Have you ever met someone’s whose spirit just radiated with such positivity that you couldn’t help but feel better when you were in their presence? Well that’s how I felt when I first encountered Ananda Leeke. We met when she began visiting my blog and leaving the most wonderful (and mood-lifting) comments nearly 4 years [...]]]>

Have you ever met someone’s whose spirit just radiated with such positivity that you couldn’t help but feel better when you were in their presence? Well that’s how I felt when I first encountered Ananda Leeke. We met when she began visiting my blog and leaving the most wonderful (and mood-lifting) comments nearly 4 years ago. At BlogHer 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting offline and basking in her glow.

Ananda has a calming spirit. She evokes peace, centeredness and a profound sense of spirituality. This is evidenced by her work as a yogi and promoter of sisterhood. But don’t let the calm exterior fool you, Ananda is a hustler. She is the author of two books, Love’s Troubadours and That Which Awakens Me, yoga teacher, radio host, social media expert, and lawyer. She is a force of nature and a woman you need to know.

Recently, I had the pleasure to speak with Ananda about her books, her creative spirit, and how she’s managed to carve out the life she wants on her own terms.

Britni Danielle: Ananda, you’re a writer, yoga teacher, radio host, and self-described “innerpreneur.” What motivates you to do all that you do?

Anada Leeke: Spirit motivates me to share my gifts.

BD: Speaking of being motivated, what made you decide that you no longer wanted to practice law & wanted to start following your creative dreams?

AL: I still use my legal background in running my own business. The lawyer in me never disappears.

I started pursuing my creative dreams in 1992 as a way to overcome stress from taking the bar exam.

BD: Your first novel, Love’s Troubadours, is about a woman who has to look within to find the love and life she so desperately wants. Where did the idea for the book come from?

AL: The idea came from my own experiences and the experiences of others.

BD: The protagonist, Belle Violette Francois aka Karma, isn’t the average sista we usually meet in novels. She’s a museum curator, a jazz lover, and a very creative soul. She reveals herself through her journal entries and we see her progression as the books moves forward. In some ways, I think she embodies your creative spirit. What inspired you to create Karma’s character? Did you pull from your own life or other women that you know?

AL: My life experiences and the life experiences of others inspired me to write the novel.  I used the experiences of various women and men.

BD: What do you want people to take away from reading Love’s Troubadours?

AL: I want people to see the many ways women and men of African, Asian, and Latino descent live and love. We are diverse. We are complex. Our life experiences are rich and juicy! They are universal. Everyone can learn from us.

BD: Ananda, not only are you an author, but you have used Social Media to create quite a movement. What made you want to get into that arena?

AL: I started using a blog in 2005 at the request of my book editor Wayne P. Henry.  He urged me to use the blog to overcome writer’s block.  When I released Love’s Troubadours, I used Myspace and YouTube to market the book.  After joining the Black Author Showcase social networking site (http://blackauthors.ning.com), I learned about Internet radio and other tools.

My marketing strategies forced me to learn more about social media.  That’s why I attend social media conferences such as Blogging While Brown, BlogHer, Blogalicious, She’s Geeky, and Latinos in Social Media.

BD: Speaking of Social Media, as a writer, how has it helped and influenced your creative work?

AL: Social media has allowed me to connect with people I may not get to meet in person.  Their presence in my online and offline life have helped me grow as a creative person.

BD: Your newest book, That Which Awakens Me, is a memoir that explores your transition from lawyer to writer/teacher. Why did you decide to share your experiences with others? What do you want them to take away from your life?

AL: My memoir was inspired by my mother’s request to document my creative life.  I also wanted to give myself the gift of looking at my life and the choices I have made to become a creative person.  I hope my readers receive what they need from my book.

BD: You decided to self-publish both Love’s Troubadours and That Which Awakens Me, what made you decide to go that route and what kind of advice would you give to aspiring writers thinking of doing the same

AL: I self-published my books because I wanted full control of my creativity.

My advice to writers is to do their research on self-publishing. Read magazines, articles, blogs, and books about the process. Talk to the other authors. Join sites like www.sherwrites.com for women writers and http://blackauthors.ning.com for Black authors to obtain support.  Seek out writing workshops at local libraries, colleges, and bookstores for information.  Look for local writing groups through www.meetup.com. Use a team approach in writing and publishing your book. You cannot do it by yourself.  Ask for help. I use the support of a life coach, public relations coach, book editor, attorney, copy editors, and focus groups who read my drafts as I write them.

