For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Proverbs 23:7

South Florida native son, Jonathan Spikes is a multi-talented writer that will speak to the core of readers with his new novel, I Know What I Am and I Am Not What You Call Me! Reared in Miami, Florida for most of his life, Jonathan has had the opportunity to experience many things both positive and challenging which has helped him to define his own way and chart his own course. This budding novelist, entrepreneur and former corporate trainer is expanding his wings and flying to new heights with his first literary work of art.

A graduate of Broward College and Nova Southeastern University, Jonathans experience and accomplishments speaks volumes to his aspiring writing career. Early in his professional career Jonathan mentored and counseled at-risk students at Horace Mann Middle School in Miami-Dade County as a way to give back to his community. This ignited his lifelong dream of helping youth realize that in spite of any situation, You can do and be anything that you put your mind too. His high strung energy and enthusiasm for working with students did not go unnoticed. He was later recruited to work with the Afro-centric Enhancement Self-esteem Opportunity Program (AESOP) which led to a more prominent position with the Miami-Dade Department of Juvenile Justice, Youth Investment Initiative Program. During this time Jonathan, learned that a youths formative years will impact their adult years negatively or positively depending on their exposure and mental outlets.

Years later Jonathan went on to work with the Miami-Dade Police Department where he was part of a team that developed a stress management training program, that was prompted from an independent empirical research study he conducted while working in the Communications Bureau for Miami-Dade Police Department.

In 2007, while pursuing an advanced degree in Human Resources Management, Dr. Rick Casey one of Jonathans professors noticed his unique writing abilities in his written case studies and encouraged Jonathan to explore creative writing in his spare time. As a result of that encounter, Jonathan begin to look back over his own life experiences and realized that all of the things that he had been encouraging in others was really the things that brought him to where he is today.

I Know What I am and I am Not What You Call Me is loosely based on personal events and encounters that Jonathan, himself has experienced. Even in the most difficult of situations, love always abounds no matter what. It took a lifes journey and the kindness of others to help make that love manifest itself in ways that were often times unfamiliar or foreign.

The title I Know What I am and I am Not What you Call Me, is inspired by his son Jamari who was playing with his playmates and they got into a name calling match , and his son told his playmate I Know What I Am and I Am Not THAT! What You Call Me. Wow the power of words from the mouth of babes.

This single father of two has been on a long journey to arrive at this point in his life, and he hopes that his readers will enjoy the journey as much as he has enjoyed writing this experience. Description Jonathan Spikes presents I know what I AM and I AM NOT what you call ME, a riveting tale of Damon McBlessed, a young man who is constantly at war within himself as he attempts to define who he is, not only to himself, but to God, his family, and his culture. His story is reminiscent of a cascading water fall that flows from unimaginable heart wrenching cycles of abuse, into multilayered fields of a sometimes funny, often horrid but always hopeful, personal journey of a young man coming of age. Through Damons many different forms of abuse--his own protracted quest to discover his sexuality, the tangled dynamics of his personal relationships, and his all-consuming mother--it is apparent that somehow, life always seems to deal him an uneven hand. But, instead of sulking, Damon remains exceptionally hopeful that his quest for acceptance will finally lead him to a place of love, peace and understanding. Damons hope will warm the heart of everyone, and keep the reader engaged through each dramatic twist and turn of his personal story. His tenacity is awe-inspiring as he heroically survives each set-back. The result is an arresting portrait of hope and the true meaning of being an over-comer, survivor and McBlessed child of God. www.jonathanspikes.com

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