned that bookinto a stage play, a very
powerful stage play, and I hopeto do it again next year.
And then I did Trust, which wasmy first novella, because my
books are usually a littlelonger, so Trust was the first
(07:22):
novella I'd ever written.
It's about 25 000 words yeah,ever since then, I've
contributed to helped otherpeople write their stories.
I've done coaching.
I'm actually even doingghostwriting.
Right now I'm in the process ofghostwriting uh one, and I'm
(07:43):
about to start on another book.
So yeah, I do a lot, but it'sall about promoting literacy.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Well, you do a phenomenal job, because when I
read Trust baby, we couldn't getinto some things.
I was like no, she came up withthis.
Wow baby, this baby.
I'm linking baby Now.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Oh, so everybody likes Savion.
Some people say, well, why didand I'm not giving it away when
I say this but they were likewhy'd you have to kill Savion?
He could have been worked with.
No, he had to go he had to go.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
He had to go.
He did the right thing.
Okay, because I sat down toread this book.
I was like, oh no, oh no, oh no, she didn't, oh, she better my
sorority sister called me.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Look, my sorority sister um, texted me and she
said what in the?
What in the light skin, curlyhair, genuine looking thing is
going on?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
and you know what?
I didn't even picture him likethat at all.
You know what character I gavehim in my mind Morris Chestnut.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I can see that.
I can see that.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Morris Chestnut.
Just like in the Coldest WinterEver, I gave Midnight Taye
Diggs and his prime Okay, I cansee that I'm a tall, dark and
handsome.
You've seen, Mr Cox, you knowhow I roll I'm a tall, dark and
handsome, so if I see anythingof that caliber I'm putting them
(09:14):
right in that category.
We gonna talk about Semyon Do,the charismatic man with two
women, the player.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Now when the truth falls the player.
Okay, now when the true falland consequences was like what
inspired, like the high stakesfor that story, For people who
may not know, we gonna givey'all a little glimpse.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I was a little angry when I wrote that story.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I can tell in the words I'm not a page words.
They don't have faith girl.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Believe me, I've never done what happened in the
book, but I did get my feelingshurt and I always wondered these
men, or all the city's peoplebecause these people play with
people's hearts and they don'tcare how do they know they're
not going to play with the wrongperson and the wrong person is
(10:09):
going to do a man?
yeah and so I wanted to.
I wanted to just kind of delveinto that a little bit and I
came up with that story.
I thought about the lies, thatwe even know that they're lies,
but because we want it to be thetruth, so bad, we listen to it
and we say, okay, you know, oryou know that the person has
(10:32):
somebody else, but you don'twant to lose to the other person
and I talked about that in um.
I visited a book club a coupleweeks ago and that was one of
the things that we talked about.
You know that the guy hassomebody else, but you feel like
if you walk away you're losingto the other person.
So now you you unconsciouslyput yourself in a position to
(10:54):
compete it's not about the guy.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Women, women.
For some reason we always wantto compete with each other.
Oh, I got her man right,husband, oh I got her this, and
it's always just.
But.
But you don't understand your.
Your um need to compete or bebetter than the next female.
I feel like you got one up onthe other female.
It's gonna cause your downfallevery right, right.
(11:19):
You only cost yourself and youactually affect yourself by
doing something like that andputting yourself through those
situations now with with withthis, like, like I said, I went
and I did looked at some of thereviews that you had on amazon
and on goodreads about the bookand some of the um the.
The reviewers were saying likeit's a page turner with strong
(11:41):
characters.
It's fun, yet suspenseful.
Um, how do you balance?
Because I'm doing a book club Imean a book boot camp right now
, like an Arthur boot camp, andthey are watching these,
watching you guys, because Itold them to say homework, so
I'll be asking y'all to helpthem navigate their writing
journey, right.
(12:01):
So, balance, because I gotsomebody that's doing a novella
right now.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I don't know if you know, myra cooks, but she's
doing a novella right now.
How do you balance tension withreadability?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
that's a very, very good question yeah, like you,
keep a great balance.
I follow you, you know, I readyour stuff and the way that you
write is so I'm like I wouldhave been moving off track.
I probably would have got myfillet into it and not being
stable enough and I always haveto go back and get my editor to
kind of help me.
But right, do it slowly.
How do you keep that?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
well, there's actually a few things.
The first thing is, I alwaystell myself that when I finish
writing this story, I'm notgoing to be able to stand behind
every person who reads my bookand explain to them what's
happening.
I'm not going to be able toexplain to them what I was
thinking when I wrote it.
So I want to make sure thatit's very clear so that when
(12:58):
somebody reads it, theyunderstand right away.
Also, as an Army journalist, oneof the things that I used to
also teach journalism at theDefense Information School,
which is the military schoolthat journalists go to, but one
of the things I used to alwaysteach them is that you don't
(13:23):
want to tell people how to feel.
You just want to make them feelit.
So instead of telling you thatmy character's sad or my
character's to be able todescribe it, I want to be able
to describe it in her actions.
I want to be able to describeit in the words that she's
saying and that along with thecharacter and I never have to
(13:47):
actually see the character thatthe reader's going to feel.
So that is that I took in.
And then the last thing issomething that the late, great
Eric Jerome said.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Okay, hold on one second Because you've gone out,
so give us a second.
You know what?
I'm going to take a minutebreak.
So until Rhonda's, until herconnection gets here, it's going
to take a minute break and thenwe're going to come right back
(14:29):
and I'm going to come back tothat question.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Sis, have you ever survived something that was
supposed to take you out?
Have you walked throughsomething so heavy, so painful
that you didn't even recognize?
yourself after, but somehow youmade it through through the rain
is for women who've beenthrough the storms, all women
who face unique challenges andtriumphs.
This is about what we wentthrough and how God pulled us
(14:51):
through.
This ain't just another book.
This is real talk, real healingand real ministry For all women
who've been through it andstill got the strength to speak.
Your tears, your triumphs, yourtestimony they all matter.
You don't have to be a writer,sis.
I got you From ghostwriting toone-on-one consults.
I'll help you get your storyout the way it's meant to be
(15:14):
told with grace and power.
Your story has power.
Let it do the ministry.
Come join us through the rain.
We're waiting on you, sis.
Spots are limited.
Payment plans are available.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
DM me today and let's walk this journey together.
It's time.
Pastor, a wife, a mama, a womanof faith with decades invested
in love and now staring down thestorm of her life.
He's God's servant too, apreacher of the word, a man who
stood at the altar and said I dowith this.
They have the titles, the faith, the calling, but even covenant
(16:10):
can get caught in the crossfireof generational curses.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Baby, what you gonna do with all you done invested in
that man.
Just hand it over to the nextwoman.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
That was the moment God stepped in, not to end it,
but to refine it.
He wasn't trying to break themapart.
He was burning off what hecouldn't use.