BD: Ananda, you have self-published two books, run a successful online radio show, and have built a vast social media network. What kind of advice can you give to someone who wants to follow in your creative footsteps and carve out some space for themselves?

AL: The creative process is a journey for me that starts fro

m the inside.  So I encourage people to check in with Spirit for guidance and direction. Ask for help. Do your research. Take good care of yourself. Be open to learning from everyone and everything. Be grateful.  Learn to forgive yourself. Be kind to yourself too.

~~

fam,

how do you balance the life you want with the life you have?

do you ever think about giving it all up to follow your dreams?

what inspires YOU?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Too lazy Didn’t want to watch the vid ? Ok, the winners are:

Congrats Ladies!!! 

peace.

On the surface, Lena Spencer has the perfect life: a successful husband, two wonderful children, and an expensive house in an exclusive [...]]]>

In the new novel, SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER, debut novelist Jacqueline E. Luckett weaves an entertaining tale of Lena Spencer, a woman who has it all except the one thing she really wants: happiness.

On the surface, Lena Spencer has the perfect life: a successful husband, two wonderful children, and an expensive house in an exclusive Oakland neighborhood. She wants for noth

ing, has the world at her fingertips, but is woefully depressed. Many days, Lena can’t even seem to drag herself out of her pajamas, the weight of her unhappiness too heavy to bear. The children she once doted upon are now cranky and selfish, her husband, who once made her feel sexy and alive, is emotionally distant. After years of putting herself last and giving up on her dreams, Lena can’t seem to recognize herself anymore. Somewhere along the line, all of the things that inhabit her life just aren’t good enough anymore, and she realizes she wants herself back. Faced with an ultimatum by her husband: choose their “perfect” life or leave, Lena decides to give it all up and find herself.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Ms. Luckett about her book, her decision to follow her dreams, and her wish for all women.

Britni Danielle: Your novel, SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER, takes readers on an entertaining journey through the life of Lena Spencer. We see her have it all, fall apart, and try to put it back together. The story is at once very familiar (because many can relate), but also so refreshing. How did you come up with the idea of this novel?

Jacqueline Luckett: In 2003, my spouse and I divorced after twenty years of marriage. Coincidentally, several other women I knew were also considering or going through divorce at the same time. We were all feeling the same emotions: betrayal of the lives we believed would last until death do us part, confusion, and varying degrees of depression; but, we were also trying to move forward with our lives. I wondered how women coped with life after a long-term marriage and what came next. Though, at the time, I was working on a collection of short stories, my curiosity led me to the novel.

BD:  The main character, Lena Spencer, is a woman who needs change. Even though it seems everything and everyone is against her, she reaches out and grabs what she so desperately needs. Reading your bio, it seems like you, too, have embraced change and decided to follow your dreams of writing. Did you draw inspiration for Lena from your own life?

JL: As I was going through my divorce, one of my writer friends suggested that I journal all the emotions I was experiencing so that I could give them, one day, to future characters. I kept track, but the emotions were raw and sometimes so self-critical that, even today, I can’t look at those entries. Those feelings of loss and doubt created Lena about a year later, when it was easier to talk about the effects of divorce.

Lena imitated me J, and as I became stronger, so did she. They way we arrived at our strength was different. Both Lena and I felt the sting of divorce and shifting dreams. We both faced change, and, in that respect, Lena drew inspiration from me. Change is hard for most of us, especially as we mature. We become used to life being the way it is. When an event as distressing as divorce forces us in another direction, it’s important, especially for women whose lives have been so focused on family, to embrace, not fight it.

Win A Copy Of SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER!!

BD: Why did you decide to use Tina Turner as Lena’s muse for change?

JL: Tina Turner is a wonderful, vital woman. I have great respect for her, and I hope she regards the novel as a tribute to her triumphs and accomplishments.

Truthfully, I don’t remember now if it was the movie (“What’s Love Got to Do with It?”), a TV interview, or reports of her final concerts that triggered the idea of Tina Turner as role model—but the depth of what she had done, impressed me and something clicked. Once I read her book, I Tina, I was even more amazed. In her forties, Tina Turner left her marriage with her name, her talent and the conviction that she could make it on her own. I became obsessed with the idea of that strength and how it could inspire a character—without the abuse—on the verge of change. Initially, I wanted to explore surviving divorce, but with each new draft, universal themes surfaced: reinvention, new beginnings, and the challenge of remaining true to self.

