Pitch:

A black woman’s SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. When a bipolar diagnosis rips her out of her cozy city life, Michelle Delphinia is forced to retreat to her dysfunctional family. She’s desperate to avoid stigma, but she must accept her reality before denial destroys her relationships and hard-won career.

Excerpt:

A crowd gathered around the hotel valet area, craning to see the woman kneeling at the edge of a planter with her face almost buried in the mulch, while a muscular black man in a grey uniform pushed through them, clearing a path for the spa director to reach the woman.

“Is everything okay, Michelle?” asked Lorraine, the spa director, teetering on spiky heels. “Why were you rolling around on the ground?”

Puzzled, Michelle looked up from the chewed bubblegum and shiny dime she found mixed in the mulch. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she slowly shook her head. “Rolling on the ground? I’m just sitting here.”

Lorraine’s placating smile to the crowd made no sense to Michelle.  Lorraine turned back to her, and said, “You have the rest of the day off, okay? I called your brother. He’s coming to get you, so go with Bill from security.” 

Michelle wondered, Why is Lorraine talking to me like I’m in nursery school? “You called Allen? He won’t be happy to have to come to Miami.” 

The contrast between Bill’s intimidating muscles and innocuous smile confused her further, but she was too disoriented to protest. She followed him, her mind racing. I wasn’t rolling around on the ground, was I? Oh my God, God needs me to figure out reincarnation, and I was so, so very close. I can’t be expected to work it all out with these damned interruptions. But what if… what if this is a fuck up?