This isn't just a marriage.
It's a ministry, a movement, amiracle in motion.
Some couples survive storms,others rise from them with
(16:45):
purpose in their bones and firein their testimony.
Read the story, break the cycleand remember what God joins
together.
No storm can tear apart whatGod joins together.
(17:09):
No storm can tear apart.
Pre-order Through the Rainanthology and read all about Dr
Velma's journey of love and war,and love again, destroying the
Curse of Divorce Coming thisfall.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Contact Dr Velma Bagby to pre-order now all right
, all right, all right, we areback sorry about that.
Guess I passed through a reallybad patch yeah, I kind of
figured and see, I'm used to it.
(17:53):
Now when some of the authorsthey come in and they internet
be shaking, I go right tocommercial.
Uh, uh, we not gonna do that,we gonna get this answer today,
okay.
So can you go back and see wegonna get this answer, because
we could you that?
I think?
Eric Jerome Dickey, you shakyagain.
(18:19):
Ok, you bet, ok, okay.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Rhonda, can you still hear me?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I can hear you now.
Yes, yes, yes, a bad connectionokay, can you hear me now?
Yes, ma'am, okay, so she justwent out again.
I'm sorry y'all.
Until she come back, we'regoing on commercial again.
(19:08):
We're going to hear aboutThrough the Rain.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Hey y'all.
I'm Katrina Fuller and I'mhonored to share my heart in
Through the Rain, the anthology.
My chapter is titled when theSky Clears, and it's about what
happens after the storm when thesilence hits, the healing
begins and clarity finally comes.
I open up about the lessonsI've learned in the aftermath,
(19:36):
how God spoke to me in thestillness and how peace became
my portion after pain had itsway.
This anthology is a powerfulcollection of real women with
real testimonies.
Through the Rain reminds us allthat the storm might shake you,
but it doesn't have to breakyou.
You can pre-order your copythrough me for $30 and it
(20:00):
officially releases in fall of2025.
Trust me, every page will leaveyou inspired and courage and
ready for your own breakthrough.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
She was already broken all right, all right, we
back with ronda.
She ain't gonna get past thisquestion.
I don't care.
Readability how do you balancethat?
You were speaking about ericjerome dickie before you, um,
(20:49):
before you got off okay, great,that was the part um.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Can you hear me okay?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
yes, oh yeah okay, perfect.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
so I was saying, um, when I first started writing, I
I happened to have the fortuneof doing a book signing with
Eric Dickey and he bought mybook, which I'll always be
honored about.
But he told me that when youare revealing your plot line,
(21:22):
what you do is you leave cluesand you tell people what's going
to happen, without telling themwhat's going to happen, you
just drop, like basicallybreadcrumbs all the way up until
you're ready to reveal your.
And so that way, when youreveal the plot, you didn't
bring anything on anybody.
(21:43):
It's like, wow, she did saythat, she did, he did say that
she did, he did say that.
And so you'll notice that inTrust there was a scene where
Carla went to Savon's house andhe was on the phone and he was
talking.
He was supposedly talking tohis friend, but turns out he
(22:04):
wasn't actually talking to hisfriend.
But turns out he wasn'tactually talking to his friend.
But then when she thinks backlater like yeah, he couldn't
have been talking to his friendall that time because he was
talking too fast.
You know, he was pretending tohave a conversation, but you
don't know that right away.
You're just thinking thatthey're having a conversation.
(22:25):
So when you drop those littlebreadcrumbs along the way, the
plot twist makes sense when itactually happens.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
You did a phenomenal job in Trust Baby.
I'm going to let you know thatright now I was all the way in.
I read it in one sitting.
That's how you know.
It was good because a lot ofpeople's stuff I'd be reading.
You have to take a break fromit and come back, but I had to
finish that as soon as I startedand it's only like 100 pages,
you guys, and to me it keeps ittight.
(22:57):
I know why you do it, but canyou explain to the audience and
to people who may be listeninglater on, why do you choose to
keep that concise format Likehow does it serve the
storytelling for you?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Okay, well, I've contributed to probably about 17
or 18 anthologies, so I knowhow to write a short story.
But the danger in writing ashort story is that sometimes
you leave things out or youleave the reader hanging and you
don't get to tell a completestory.
(23:33):
But with my novella, with Trust, I wanted to make sure it was
very important to me that thereader had a beginning, a middle
and an end, that it still feltlike a full story.
Once they're finished.
It may only be about 100 pages,but when they're done reading
they're going to feel like theyread a full story because it's
(23:55):
going to have everything thatyou're looking for.
It's going to have characterdevelopment, it's going to have
description, it's going to haveplot twists Everything that you
would get in a full-length novel.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, it was really good.
I can say you didn't leave nostar unturned.
A lot of times when I readstuff I'm like, okay, it's holes
here, so what happened withthis person?
What happened after that?
You told it all, honey.
It was good.
It was really good.
I read it, it was good.
Thank you girl, thank you, goget into your teaching and the
impact that you have right now.
I read it, it was good.
It was good.
Thank you, girl, Thank you, Goget it to your teaching and the
(24:32):
impact that you that you haveright now with meet the world
image solutions, Cause I really,even though I'm highlighting
books, I really want tohighlight you guys as day to day
and what you guys do and try tohighlight.
You know your, your businessand the things that you do and
now you run Meet the World ImageSolutions and you mentor so
many different authors.
How does your faith, yourservice background and your
(24:53):
writing all intersect withinMeet the World?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
That's a very, very good question.
I love that.
First of all, there's nothing Ican do without God.
I pray over my business all thetime because there are certain
things that I want to do and Idon't want to sacrifice anything
, and I also don't want tojustify doing something wrong
(25:17):
just for the sake of trying toget further.
So I'm always praying over mybusiness.
So that's how my faith plays apart in this, and I will tell
you.
I've had people ask me are yousure you can read this?
Because I'm not a Christianauthor.
I don't judge people on whatthey read, what they write and
(25:39):
what they read is on them, andI'm not going to not take a
client because they might writesomething that's a little
different from what I believe.
I pray all the time and I knowthat what they're saying is not
going to affect my relationshipwith my God, so I don't really
worry about that.
Yeah, not with my service.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
I say I agree wholeheartedly.
You have to let people be intheir own creative space.
Everybody has their owncreative space and we can't
judge people be in their owncreative space.
Everybody has their owncreative space and we can't
judge people based on their owntalent, their own creativeness.
That's not I don't.
I agree 100% with thatabsolutely now.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I don't hide my faith from anybody.
Anybody who works with me knowsthat I'm a christian and then
they know I have I relationshipwith God and sometimes they
might hold back because they'relike okay, well, I'm not going
to give this type of work to herbecause she's a Christian.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
No, but I'm not going to refuse to read your work
just because of who you are.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, I appreciate that about you because it's not
a lot of people out here.