BD: Your debut novel, SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER, reminded me of some of Terri McMillian’s early work. Who are your influences?

JL: Thanks for the compliment. Ms. McMillan creates characters that, as a reader, we believe in and want to stay with, even after the book has ended. 

I’m an avid reader. I don’t like to put myself into a “reading box.” I read murder mysteries and detective novels (Valerie Wesley Wilson, Barbara Neely, Patricia Cornwell). Then I might switch around all kinds of fiction (Bebe Moore Campbell or Dianne McKinney Whetstone, Toni Morrison, Jhumpa Lahiri, Junot Diaz, Jeffery Eugenides, Julia Alvarez, ZZ Packer, Lalita Tademy, John Edgar Wideman)—and almost any book in between. Lately, I’ve taken to memoir (Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Space Between the Stars by Deborah Santana, Where Did You Sleep Last Night? by Danzy Senna) because it’s so different from fiction.

I try to take something away from each novel or short story that I read. Before I started writing in earnest, I read solely for pleasure—what happened, where, why and to whom. I appreciated an author’s skill. In some ways, the focus of my reading has shifted. Oh, don’t get me wrong—I still love a good, well-written story. Now, I read for both pleasure and to study the craft of writing. I reread paragraphs and sentences to understand how an author successfully presented an idea, a place, or a character. Style, sentence formation, character development and many other aspects of a well-written book affect me. There’s no one author who has influenced me. I get something from every book I read.

BD: In the acknowledgements, you write, “To every woman: this is what you must do—Go.” Why did you decide to include this powerful charge to all women?

JL: I love that you read the acknowledgements. I always read every word in a book, from the title page and the copyright straight through to the last page.

Actually, I deleted that line in the final edit. I decided to let the novel send the message. My intention was to charge women to take their fate into their own hands and mold it into a life they love—whether they’re married or not. Sometimes as wives and mothers, women can get lost in taking care of family and forget to care for themselves. That’s what happened to Lena; she would have loved to have kept her family together, stayed married and pursued her photography, but fate had other plans for her.

BD: What lessons do you want readers to take away from SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER?

JL: As Lena goes through her struggles, her journey offers these lessons for all of us:

it’s okay to be afraid, as long as we don’t let the fear keep us from doing what we want to do; change challenges us to reinvent ourselves; and, new beginnings are possible for all of us.

BD: You started, The Finish Party, with a group of prominent female writers. What prompted you to form a writing group and how have they helped you with your writing?

JL: Writing is a solitary venture. Oh, I suppose some might argue that a writer is not really alone because he/she is surrounded by all kinds of characters. But the truth is that the writer lives a large part of her day alone and in someone else’s world. For me, contact with other writers and the ability to discuss my work was absolutely necessary. 

Feedback, as well as another “eye,” is important. In our Finish Party meetings, we workshop pages, chapters, and entire novels. I’m fortunate to be part of such a group of talented writers who understand what it takes to make a story work. It’s nice, too, to be able to talk about writing and your characters—what they’re doing and why, or to talk about ways of putting a story together that non-writers might not find interesting.

BD:  There is a lot of information out there about the uncertainty of the publishing industry. As a new novelist, what kind of advice would you give to a still looking to get published. 

JL: I jumped for joy the first time I printed out my manuscript. Once I settled down, I had to examine my motives for writing: money, to make my mark on the world, or simply for the sake of doing what I loved. In today’s market, a writer has to answer the same question: why am I doing this? 

Writing for money requires a realistic attitude because the odds are that, even if a writer finds an agent and a publisher, the advance may be small—this is especially true for a first timer (unless you’re a celebrity or other high-profile person). You must love what you’re doing and write from passion and love of story. You can’t mull over over ripping up pages and starting all over again. You have to love spending hours revising, getting one sentence right, or finding the perfect adjective.

Try to get your short stories or a novel excerpt published anywhere you can: literary magazines, hardcopy or online. Do your research and submit to publications that match your style. Getting your work published in this way demonstrates your writing skills and exposes you to a large readership. There are agents and editors who read literary publications and magazines for the specific purpose of discovering new talent. 

