Thank you
Gloria and Marlive for making this
interview possible!
-The SCBC, Inc.
Where are you from?
I was born in Gadsden, Alabama but raised in New York City.
Tell us your latest
news?
I guest my latest news is the upcoming October release of Distant
Lover, which I'm praying readers will like. It's a story of love lost
and found, of discovery of self, and of retribution.
When and why did you
begin writing?
The catalyst that sparked my interest in writing was my childhood,
which was an abusive one. Years before Oprah said keep a journal,
write down your pain, I call myself writing about my childhood in
order to make sense of the reasons behind the abuse. This was back in
the early seventies, so you know this was a while ago, and I was fresh
out of high school. Committing my pain to paper, freed my soul and
vanquished the nightmares.
When did you first
consider yourself a writer?
Would you believe I still don't consider myself a writer. I see myself
simply as a storyteller who happens to tell the story on paper. When I
become a writer, I'll let you know.
What inspired you to
pen your first novel?
Other than my first manuscript about my childhood, which is written in
novel form and still in my file cabinet, I think reading about sixty
novels a year and then typing manuscripts for would-be writers, made
me think that
maybe I could write a novel also. I already liked telling stories to
family and friends, so why not?
Who or what has
influenced your writing, and in what way?
As you can see, I don't write in in particular genre. I have read a
little of everyone and at times saturated myself with certain authors.
For example, I was hooked on James Baldwin, Donald Goines, Stephen
King,
Robert Ludlum, Robin Cook, Barbara Cartland, Rosemary Rodgers, Mary
Higgins Clark, Toni Morrison. I automatically readers anything these
authors put out and they are certainly an eclectic mix---mystery,
suspense, romance, drama, which is evident in my titles.
How has your
environment/upbringing colored your writing?
Great question. I believe if you read any one of my books, you'll see
the dark side of human nature, the ugly side, the not to nice side. I
think my abusive childhood has given me insight into looking beyond
the pretty faces of characters and deeper into their souls, which may
not be too pretty. Hence, a mother like Esther in The Honey Well.
Do you have a
specific writing style?
Please, I wish someone would tell me what my writing style is. ((LOL))
What genre are you
most comfortable writing?
As I mentioned earlier, I have no particular genre, which my editors
can attest to. However, I wish I could write straight mystery.
How did you come up
with the title for your book(s)?
I guess there is no rhyme or reason to how I come up with the titles
for my books. Sometimes I might just hear a phrase and like it and
somehow once I start writing, that phrase will somehow fit that book;
and sometimes, while I'm writing, something I've written will leap out
at me and stamp the book. Distant Lover has to do with
not just the physical separation of lovers, but the emotional
separation. This came from the book and of course, I remembered that
Marvin Gayle's Distant Lover is one of my all time favorites.
Is there a message in
your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I think there are messages in most books for someone, even if it's
only one person. From Shades of Jade, I wanted women to see that it
was wrong to date married men. From The Honey Well, I wanted mothers
to see that their raison d'etre is to protect, not exploit, at all
cost, the child they bring into the world. From Weeping Willows Dance,
strength and faith are uppermost. And from Distant Lover, I'm hoping
that readers will see that
they can't get their happiness from someone else, their happiness and
fulfillment must come from within themselves, and that they need to
never judge a person without knowing all the facts.
How much of the novel
is realistic?
In all of my novels, realism is key. I can't tell you how many readers
write to me saying how real the story was for them. Each germ of each
novel comes from something real I've heard about, be it on the news or
from a person's mouth. Hearing about women who prostitute their
daughters for drugs or money got me to write The Honey Well.
The first word of Distant Lover was written because I wondered what
happened to the guy I considered my first love and morphed into a full
blown novel. Don't everyone wonder about their first love?
Are experiences based
on someone you know, or events in your life?
Weeping Willows Dance is my grandmother's story. All other novels are,
as I mentioned above, created simply from something I hear about.
What are you reading
now?
I wish I could say I'm reading so and so's book. But the truth is, I
am constantly writing and dealing with my seven year old, and find no
time for leisurely reading. I do have a great ever-growing library for
when that time comes when I can no longer write.
What are your current
projects?
Working on the finishing touches for If There Be Pain, and a
screenplay.
Do you feel that the
boom in African American writers is a fad or another renaissance?
I'm praying that this boom in African American writers is not a fad.
We've always had stories to tell and were literally locked out of the
publishing industry. I would say that its another renaissance, but I'm
concerned about what historians will say about our renaissance fifty
to a hundred years from now. Will they say great literary works were
produced during this time, or will they say, it was another black
exploitation?
Do you feel more
African Americans are reading?
African Americans were always reading, we were reading other ethnic
writers because we had such limited books to read. What's happening is
that more of us are writing which means that AA readers are reading
more of us than the authors they use to read. That's why it looks like
more AA are reading.
How does your family
and/or friends feel about your book or writing venture in general?
My family is proud of my accomplishment. I've gained new friends, and
lost some old friends since I've been writing, but then that's
understandable given human nature.
Do you see writing as
a long- or short-term career?
I'd love to be in the business a long time, but it's really up to the
readers. If they stop reading me, then publishers will not publishing
me. That'll happen anyway, if my readership doesn't increase.
If you had to do it
all over again, would you change anything?
Since I started seriously trying to get published in the early
nineties, and couldn't. If I had it to do over again, I would have
published myself earlier and gotten my career started a whole lot
sooner.
Is there anything
additional you would like to share with your readers?
If anything, I'd like to say thank you to the many readers who've
chosen to read any one of my titles. I'm humbled and thankful to God
that he's allowed me to share the stories I've created. I love writing
and pray that
readers will continue reading me.