They take their religion andwhat they believe.
That about you, because it'snot a lot of people out here.
They, they take their religionand and what they believe and
they and they push that on toother people and if you're not,
a part of that is it's almostlike cliquish, you know it's
like okay, well, if you don'twrite this type of thing or you
don't do this, that I can't workwith you.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
I'm not that type of person either.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Um, now, what I like is what I like and what I don't
is what I don't, right, but ifyou're coming to me as a client
and you need me to formatsomething, you need me to edit
something, you need to grab itbecause of what you, what you
write, I'm not going to shut youout.
You get what I'm saying, right?
Don't ask me to join.
No erotic anthology.
Ok, my words on the paper.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
It's funny that you say that.
It's funny that you say thatbecause my last anthology was A
New Renaissance and I did say noerotica.
I did not want erotica in itbecause I knew I was going to
have children's stories in it.
Now there is one story in thebook.
It's not erotica.
There is one story in the bookit's not erotica, but there were
(27:51):
heavier scenes in the book.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
I have some intimate scenes.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I'm okay with that because if anybody reads, like
Chi-Town, diamond or you know,mountains or a few of my works,
it is intimate scenes in there.
It is, you know, sexual scenesin there.
But erotica goes deeper intodescription.
It gets, it gets very vulgarand that's where I draw the line
as far as me participating.
(28:15):
But I have, um, I have editedsome erotica right, I've had
done those types of things andformatted them for people and
you know, just doing the basicthings to try to help them, you
know, but I don't, I don'tparticipate, I don't write and
if that makes sense I don't.
But I would be lying if I say Ihaven't read song, because
(28:37):
anybody who know me know I'm a,say I love zane, um, I, I read
her stuff in high school when Ishouldn't have been reading it.
I love me, I love my queen ofsister soldier Okay, I think
that's my cousin in my head andthe coldest winter ever.
(28:59):
You know those were two of myfavorite books in high school
and I know I shouldn't have beenreading them but I was Okay and
so I can't say that I wasn'tbecause those are the things you
grew up on.
But as you mature and you getinto and I get into, you know,
get into who I am spiritually,then I know for a fact.
I'm not going to be writing atthat extent.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Right, right right.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's okay to write.
You know intimate scenes andbooks.
That's okay to write.
You know intimate scenes andbooks, that's okay.
Oh yeah, dead girl walking, shesaid was is in renaissance that
was in the anthology.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
She did an amazing job with that story oh, man, we
ain't gonna talk.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
We ain't gonna talk about dead girl walking girl.
You know I love this book girl.
And then she got jane's journeygirl.
That's the, that's the sequelto this girl, then she coming
out with silver moon I'm waitingon that one.
So she got a whole three-partgirl for dead girl.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Well, dr.
Dr audreanne is gonna bebringing all those books to new
orleans for black historyliterary weekend 2026, so I
can't wait.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
That's my girl.
She told me that she wrote thisin your book.
I said, you know, dr Rhonda ismy friend in my head, right?
Okay, just letting you know Ilove me some Dr, I love me some
Dr Rhonda baby.
And when I was like, okay, sothis all makes sense, like it
really does, like the group thatI have in this magazine and, uh
(30:28):
, the july edition, the 25awesome authors of 2025 it
seemed like it all makes sense.
It's like all the indie authorsand some of them are
traditional published but mostof them are indie art and it
just all comes like full circle.
Everybody in this group rightawesome, awesome group um I want
to ask you about trust.
(30:48):
We're going to get back totrust for a moment.
What is one moment or reviewfrom a reader that from trust
that stays with you today,because I know it was quite a
while when you wrote it.
So what was what?
What is like a moment in thatbook that you wrote that kind of
sticks with you, or a reviewfrom a reader?
Speaker 3 (31:13):
um, that's a good question.
Um, I think a moment from thebook is the very first scene
where he's staring down theshooter and he's not backing
away.
He is so caught up in himselfand he is so evil that he
(31:36):
actually laughs at her pain,even though she sold him a gun
at him.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
The opening scene had me like, okay, I got to read
more because who he think he is?
Yes, right, yes, girl, that wasone that, yes, that's what made
me look y'all this book.
It pull you in.
As soon as you read the firstpage he's staring down the
barrel, and he just know heain't finna get shot.
He just know he is who he is,hon, and she show his tail, baby
(32:07):
.
She's going to say, yeah, okay,I got your tail, it was a good
book, y'all, y'all got to go getit.
I'm going to do the call to theaction at the end, but just
know, y'all got to go get this.
Now you are a prolific author,stage adapter and an educator.
What's next for you?
Is it any plays, books orevents that you got coming up?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Well, a few things going on.
So this coming Saturday I'll beat the Independent Book
Festival in Philadelphia, so I'mlooking forward to that.
Also, in October, I'll be atthe National Black Book Festival
in Houston.
Um, and that's going to be.
(32:52):
I always forget the date, soI'm going to say it's the last
weekend of October, so whateverthat is.
I think, yeah, whatever thatlast Thursday through Saturday
is in October that's when it isso.
Then in February is the BlackHistory Month Literary Weekend.
We will be celebrating our 10thanniversary, so I'm super
(33:15):
excited about that.
All of the slots are alreadygone, but I want to add in a
couple more Louisiana authors.
So if you are an author fromLouisiana, please reach out to
me, because I want to have youas part of this event, with this
being our 10th year.
You know the scholarships aregoing to be more, the essay
(33:35):
contests are going to be more.
We're going to really make animpact in New Orleans, and New
Orleans is where it all started.
I moved it to the DMV back in2021.
However, in 2026, I have totake the event back where it all
started, because New Orleans iswhat made this event special.
(33:57):
So I'm really looking forwardto that.
There are going to be a lot ofgreat surprises for not just the
authors, but for the attendeesas well.
We're going to have a good timeNow.
One thing that I am looking atdoing and I'll be making that
decision within the next monthis we are going to bring back
Twilight, the stage play.
Oh, wow.
(34:20):
Yeah, we did it in 2020.
And unfortunately, the worldshut down like a month later and
so we were never able to do theplay again, so my plan is to
bring it back in 2026.
So just stay tuned for that.
There are going to be auditionscoming up in New Orleans and
(34:42):
it's going to be an amazingstage play.
When I did it back in 2020, itwas amazing.
Those actors, they did theirthing.
They brought those charactersalive, so hopefully I can get
some of them back.
One of the characters isactually an actor on All the
Queen's Men right now, sohopefully we can still get him.
He's a little busy right now.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Oh man, that is awesome.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Oh my goodness girl, look, you got to make sure you
record it and put it out thereso we can probably put it in
like film festivals and stufflike that.
I think that would be awesome.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yes, that's the plan.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Awesome, yes, yes.
And New Orleans writers, makesure you contact her right here.