When possible, attend conferences and workshops where agents are present. Many conferences offer meetings with agents in a style similar to “speed dating.” Present to agents who represent work similar to your own. Keep your story premise brief and ask the agents for feedback—not on your story but on the premise—to gauge if you’re on the right track.

Don’t give up. Keep writing, hone your skills and once your manuscript is the best that it can be, research agents, know what they’re looking for and submit, submit, submit.

BD: Ms. Luckett thanks so much for agreeing to chat with me. I wish you much success!

 ~~~

Dying to read, SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER? Win a free copy of Jacqueline Luckett’s new novel right here! 

To Enter:

Leave a comment about who or what inspires you.

Tweet about the contest (include a link to this post)

Include your email address in the comment so you can be contacted if you win.

Five winners will be chosen at random and must live within the US or Canada (and sorry, no PO Box addys!)

All entries must be made by Thursday, Jan 28, 2010 by 11:59pm PST.

Winners will be announced on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010.

Good Luck! 

Journalist Erica Kennedy first burst onto the fiction scene in 2004 with her debut novel, BLING, a satirical look at the over-the-top, champagne popping world of hip hop. After garnering commercial and critical success for BLING, she’s back with the hysterical sophomore follow-up, FEMINISTA.

FEMINISTA follows thirty-something heroine Sydney Zamora as she writes and shops her [...]]]>

Journalist Erica Kennedy first burst onto the fiction scene in 2004 with her debut novel, BLING, a satirical look at the over-the-top, champagne popping world of hip hop. After garnering commercial and critical success for BLING, she’s back with the hysterical sophomore follow-up, FEMINISTA.

FEMINISTA follows thirty-something heroine Sydney Zamora as she writes and shops her way through New York City. Sydney isn’t your typical chick lit protagonist pining away for a man to save her, she’s a go-getter who is out for self and doesn’t care what others have to say about her brash personality. At thirty-three, she seems to have it all: a high paying writing gig at a magazine, a collection of designer shoes, and a best friend who adores her, but she feels like something is missing: love. FEMINISTA takes us on a hilarious (literally laugh out loud funny) journey as Sydney struggles to figure out who she really is and perhaps snag the love she’s missing out on.

Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Ms. Kennedy about her novels, her writing process, and the death of Chick Lit.

Britni Danielle: On your blog, The Feminista Files, you’ve defined the term FEMINISTA. What made you want to write this book?

Erica Kennedy: FEMINISTA is my word for the empowered woman of style. I actually got the title from Lipstick Jungle, Candace Bushnell’s novel.  She used “feminista” in passing to describe some powerful women and I realized it fit this idea of duality that I was already thinking about.  When people hear the word “feminist” they think of a strong woman and any “-ista” coinage makes us think of a fashionable woman.  FEMINISTA is a meld of those two things: the independent woman who might want a high-powered career but also might want to wear cute shoes that show off her pretty pink toenails.  

In my 20s I read a lot of chick lit, looking to those single-girl-in-the-city books to explain all the things I was trying to figure out. And they never did! It always seemed like the same template: girl is single or just dumped at the beginning and then you go on this whole journey just so she finds a guy at the end, making her happiness once again dependent on a man. Like, WTF?

I’m also a screenwriter so I see a lot of romantic comedies and read those scripts and they’re often just as frustrating.  Yet I always WANT those chick lit/flicks to be good because I want to see myself and my struggles reflected back to me.  Because on some level, we all go thru the same girl shit.  It’s like when Anna Wintour told Oprah she needed to lose 20 pounds to be on the cover of Vogue, Oprah went on a diet right quick!  I’m always waiting for Oprah to distance herself from that like, “Can you believe I did that?” but she STILL talks wistfully about that Vogue cover!  That’s what I call “basic girl shit”.  You can be a billionaire mogul, philanthropist, icon to millions but dammit if you don’t want to have a framed Vogue cover on your office wall that shows you at your most svelte!

So I wanted to write something that was unabashedly chick lit but also wasn’t just fluff.  That shows a woman dealing with her weight, wanting to find a guy, mother issues — basic girl shit — but who also has real flaws.  Not just, you know, she’s klutzy and thinks her thighs shouldn’t touch.  I wanted to push the limits of the genre.

