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As I’ve shared previously, I wrote Dear Daughter: A Love Story for my daughter. It’s part of her Valentines Gift. While that’s the case, I didn’t write it for her alone. I wrote it for daughters across the world. It’s in effect my way of pouring the deepest part of my heart into the world for everyone’s daughter. Towards the end, I say something to the effect of, “I pray that each one of you daughters that receive it can receive my gift of love in the writing of this book.” I

People have been clamoring to find out more about Dear Daughter after seeing and hearing about it on WGHP News’ In Black and White Series. A few people have asked if I could give them an advanced copy or if I could release it early. While my intent is to launch it on Valentines Day, my daughter reminded me that it would be nice to have the gift in time for it. I still wasn’t convinced to budge however. Moving along, I received notice yesterday from Literary Titan that I had w

Welcome to a behind the scenes look at one of the illustrations in my soon to be released children’s book, Dear Daughter: A Love Story. It’s an expressive story that reveals my heart through a series of short love letters to my daughter Haelee. What’s fascinating is that it’s a joint project that we’re working on together wherein she’s both the editor and publisher for this project. ••• As previously shared, I wrote this story not only for her but for daughters around the 🌎

The Independent Author Network Book of the Year Contest is well respected book contest in the publishing industry. It’s highly recommended by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) and several other professional publishing organizations due to their code of ethics, transparency in judging, and commensurate prizes. The award is open to all English language small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors. I figured that Haelee

Dear Daughter: A Love Story is an expressive story that reveals the author Dedrick Moone’s heart through a love letter to his daughter Haelee. The author wrote this story not only for Haelee but for daughters across the world. He writes it to let you know that he loves each one of you through an extension of his daughter in being a dad. He hopes that it helps to shift the paradigm of black men not taking care of their children especially their daughters. And as an added bonus

Inspirational Indie Authors Podcast is hosted by Howard Lovy, ALLi’s Multimedia Manager. It gives ALLi member authors an opportunity to discuss the motivations and inspiration behind their books. His guest this week was my 14 year old daughter, Haelee. Haelee survived an early childhood that was filled with bullying and abuse. Part of the way she healed herself was to write her book about how to love yourself. Now, she wants to give back by helping other children and women wh

Dr. Hugues F. Batsielilit, Ph.D., is the President and CEO of a nonprofit called, International Consulting Aid Network (ICAN). He works as an emergency management specialist focusing on health, public health issues, and post disaster impacts (Federal Emergency Management Agency). Dr. Batsielilit has served as an expert international consultant in public health surveillance and a communicable disease specialist (The Peace Corps and ICAN), a healthcare administrator, and a comm

Set your calendars for Wednesday, October 6th at 8PM especially if you’re a fellow Aggie. I will be having a conversation about mental health, parenting as a single dad, and the award winning book that I co-wrote with my daughter. That book is entitled The Unexpected Journey: Fire and Gold. ••• For those of you that weren’t already aware you can purchase copies of it from Ben's Boyz, Speak Up Sis, and several other places. ••• Those of you that have a library card but that ar

It was an utter joy to celebrate the grand opening of Next Chapter Bookstore and Gift Shop with friends, family, and my fellow creatives on September 18, 2021. ••• We chatted it up, laughed, and celebrated one another. But not only that we put on singing and dancing performances at my table. I even serenaded my daughter with a live rendition of Isn’t She Lovely. If you weren’t there or missed the lives you missed out on fabulous time. ••• Next Chapter nor Ben’s Boyz owe us a

I found out this morning that my daughter, Haelee and I have been featured as authors on AALBC under the umbrella of LiteracyNation. ••• AALBC is the oldest, largest, and most popular online bookstore dedicated to African-American and Black literature from around the world. Its principle mission is to promote literature and literary nonfiction from all over the world to readers of all backgrounds. The mission of Literacy Nation is to encourage and promote youth and adults, as

One of the proudest moments of my life will take place from July 28, 2021 - August 1, 2021. I will get to take the stage with my one and only 13-year-old daughter, Haelee as an Author and Business Owner at the 11th National Conference of African American Librarians. The Cofounder of Literacy Nation, Director of F.O.R. Sto-Rox Library, and the Immediate President of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Richard Ashby placed our books in his libraries catalog. H