I got her information on thescreen.
I want to shout out one of myfavorite New Orleans writers,
Teresa Reese Dorsey, with yourbook Trapped.
Oh girl, oh Girl, you wouldlike Trapped?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Okay, I'm going to go find it.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Yes, her name is Teresa Dorsey.
Her PN name is Reese R-E-E-S-E.
She was one of the women of thewaiting room, the volume one.
When I tell you trap and trustis, but trap, trap, trap is
great.
(36:04):
Teresa Dorsey, if you'rewatching this, I'm trying to put
you a plug in.
Okay, okay, contact Rhonda.
Okay, matter of fact, when wefinish with this, I'm going to
tag Teresa Dorsey.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
All right, teresa Dorsey, I'm looking for you,
girl, I'm looking for you.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Dorsey.
She is all man.
Trap was great and I know shecame out with a sequel to it,
but I haven't got a chance toread it right now.
And right now you know I gotfollowers Not coming to me.
But her name on Facebook, Ithink, is Reese and or Reese
Dorsey.
She might be Teresa Dorsey, butif you look her up on look up T
, you look her up on looked upTrapped on Amazon and I'm sorry
(36:46):
I'm plugging up, but trust me,you will be trying.
Yeah, get with Rhonda Teresa.
Okay, I'm trying to put you aplug Anchor, okay.
So right now we're going to dothe lightning round, okay, so I
want you to finish this.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Trust is Okay, so.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
I just answered Okay.
Trust is intriguing.
What's one piece of advice foryoung authors, starting today?
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Write what's in your heart and not what you think is
popular.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Give us your three-step faith reset when
doubt creeps into your right.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Remember your why Always pray and then stay
focused.
Never compare yourself to whatyou think other people are doing
.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So this is the call to action.
Y'all Okay, grab Trust onAmazon or Barnes Noble and read
it tonight.
Leave a review.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Please leave a review .
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Please leave a review , because I'm going to leave
mine, because we want to help DrLawson spread her message.
Okay, and if you're an aspiringwriter, check out her platform.
Meet the World Image Solutionsfor coaching, editing and just
literary inspiration.
Ok, dr Lawson, thank you foryour time, thank you for your
(38:20):
heart and for your wisdomHelping my boot camp, my little
baby boot camp.
Ok, you are more than a guest,you are family here.
Okay, so this conversation hasbeen so, so powerful.
The devil tried, but he won'twin, girl, because I got
commercials.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
We're not letting him win.
We're not letting him win.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
I got commercials ready Just in case he tried
throw on the commercials, tryingto come back, because we're
going to get this question.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
okay, I can't wait to host you again, Anytime you
want me back, just say the wordand the same offer to you
Anytime you want to come back tothe Horizons.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Author Lounge just say the word Put me in there
because I got some stuff comingup.
I'm glad you said that.
I was waiting on you to saythat Put me in there.
Some stuff coming up too, soput me.
I'm glad you said that.
I was waiting on you to saythat, put me in there.
And I always ask my people,tell people, uh, where they can
reach you and then close us outin prayer okay, wonderful.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
first of all, you can always catch me on tiktok,
instagram, facebook and evenlinkedin.
Um, those are my four mainplatforms.
You can reach out to my website, wwwmtwimagesolutionscom, and I
want to meet you.
Even if you just want to say hi, tell me what you thought of
(39:38):
the show, leave a review for abook, or if you want to maybe
chat about how I can supportyour journey, just say the word.
This is what it's all about.
There's enough stuff for us allto get some shine.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Absolutely, absolutely, and pose us out in
prayer.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
All right.
Dear Heavenly Father, first ofall I want to just thank you.
Thank you for the heart and thespirit of Jackie Cox, just the
love that she shows to otherauthors.
This is what we all need torespond to.
So thank you for that, thankyou for connecting me with such
a wonderful spirit and thank youfor continuing to bless us in a
(40:18):
way that only you can.
All of these things, father,you've done in Jesus' name,
you're redundant in our lives.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Well, this concludes anotherepisode of listening to book
club live.
We got our number eight guestcoming up.
I'm not going to tell y'all whothat is, I'm going to let that
be a surprise.
But have a wonderful night.
God bless you all and I willtalk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Bye, bye.
(41:35):
Yeah, smile at me.
Hey there, I'm Jacqueline Cox, but you might
know me as ListenLinda.
Um, where do I even begin?
I guess you could say I wearmany hats Podcast host,
entrepreneur, Mrs Illinois, usa,and so much more but it all
started with a simple passion totell stories and empower others
(00:26):
.
Building a platform wasn't easy.
There were days when I wonderedif anyone was even listening.
But then something amazinghappened.
I realized the power of myvoice.
Suddenly, my words werereaching people, touching lives,
making a difference.
Now I see my mission clearly tocreate spaces where every voice
(00:47):
can be heard, because when welisten to each other's stories,
we grow, we connect, we becomestronger.
Every voice matters, everystory has power.
So what's your story?
I'm here to listen and togetherwe can make our voices echo far
and wide.
To be a guest on Listen Linda.
Contact Jacqueline Cox onFacebook Messenger.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Hey, hey, hey.
Listen, Linda family, I am yourhost, dr Jacqueline Cox, and
today we're sitting down withone of our 2025 Awesome Authors
of 2025, the one and only DrRhonda M Lawson.
Hey, not so, hey, girl.
(01:32):
Hey, hey 23-time publishedauthor, army veteran educator,
playwright and the founder ofMeet the World Image Solutions.
Y'all know she poured life intoothers through her authorship
and literary coaching and todaywe're going to talk to her about
(01:53):
her latest romantic suspensenovella, trust, which the
reviews say it's a page turner.
It's given suspense, sass and aserious plot twist.
So grab your coffee if you'reon the bus, if you're on your
way home, because tonight wewelcome a queen, a mentor and an
(02:18):
inspiring trailblazer, drRhonda Lawson.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You are so sweet.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, you, my girl, this is my friend girl,
y'all Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah, that's true, we friends, friends.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So, before we get started, y'all know how I do
when I do what I do I got tothank the Lord first, so let's
pray us in, and then we're goingto get started.
Father God, thank you.
Thank you for this divineappointment.
Bless Dr Lawson and everylistener under the sound of my
voice and under the sound of hervoice, lord God, may her story,
(02:57):
her conviction, hope andboldness to trust you more In
Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Amen Amen.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Alright.
So, dr Lawson, for those whodon't know who you are, which is
very few, okay, tell them whoyou are, your own word.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Okay, well, hello everybody.
This is your girl, dr Rhondaand Lawson.
I am the founder and owner ofMeet the World Image Solutions,
which is a publicity andliterary services company.
I am based here in the DMV inMaryland, so the big M for DMV.
I'm also a 23-time publishedauthor.
(03:38):
I'm a book coach, I'm an editor, I'm an oral storyteller which
is something new.