BD: Publisher’s Weekly described FEMINISTA as a “crazed black romantic comedy.” That description made me feel some type of way because it didn’t (in my opinion) accurately describe the novel. Because the book is so ethnically diverse, I felt Publisher Weekly’s description was too easy and perhaps a little off-putting to a larger (non-black) audience. Do you think by labeling it as a “crazed black romantic comedy” they were limiting your audience? And how do you overcome it?

EK: UGH!  As soon as I saw that description I was annoyed because I knew people would think exactly what you thought although I am certain they meant “dark comedy” not something relating to race.  And I am certain of that because Sydney is multiracial but never described as “black” and most of the other characters are white so there’s no reason they would describe it as such. 

But I knew some people would take it that way since I am a black author.  It’s the kind of thing that I think a white person would write without having ANY perception of how that might be perceived.  As far as “crazed”, I don’t know what that means other than Sydney gets into some crazy antics.  But I am also a screenwriter so I plot out my books where there is always forward motion to the story with real cause-and-effect plot points as opposed to most chick lit where it’s just that the main character starts out woefully single, ends up with a guy and in between she whines to her friends over cocktails.

get.this.book.pronto.

BD: Speaking of Publisher’s Weekly, it said FEMINISTA ushered in a new genre, Bitch Lit. How do you feel about this new genre of women’s literature and were you aiming to kill Chick Lit as we know it?

EK: I think chick lit has already killed itself. It doesn’t really need much help from me.  Jezebel did a post early on that talked about Sydney being a new prototype and in that post even chick lit authors said they think the genre is dead. A lot of that has to do with the economy — who wants to read “Confessions of a Shopaholic” now? It also may have to do with reality culture.  We relate to what feels more realistic and I think, whether you love or hate her, Sydney is very relatable.

I also really appreciate that Essence, Latina, Disgrasian, Jezebel, all these sites aimed at different demographics, have written about the book.  I feel this is a universal story — how do we as women find balance in our lives — and I like that a diverse group of women can find something to relate to in this book. 

Also making Sydney multiracial allowed her to CHOOSE how she identifies.  And I think she identifies as a woman of color because she wants to be part of an “oppressed class”, even though she grew up in Scarsdale with a lawyer father and a mother who’s a trophy wife on her fourth marriage. (Lots of rich, biracial chicks like that at Sarah Lawrence, my alma mater!) It’s like when she tells Max she’s multiracial, she says “I get offended for everybody”.  That’s what she wants.  A reason to rage against the machine (whatever she decides “the machine” is at any given moment).

BD: The protagonist of FEMINISTA, Sydney Zamora, is a multi-racial, brainiac college-dropout, who has a chip on her shoulder, and loves to shop (for discounts!). No matter who you are, you can relate to a little bit of Sydney. Did you set out to make her fit into so many categories? How did the character of Sydney come about? 

EK: I wanted this to be a romantic comedy that touched on practical concerns. Sydney has a lot of issues around money — having it, feeling like she doesn’t have enough, spending, saving. Which I think is probably true for a lot of women. And she’s also concerned about finding a man who can be a provider for her and the family she wants to have. That’s real.  Especially in this economy.  But chick lit/flicks never get into that — it’s always just “I love you now let’s get married”!

I also wanted Sydney to be angry and SHOW that anger because I think a woman showing her anger is a feminist act. As women we are socialized to be nice, to not make waves, to put others first.  Sydney is the antithesis of all that. She’s angry, she’s confrontational, she’s always looking out for number one.  When I was writing FEM, I was reading a lot of books about “shadow work”, the Jungian idea that we all have this shadow side comprised of traits we don’t like about ourselves and therefore try to repress. Sydney is someone who lets her shadow side just hang the fuck out in broad daylight.  A woman like that can make people uncomfortable which I love because then we have to ask WHY we are uncomfortable.

The reactions to Sydney have really run the gamut from “I am her” or “I adore her” to “I can’t stand that bitch”!  lol It’s really about what the reader is projecting on to her.  She’s like a fictional Rorschach test!

Case in point: There was a woman in my FB group who read FEM on a plane to South Africa and as soon as she got there she hit me up on Gchat to tell me how much she HATED Sydney.  Like I think she wanted her to die by the end or something.  I knew this woman pretty well and I knew she was having such a visceral reaction for a reason but I said, “Okay, great, that’s how you feel. Thanks for G-chatting me from South Africa to tell me that!” 