I just started doing that inthe past year and I'm just all
about supporting authors andhelping business owners expand
their platforms, because everybusiness owner needs a book.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
So, before we get into the book, share a little bit about your
journey from army journalism tobecoming a literary leader and a
Globetrotting mentor.
And when I say Globetrotting Imean that this lady.
You look up, she everywhere yougo from there to there, she on
(04:19):
a jet Like where is going?
Oh, this girl be everywhere.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And I'm traveling right now.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
How, how, how, how.
And what was your journey likefrom transitioning from that
army journalism to being theliterary what I like to call you
guys literary giant that youare today?
23-time published author?
That is a giant in its ownright, okay.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Amen, amen.
Well, I will tell you you, Ihave to go even further back.
So, um, writing is somethingthat I've always done.
I mean, I actually wrote myfirst book when I was 12 years
old.
I just never did anything withit, and if I ever find that
manuscript I might actuallypublish it.
But uh, so I always knew Iwanted to be a writer and I went
(05:04):
to college, at LoyolaUniversity in New Orleans and
sorry if I'm speaking too low,let me know if I go too low.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Oh, you're okay.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh, okay, I went to college at Loyola University in
New Orleans and I studied.
First I studied communications,because I just knew I wanted to
be a lawyer and I decided Ididn't want to be a lawyer.
So I switched over to Englishand that's where I really fell
(05:32):
in love with writing.
I had probably some of thehardest instructors, but what
they did was to help me tostrengthen my writing.
So then, when I joined the armyand they told me I could be an
army journalist, I said yes,that's exactly what I do so I
spent.
I was only supposed to spendfive years in the army, because
(05:52):
Loyola got expensive and Iwanted some army benefits so I
could go back to school.
Amen but I wound up doing 23years in the army and about
midway through the army I wantedto go back to fiction writing
because I love writing, and Ipublished my first novel.
It was called cheating in thenext room and it was kind of.
(06:16):
It was kind of on and poppingfrom there.
So I went from cheating in thenext room I wrote my second book
, a dead rose, and then my thirdbook was Putting it Back
Together, which was kind of acontinuation from Cheap and
Extra.
And then I went on to publishSome Wounds Never Heal, which is
(06:36):
like a part of the trilogy Onesecond, somebody's trying to
call me Okay which is like partof a trilogy.
And then I went on to Twilight,which is all about sexual
assault and teenage sexualassault.
Yeah, that book is my baby.
It's very, it's very raw, butthere's such a powerful message
(07:00):
in it.
So if I have to choose, I'llsay that's probably one of my
favorites.
And I actually turned that bookinto a stage play, a very
powerful stage play, and I hopeto do it again next year.
And then I did Trust, which wasmy first novella, because my
books are usually a littlelonger, so Trust was the first
(07:22):
novella I'd ever written.
It's about 25 000 words yeah,ever since then, I've
contributed to helped otherpeople write their stories.
I've done coaching.
I'm actually even doingghostwriting.
Right now I'm in the process ofghostwriting uh one, and I'm
(07:43):
about to start on another book.
So yeah, I do a lot, but it'sall about promoting literacy.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Well, you do a phenomenal job, because when I
read Trust baby, we couldn't getinto some things.
I was like no, she came up withthis.
Wow baby, this baby.
I'm linking baby Now.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Oh, so everybody likes Savion.
Some people say, well, why didand I'm not giving it away when
I say this but they were likewhy'd you have to kill Savion?
He could have been worked with.
No, he had to go he had to go.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
He had to go.
He did the right thing.
Okay, because I sat down toread this book.
I was like, oh no, oh no, oh no, she didn't, oh, she better my
sorority sister called me.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Look, my sorority sister um, texted me and she
said what in the?
What in the light skin, curlyhair, genuine looking thing is
going on?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
and you know what?
I didn't even picture him likethat at all.
You know what character I gavehim in my mind Morris Chestnut.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I can see that.
I can see that.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Morris Chestnut.
Just like in the Coldest WinterEver, I gave Midnight Taye
Diggs and his prime Okay, I cansee that I'm a tall, dark and
handsome.
You've seen, Mr Cox, you knowhow I roll I'm a tall, dark and
handsome, so if I see anythingof that caliber I'm putting them
(09:14):
right in that category.
We gonna talk about Semyon Do,the charismatic man with two
women, the player.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Now when the truth falls the player.
Okay, now when the true falland consequences was like what
inspired, like the high stakesfor that story, For people who
may not know, we gonna givey'all a little glimpse.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I was a little angry when I wrote that story.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I can tell in the words I'm not a page words.
They don't have faith girl.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Believe me, I've never done what happened in the
book, but I did get my feelingshurt and I always wondered these
men, or all the city's peoplebecause these people play with
people's hearts and they don'tcare how do they know they're
not going to play with the wrongperson and the wrong person is
(10:09):
going to do a man?
yeah and so I wanted to.
I wanted to just kind of delveinto that a little bit and I
came up with that story.
I thought about the lies, thatwe even know that they're lies,
but because we want it to be thetruth, so bad, we listen to it
and we say, okay, you know, oryou know that the person has
(10:32):
somebody else, but you don'twant to lose to the other person
and I talked about that in um.
I visited a book club a coupleweeks ago and that was one of
the things that we talked about.
You know that the guy hassomebody else, but you feel like
if you walk away you're losingto the other person.
So now you you unconsciouslyput yourself in a position to
(10:54):
compete it's not about the guy.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Women, women.
For some reason we always wantto compete with each other.
Oh, I got her man right,husband, oh I got her this, and
it's always just.
But.
But you don't understand your.
Your um need to compete or bebetter than the next female.
I feel like you got one up onthe other female.
It's gonna cause your downfallevery right, right.
(11:19):
You only cost yourself and youactually affect yourself by
doing something like that andputting yourself through those
situations now with with withthis, like, like I said, I went
and I did looked at some of thereviews that you had on amazon
and on goodreads about the bookand some of the um the.
The reviewers were saying likeit's a page turner with strong
(11:41):
characters.
It's fun, yet suspenseful.
Um, how do you balance?
Because I'm doing a book club Imean a book boot camp right now
, like an Arthur boot camp, andthey are watching these,
watching you guys, because Itold them to say homework, so
I'll be asking y'all to helpthem navigate their writing
journey, right.
(12:01):
So, balance, because I gotsomebody that's doing a novella
right now.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I don't know if you know, myra cooks, but she's
doing a novella right now.
How do you balance tension withreadability?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
that's a very, very good question yeah, like you,
keep a great balance.
I follow you, you know, I readyour stuff and the way that you
write is so I'm like I wouldhave been moving off track.
I probably would have got myfillet into it and not being
stable enough and I always haveto go back and get my editor to
kind of help me.
But right, do it slowly.
How do you keep that?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
well, there's actually a few things.
The first thing is, I alwaystell myself that when I finish
writing this story, I'm notgoing to be able to stand behind
every person who reads my bookand explain to them what's
happening.
I'm not going to be able toexplain to them what I was
thinking when I wrote it.
So I want to make sure thatit's very clear so that when
(12:58):
somebody reads it, theyunderstand right away.
Also, as an Army journalist, oneof the things that I used to
also teach journalism at theDefense Information School,
which is the military schoolthat journalists go to, but one
of the things I used to alwaysteach them is that you don't
(13:23):
want to tell people how to feel.
You just want to make them feelit.
So instead of telling you thatmy character's sad or my
character's to be able todescribe it, I want to be able
to describe it in her actions.
I want to be able to describeit in the words that she's
saying and that along with thecharacter and I never have to
(13:47):
actually see the character thatthe reader's going to feel.
So that is that I took in.
And then the last thing issomething that the late, great
Eric Jerome said.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Okay, hold on one second Because you've gone out,
so give us a second.
You know what?
I'm going to take a minutebreak.
So until Rhonda's, until herconnection gets here, it's going
to take a minute break and thenwe're going to come right back
(14:29):
and I'm going to come back tothat question.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Sis, have you ever survived something that was
supposed to take you out?
Have you walked throughsomething so heavy, so painful
that you didn't even recognize?
yourself after, but somehow youmade it through through the rain
is for women who've beenthrough the storms, all women
who face unique challenges andtriumphs.
This is about what we wentthrough and how God pulled us
(14:51):
through.
This ain't just another book.
This is real talk, real healingand real ministry For all women
who've been through it andstill got the strength to speak.
Your tears, your triumphs, yourtestimony they all matter.
You don't have to be a writer,sis.
I got you From ghostwriting toone-on-one consults.
I'll help you get your storyout the way it's meant to be
(15:14):
told with grace and power.
Your story has power.
Let it do the ministry.
Come join us through the rain.
We're waiting on you, sis.
Spots are limited.
Payment plans are available.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
DM me today and let's walk this journey together.
It's time.
Pastor, a wife, a mama, a womanof faith with decades invested
in love and now staring down thestorm of her life.
He's God's servant too, apreacher of the word, a man who
stood at the altar and said I dowith this.
They have the titles, the faith, the calling, but even covenant
(16:10):
can get caught in the crossfireof generational curses.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Baby, what you gonna do with all you done invested in
that man.
Just hand it over to the nextwoman.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
That was the moment God stepped in, not to end it,
but to refine it.
He wasn't trying to break themapart.
He was burning off what hecouldn't use.
This isn't just a marriage.
It's a ministry, a movement, amiracle in motion.
Some couples survive storms,others rise from them with
(16:45):
purpose in their bones and firein their testimony.
Read the story, break the cycleand remember what God joins
together.
No storm can tear apart whatGod joins together.
(17:09):
No storm can tear apart.
Pre-order Through the Rainanthology and read all about Dr
Velma's journey of love and war,and love again, destroying the
Curse of Divorce Coming thisfall.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Contact Dr Velma Bagby to pre-order now all right
, all right, all right, we areback sorry about that.
Guess I passed through a reallybad patch yeah, I kind of
figured and see, I'm used to it.
(17:53):
Now when some of the authorsthey come in and they internet
be shaking, I go right tocommercial.
Uh, uh, we not gonna do that,we gonna get this answer today,
okay.
So can you go back and see wegonna get this answer, because
we could you that?
I think?
Eric Jerome Dickey, you shakyagain.
(18:19):
Ok, you bet, ok, okay.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Rhonda, can you still hear me?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I can hear you now.
Yes, yes, yes, a bad connectionokay, can you hear me now?
Yes, ma'am, okay, so she justwent out again.
I'm sorry y'all.
Until she come back, we'regoing on commercial again.
(19:08):
We're going to hear aboutThrough the Rain.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Hey y'all.
I'm Katrina Fuller and I'mhonored to share my heart in
Through the Rain, the anthology.
My chapter is titled when theSky Clears, and it's about what
happens after the storm when thesilence hits, the healing
begins and clarity finally comes.
I open up about the lessonsI've learned in the aftermath,
(19:36):
how God spoke to me in thestillness and how peace became
my portion after pain had itsway.
This anthology is a powerfulcollection of real women with
real testimonies.
Through the Rain reminds us allthat the storm might shake you,
but it doesn't have to breakyou.
You can pre-order your copythrough me for $30 and it
(20:00):
officially releases in fall of2025.
Trust me, every page will leaveyou inspired and courage and
ready for your own breakthrough.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
She was already broken all right, all right, we
back with ronda.
She ain't gonna get past thisquestion.
I don't care.
Readability how do you balancethat?
You were speaking about ericjerome dickie before you, um,
(20:49):
before you got off okay, great,that was the part um.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Can you hear me okay?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
yes, oh yeah okay, perfect.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
so I was saying, um, when I first started writing, I
I happened to have the fortuneof doing a book signing with
Eric Dickey and he bought mybook, which I'll always be
honored about.
But he told me that when youare revealing your plot line,
(21:22):
what you do is you leave cluesand you tell people what's going
to happen, without telling themwhat's going to happen, you
just drop, like basicallybreadcrumbs all the way up until
you're ready to reveal your.
And so that way, when youreveal the plot, you didn't
bring anything on anybody.
(21:43):
It's like, wow, she did saythat, she did, he did say that
she did, he did say that.
And so you'll notice that inTrust there was a scene where
Carla went to Savon's house andhe was on the phone and he was
talking.
He was supposedly talking tohis friend, but turns out he
(22:04):
wasn't actually talking to hisfriend.
But turns out he wasn'tactually talking to his friend.
But then when she thinks backlater like yeah, he couldn't
have been talking to his friendall that time because he was
talking too fast.
You know, he was pretending tohave a conversation, but you
don't know that right away.
You're just thinking thatthey're having a conversation.
(22:25):
So when you drop those littlebreadcrumbs along the way, the
plot twist makes sense when itactually happens.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
You did a phenomenal job in Trust Baby.
I'm going to let you know thatright now I was all the way in.
I read it in one sitting.
That's how you know.
It was good because a lot ofpeople's stuff I'd be reading.
You have to take a break fromit and come back, but I had to
finish that as soon as I startedand it's only like 100 pages,
you guys, and to me it keeps ittight.
(22:57):
I know why you do it, but canyou explain to the audience and
to people who may be listeninglater on, why do you choose to
keep that concise format Likehow does it serve the
storytelling for you?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Okay, well, I've contributed to probably about 17
or 18 anthologies, so I knowhow to write a short story.
But the danger in writing ashort story is that sometimes
you leave things out or youleave the reader hanging and you
don't get to tell a completestory.