A couple days later she commented in the group that the reason she hated Sydney so much was because she was going through a shitty time in her life and, as a defense mechanism, she had become very “I don’t need anybody” abrasive, like Sydney, and she hated seeing that reflection of herself.  I suspected that but was so glad she came to that conclusion on her own and “spoke it” out loud (in a FB comment). The shadow revealed itself, honey!!!  LOL.

BD: There are several parts of the novel, which literally made me laugh out loud, how did you manage to write with such humor without the book coming off as one big joke?

EK: Well, essentially I think of myself as a humorist. The reason I wanted to write my first book, Bling, was because I would do interviews with hip-hop stars and they would say what I thought of as the funniest shit EVER but they’d be dead-ass serious. And I couldn’t just straight clown them in a Vibe profile so I wrote a satire about that world instead.  But at the same time, I was still able to touch on issues of race and class in Bling because as absurd as that world can be, it’s also an undeniably powerful force in popular culture so I wanted to respect that.

With a book like FEMINISTA, you need to have a lot of humor to balance Sydney’s aggression. I did alternating chapters with her and Max because he’s this carefree guy and his chapters give you a break from Sydney’s drama which can be interesting to a point.  Even Mitzi the matchmaker, who is a total comic foil, says some very real shit about men and dating.  (She’s based on a real matchmaker.) The fun of writing fiction is figuring out how to balance all that stuff.

BD: Your first novel, BLING, was a New York Times Best Seller and Miramax bought the film rights, however, I read that you had a hard time shopping FEMINISTA. Why do you think publishers weren’t as open to this novel?

Because men can get away with anything while women are expected to be good girls who know their place. 

In Bling, the male characters did drugs, had menage a trois, freely used homophobic slurs, there was an attempted rape!  And everyone was like, Oh so funny!  But with FEMINISTA, you basically just have a very opinionated, assertive heroine and it was like, “She’s not likable”.  Really?  *eye roll*  Also, I sold on a partial which means the first 10 chapters and a lot of those editors couldn’t see Sydney’s arc.  That all this trouble she was cooking up for herself was going to come back to bite her in the ass later.

In these times, no one wants to take a chance on something new and this is a very different kind of chick lit.  So different that Publisher’s Weekly gave it this label, “bitch lit”.  They actually called me “the pioneer of bitch lit” and as soon as I saw that I knew what it meant.  That I was going to have to take all the shit so the chick who writes a “bitch lit” two years from now can get all the glory.  And that’s fine with me.  If it can open the door for more complex heroines to live, awesome.

BD: My readers, a lot of whom are writers and aspiring novelists, always want to know: what does your writing process look like? 

EK: Very haphazard.  I have ADD, something I was only coming to understand during the writing of this book.  So that means that I “burst work” where I’ll write a whole bunch of pages and then I’ll get distracted by something else.  But I’ve developed a lot of techniques to help me focus. 

One technique is that I’ll listen to certain songs on repeat with headphones to block out any other noise or distractions.  That helps me get into “flow” – flow psychology is a whole science that you can read about.  Sometimes it’ll be a playlist of 2 or 3 songs with the right tempo that creates the energy I need at that moment.  Sometimes it’ll be just one song!  I can’t tell you how many times I listened to Aaliyah’s “Rock the Boat” while writing FEM.  That used to be my flow jam! 

After you’ve listened to a song on repeat a couple of times, it becomes like white noise and you just go into a kind of trance.  I have listened to the same songs for 8 hours and then I could not tell you what any of the lyrics were afterward because the music just disappears.

I also wrote a lot of chapters by hand — sometimes on the beach in Miami where I was living.  When you write on a computer, you can get into editing and perfecting when you should just be creating.  When you write in a notebook, you keep going and power through, scribbling in the margins and everything because you can’t just delete and rewrite something.  Or Google anything which is the worst distraction!

I almost always write a full chapter in one sitting because that’s how I catch and maintain a rhythm.  Then I go back at another time and edit.

BD: What advice would you give an up and coming woman writer (especially a woman of color) about writing and getting published?

EK: I would say do something else! How horrible is that?  But honestly, the publishing industry is so lost right now.  It’s an old school world that is drowning in a sea of new school ideas.  They don’t know what they’re doing and they’re too arrogant to admit they don’t know and try to adapt.