(23:33):
But with my novella, with Trust, I wanted to make sure it was
very important to me that thereader had a beginning, a middle
and an end, that it still feltlike a full story.
Once they're finished.
It may only be about 100 pages,but when they're done reading
they're going to feel like theyread a full story because it's
(23:55):
going to have everything thatyou're looking for.
It's going to have characterdevelopment, it's going to have
description, it's going to haveplot twists Everything that you
would get in a full-length novel.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, it was really good.
I can say you didn't leave nostar unturned.
A lot of times when I readstuff I'm like, okay, it's holes
here, so what happened withthis person?
What happened after that?
You told it all, honey.
It was good.
It was really good.
I read it, it was good.
Thank you girl, thank you, goget into your teaching and the
impact that you have right now.
I read it, it was good.
It was good.
Thank you, girl, Thank you, Goget it to your teaching and the
(24:32):
impact that you that you haveright now with meet the world
image solutions, Cause I really,even though I'm highlighting
books, I really want tohighlight you guys as day to day
and what you guys do and try tohighlight.
You know your, your businessand the things that you do and
now you run Meet the World ImageSolutions and you mentor so
many different authors.
How does your faith, yourservice background and your
(24:53):
writing all intersect withinMeet the World?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
That's a very, very good question.
I love that.
First of all, there's nothing Ican do without God.
I pray over my business all thetime because there are certain
things that I want to do and Idon't want to sacrifice anything
, and I also don't want tojustify doing something wrong
(25:17):
just for the sake of trying toget further.
So I'm always praying over mybusiness.
So that's how my faith plays apart in this, and I will tell
you.
I've had people ask me are yousure you can read this?
Because I'm not a Christianauthor.
I don't judge people on whatthey read, what they write and
(25:39):
what they read is on them, andI'm not going to not take a
client because they might writesomething that's a little
different from what I believe.
I pray all the time and I knowthat what they're saying is not
going to affect my relationshipwith my God, so I don't really
worry about that.
Yeah, not with my service.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
I say I agree wholeheartedly.
You have to let people be intheir own creative space.
Everybody has their owncreative space and we can't
judge people be in their owncreative space.
Everybody has their owncreative space and we can't
judge people based on their owntalent, their own creativeness.
That's not I don't.
I agree 100% with thatabsolutely now.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I don't hide my faith from anybody.
Anybody who works with me knowsthat I'm a christian and then
they know I have I relationshipwith God and sometimes they
might hold back because they'relike okay, well, I'm not going
to give this type of work to herbecause she's a Christian.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
No, but I'm not going to refuse to read your work
just because of who you are.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, I appreciate that about you because it's not
a lot of people out here.
They take their religion andwhat they believe.
That about you, because it'snot a lot of people out here.
They, they take their religionand and what they believe and
they and they push that on toother people and if you're not,
a part of that is it's almostlike cliquish, you know it's
like okay, well, if you don'twrite this type of thing or you
don't do this, that I can't workwith you.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
I'm not that type of person either.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Um, now, what I like is what I like and what I don't
is what I don't, right, but ifyou're coming to me as a client
and you need me to formatsomething, you need me to edit
something, you need to grab itbecause of what you, what you
write, I'm not going to shut youout.
You get what I'm saying, right?
Don't ask me to join.
No erotic anthology.
Ok, my words on the paper.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
It's funny that you say that.
It's funny that you say thatbecause my last anthology was A
New Renaissance and I did say noerotica.
I did not want erotica in itbecause I knew I was going to
have children's stories in it.
Now there is one story in thebook.
It's not erotica.
There is one story in the bookit's not erotica, but there were
(27:51):
heavier scenes in the book.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
I have some intimate scenes.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I'm okay with that because if anybody reads, like
Chi-Town, diamond or you know,mountains or a few of my works,
it is intimate scenes in there.
It is, you know, sexual scenesin there.
But erotica goes deeper intodescription.
It gets, it gets very vulgarand that's where I draw the line
as far as me participating.
(28:15):
But I have, um, I have editedsome erotica right, I've had
done those types of things andformatted them for people and
you know, just doing the basicthings to try to help them, you
know, but I don't, I don'tparticipate, I don't write and
if that makes sense I don't.
But I would be lying if I say Ihaven't read song, because
(28:37):
anybody who know me know I'm a,say I love zane, um, I, I read
her stuff in high school when Ishouldn't have been reading it.
I love me, I love my queen ofsister soldier Okay, I think
that's my cousin in my head andthe coldest winter ever.
(28:59):
You know those were two of myfavorite books in high school
and I know I shouldn't have beenreading them but I was Okay and
so I can't say that I wasn'tbecause those are the things you
grew up on.
But as you mature and you getinto and I get into, you know,
get into who I am spiritually,then I know for a fact.
I'm not going to be writing atthat extent.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Right, right right.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's okay to write.
You know intimate scenes andbooks.
That's okay to write.
You know intimate scenes andbooks, that's okay.
Oh yeah, dead girl walking, shesaid was is in renaissance that
was in the anthology.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
She did an amazing job with that story oh, man, we
ain't gonna talk.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
We ain't gonna talk about dead girl walking girl.
You know I love this book girl.
And then she got jane's journeygirl.
That's the, that's the sequelto this girl, then she coming
out with silver moon I'm waitingon that one.
So she got a whole three-partgirl for dead girl.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Well, dr.
Dr audreanne is gonna bebringing all those books to new
orleans for black historyliterary weekend 2026, so I
can't wait.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
That's my girl.
She told me that she wrote thisin your book.
I said, you know, dr Rhonda ismy friend in my head, right?
Okay, just letting you know Ilove me some Dr, I love me some
Dr Rhonda baby.
And when I was like, okay, sothis all makes sense, like it
really does, like the group thatI have in this magazine and, uh
(30:28):
, the july edition, the 25awesome authors of 2025 it
seemed like it all makes sense.
It's like all the indie authorsand some of them are
traditional published but mostof them are indie art and it
just all comes like full circle.
Everybody in this group rightawesome, awesome group um I want
to ask you about trust.
(30:48):
We're going to get back totrust for a moment.
What is one moment or reviewfrom a reader that from trust
that stays with you today,because I know it was quite a
while when you wrote it.
So what was what?
What is like a moment in thatbook that you wrote that kind of
sticks with you, or a reviewfrom a reader?
Speaker 3 (31:13):
um, that's a good question.
Um, I think a moment from thebook is the very first scene
where he's staring down theshooter and he's not backing
away.
He is so caught up in himselfand he is so evil that he
(31:36):
actually laughs at her pain,even though she sold him a gun
at him.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
The opening scene had me like, okay, I got to read
more because who he think he is?
Yes, right, yes, girl, that wasone that, yes, that's what made
me look y'all this book.
It pull you in.
As soon as you read the firstpage he's staring down the
barrel, and he just know heain't finna get shot.