Just yesterday, I was reading about how media mogul Rupert Murdoch wants to charge for content and not let Google index content from his newspapers.  And the founders of Twitter and Linked In were openly making fun of him like he’s just some senile old man — which is what he sounds like.  

All these social media entrepreneurs are guys in their 20s or 30s. They’ve grown up on the internet, so it’s a comfortable domain for them. They know how to stay fluid and when it comes to social media, fluidity is the name of the game.  We all know that FB, Google, Twitter are adding and tweaking features constantly. But for old school media players who’ve done things the same way for 25 years, this new world is very jarring.  And since they don’t want to learn to swim, they’ll eventually sink.

Not to be completely depressing, I do think e-readers will one day take over and writers will be able to publish more easily and directly without dealing with the obstacle of old publishing.  Let’s hope that happens really soon.

BD: You’re a journalist, blogger, and have two novels (BLING and FEMINISTA) under your belt, what’s up next?

EK: I write screenplays now.  I’m polishing the screenplay for FEM and reps for a couple of big actresses are reading the book now so we’ll see what happens.  My dream is to be a script doctor — to come in like a hitman, fix a script, get out with a check and no one ever knows you were there.

~~

*Purchase FEMINISTA on AMAZON.COM  (really, like now!) 

Have you read FEMINISTA? 

Are you sick of Chick lit novels?

Do you read Bitch Lit?

*Want to be featured as “Haute Lit” email me. theprisonerswife (at) gmail (dot) com

The second author in the Haute Lit series is Denver-native Carleen Brice. I fell in love with Carleen’s work through her magical debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey. Carleen recently released her second novel, Children of the Waters, which follows two half sisters as they uncover family secrets and struggle to piece together relationship with [...]]]>

The second author in the Haute Lit series is Denver-native Carleen Brice. I fell in love with Carleen’s work through her magical debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey. Carleen recently released her second novel, Children of the Waters, which follows two half sisters as they uncover family secrets and struggle to piece together relationship with each other. The novel is moving, timely, and shows no signs of Sophomore jinx.

About a month ago, Carleen took some time out of working on her third novel to chat with me about her latest book, her writing process, and why she’s made it her mission to introduce white readers to African-American Authors.

TPW: In the acknowledgements section of Children of the Waters you gave a shout-out to your half-sister whom you’re getting to know. Did your new relationship with your half-sister influence the idea for this novel? 

CB: No, it didn’t, but I realized that I was attracted to this story in part because I have a half-sister who I’ve never met (which is also a theme in Orange Mint and Honey).

TPW: Each of the characters in this book is so believable, and I found myself rooting for each of them to just get it right. Did you base your characters on real people or did you create them on your own? How did you manage to avoid turning them into one-dimensional people? 

CB: Nobody is really based on anyone, but they all include aspects of my personality and people I know or observed out and about. I think the best way to avoid one-dimensional people is to give thought and time to each character. To give each character something they love or something they believe, like the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding who believes Windex will cure anything. And to care about all your characters and see them as real as you, the writer, can.

TPW: Both of your novels, Orange Mint & Honey and Children of the Waters, deal with familial issues. Why do you like writing about families? Do you use your own family for inspiration?  

CB: I write about emotions and reconciliation, forgiveness and dealing with the consequences of choices and actions. These issues seem best to be set within family dynamics.

My family is an inspiration for good things and not-so-good things in my work, but I try not to cast blame on anybody or make anybody in my family a villain (in real life and in my stories).

TPW: In the latest book, Children of the Waters, you tackle issues of race and class. Why did you decided to take on these topics in a Post-Obama era when so many people have deemed our country, “Post-Racial”? 

CB: Well, I started the story before we were Post-Obama and “post-racial” so it’s just good timing that I get to talk about issues at the same time the rest of the country is. I think with the “birthers” and such it’s clear that we have a ways to go in this country before race is no longer an issue.

TPW: Speaking of race, your blog “White Readers Meet Black Authors” aims to introduce Black authors to a wider audience. Why do you think our books are marginalized by the mainstream?  How do you think this can be changed?