He just know he is who he is,hon, and she show his tail, baby
(32:07):
.
She's going to say, yeah, okay,I got your tail, it was a good
book, y'all, y'all got to go getit.
I'm going to do the call to theaction at the end, but just
know, y'all got to go get this.
Now you are a prolific author,stage adapter and an educator.
What's next for you?
Is it any plays, books orevents that you got coming up?
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Well, a few things going on.
So this coming Saturday I'll beat the Independent Book
Festival in Philadelphia, so I'mlooking forward to that.
Also, in October, I'll be atthe National Black Book Festival
in Houston.
Um, and that's going to be.
(32:52):
I always forget the date, soI'm going to say it's the last
weekend of October, so whateverthat is.
I think, yeah, whatever thatlast Thursday through Saturday
is in October that's when it isso.
Then in February is the BlackHistory Month Literary Weekend.
We will be celebrating our 10thanniversary, so I'm super
(33:15):
excited about that.
All of the slots are alreadygone, but I want to add in a
couple more Louisiana authors.
So if you are an author fromLouisiana, please reach out to
me, because I want to have youas part of this event, with this
being our 10th year.
You know the scholarships aregoing to be more, the essay
(33:35):
contests are going to be more.
We're going to really make animpact in New Orleans, and New
Orleans is where it all started.
I moved it to the DMV back in2021.
However, in 2026, I have totake the event back where it all
started, because New Orleans iswhat made this event special.
(33:57):
So I'm really looking forwardto that.
There are going to be a lot ofgreat surprises for not just the
authors, but for the attendeesas well.
We're going to have a good timeNow.
One thing that I am looking atdoing and I'll be making that
decision within the next monthis we are going to bring back
Twilight, the stage play.
Oh, wow.
(34:20):
Yeah, we did it in 2020.
And unfortunately, the worldshut down like a month later and
so we were never able to do theplay again, so my plan is to
bring it back in 2026.
So just stay tuned for that.
There are going to be auditionscoming up in New Orleans and
(34:42):
it's going to be an amazingstage play.
When I did it back in 2020, itwas amazing.
Those actors, they did theirthing.
They brought those charactersalive, so hopefully I can get
some of them back.
One of the characters isactually an actor on All the
Queen's Men right now, sohopefully we can still get him.
He's a little busy right now.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Oh man, that is awesome.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Oh my goodness girl, look, you got to make sure you
record it and put it out thereso we can probably put it in
like film festivals and stufflike that.
I think that would be awesome.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yes, that's the plan.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Awesome, yes, yes.
And New Orleans writers, makesure you contact her right here.
I got her information on thescreen.
I want to shout out one of myfavorite New Orleans writers,
Teresa Reese Dorsey, with yourbook Trapped.
Oh girl, oh Girl, you wouldlike Trapped?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Okay, I'm going to go find it.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Yes, her name is Teresa Dorsey.
Her PN name is Reese R-E-E-S-E.
She was one of the women of thewaiting room, the volume one.
When I tell you trap and trustis, but trap, trap, trap is
great.
(36:04):
Teresa Dorsey, if you'rewatching this, I'm trying to put
you a plug in.
Okay, okay, contact Rhonda.
Okay, matter of fact, when wefinish with this, I'm going to
tag Teresa Dorsey.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
All right, teresa Dorsey, I'm looking for you,
girl, I'm looking for you.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Dorsey.
She is all man.
Trap was great and I know shecame out with a sequel to it,
but I haven't got a chance toread it right now.
And right now you know I gotfollowers Not coming to me.
But her name on Facebook, Ithink, is Reese and or Reese
Dorsey.
She might be Teresa Dorsey, butif you look her up on look up T
, you look her up on looked upTrapped on Amazon and I'm sorry
(36:46):
I'm plugging up, but trust me,you will be trying.
Yeah, get with Rhonda Teresa.
Okay, I'm trying to put you aplug Anchor, okay.
So right now we're going to dothe lightning round, okay, so I
want you to finish this.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Trust is Okay, so.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
I just answered Okay.
Trust is intriguing.
What's one piece of advice foryoung authors, starting today?
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Write what's in your heart and not what you think is
popular.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Give us your three-step faith reset when
doubt creeps into your right.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Remember your why Always pray and then stay
focused.
Never compare yourself to whatyou think other people are doing
.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So this is the call to action.
Y'all Okay, grab Trust onAmazon or Barnes Noble and read
it tonight.
Leave a review.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Please leave a review .
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Please leave a review , because I'm going to leave
mine, because we want to help DrLawson spread her message.
Okay, and if you're an aspiringwriter, check out her platform.
Meet the World Image Solutionsfor coaching, editing and just
literary inspiration.
Ok, dr Lawson, thank you foryour time, thank you for your
(38:20):
heart and for your wisdomHelping my boot camp, my little
baby boot camp.
Ok, you are more than a guest,you are family here.
Okay, so this conversation hasbeen so, so powerful.
The devil tried, but he won'twin, girl, because I got
commercials.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
We're not letting him win.
We're not letting him win.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
I got commercials ready Just in case he tried
throw on the commercials, tryingto come back, because we're
going to get this question.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
okay, I can't wait to host you again, Anytime you
want me back, just say the wordand the same offer to you
Anytime you want to come back tothe Horizons.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Author Lounge just say the word Put me in there
because I got some stuff comingup.
I'm glad you said that.
I was waiting on you to saythat Put me in there.
Some stuff coming up too, soput me.
I'm glad you said that.
I was waiting on you to saythat, put me in there.
And I always ask my people,tell people, uh, where they can
reach you and then close us outin prayer okay, wonderful.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
first of all, you can always catch me on tiktok,
instagram, facebook and evenlinkedin.
Um, those are my four mainplatforms.
You can reach out to my website, wwwmtwimagesolutionscom, and I
want to meet you.
Even if you just want to say hi, tell me what you thought of
(39:38):
the show, leave a review for abook, or if you want to maybe
chat about how I can supportyour journey, just say the word.
This is what it's all about.
There's enough stuff for us allto get some shine.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Absolutely, absolutely, and pose us out in
prayer.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
All right.
Dear Heavenly Father, first ofall I want to just thank you.
Thank you for the heart and thespirit of Jackie Cox, just the
love that she shows to otherauthors.
This is what we all need torespond to.
So thank you for that, thankyou for connecting me with such
a wonderful spirit and thank youfor continuing to bless us in a
(40:18):
way that only you can.
All of these things, father,you've done in Jesus' name,
you're redundant in our lives.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Well, this concludes anotherepisode of listening to book
club live.
We got our number eight guestcoming up.
I'm not going to tell y'all whothat is, I'm going to let that
be a surprise.
But have a wonderful night.
God bless you all and I willtalk to you soon.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Bye, bye.
(41:35):
Yeah, smile at me.
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