CB: There’s so much about this that I truly don’t know or understand. I think some of it is baldly racist and some of it is ignorance or poor management. But so much of marketing books seems to be mysterious that it’s hard to lay blame any one place. And really I don’t suggest that I have all the answers. I’m just raising the awareness about the issue and trying to contribute to the dialogue. And that’s what I hope to inspire others to do.

TPW: Describe your writing process. How do you come up with the ideas for your novels? Do you keep a writing schedule or do you just write when the mood hits you?

CB: My writing process is very messy and kind of whatever it needs to be at the time. I research, make notes, outline and write pretty much at the same times, or as I need to do those things. It’s not very organized.

When I’m really in the groove of writing, I write first thing in the morning and/or late in the evening when the house is quiet. I try to have some kind of a goal, like 500 or 1,000 words a day and just try to keep myself interested and engaged in my story.

TPW: There’s a lot of dismal info coming out about the death of journalism and the publishing industry as a whole. Newspapers are dying, magazines are folding, and publishing houses have been going through some major shake-ups. What advice would you give new writers who are wondering if they’ll ever be able to break into the industry and have a book published?

CB: I’m in the same boat as everyone else. I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I really can’t offer any advice. Except that people have been telling stories since the beginning of time and I can’t imagine that we will stop doing that anytime soon. The technology changes and we all have to adapt, but we still need stories.

TPW: Lifetime bought the rights to turn your novel, Orange Mint and Honey, into a movie. How did that come about? If you had your pick, who would you like to see cast as Shay and Nona?

CB: My agent and film agent worked on selling the rights to Lifetime. Since I have no say in who Lifetime will cast (and they’re probably working on that as we speak!), I’ll keep my thoughts to myself and eagerly wait to see who they choose.

TPW: Your work is inspiring a whole new generation of readers and writes. Who inspires you?

CB: Bebe Moore Campbell is a big inspiration to me. Her work was accessible and entertaining, yet also about meaningful issues.

TPW: So after two exceptional novels, a bestseller, and countless awards, what are you working on next?

CB: I’m working on a third novel. The working title is Calling Every Good Wish Home, and actually need to get back to it. So I’d better say adios!

TPW: Thanks so much for agreeing to speak to me about your work Carleen!

CB: Thanks for the opportunity!

Editors Note: On September 11^th, Carleen posted a note on Twitter announcing that Grammy-award winning singer Jill Scott will star in the film adaptation of Orange Mint and Honey. According to Variety’s website, the telepic, currently titled “Sins of the Mother,” will air on the Lifetime Movie Network sometime in 2010.

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Have you read Carleen Brice’s work? 

Who else would you like to see in the film adaptation of Orange Mint and Honey?

What author(s) would you like to see featured in the Haute Lit series? (gimme a name & I’ll stalk them!)

In her debut novel, Kiss the Sky, famed journalist  Farai Chideya weaves a juicy tale of 30-something has-been indie rocker, turned TV music critic, Sophie Lee, as she struggles to overcome her demons and finally reach superstar status.

About a month ago, I reached out to Farai on Twitter and asked if I could ask her [...]]]>

In her debut novel, Kiss the Sky, famed journalist  Farai Chideya weaves a juicy tale of 30-something has-been indie rocker, turned TV music critic, Sophie Lee, as she struggles to overcome her demons and finally reach superstar status.

About a month ago, I reached out to Farai on Twitter and asked if I could ask her a few questions about her new novel.  Because of the uniqueness of Kiss the Sky and its main character, Sophie Lee, I wanted to pick her brain about how the story came to be. Despite my hesitation (I mean, who am I?), Faria responded happily and sat down to answer my questions about her novel, give a little insight into her inspirations, and share a few tips for aspiring writers.

TPW: Farai, you’re known for your journalistic talents. You’ve written for a number of publications, hosted News & Notes on NPR, and have penned several non-fiction books. What made you want to make the switch to fiction?

FC: I always wanted to write fiction, ever since I was a kid. I’m a huge reader — everything from literary fiction by folks including Colson Whitehead and Phillip Roth; speculative fiction by Octavia Butler; short stories.  I also wrote short stories in college. I took a couple years of fiction workshops after getting to take a class on the Modern Novel. And at in my senior year, the head of my English department hooked me up to be the student rep at a small dinner with Toni Morrison! It was amazing. And she was so funny and hip. (She still is.)

TPW: Kiss the Sky isn’t like any other novel I’ve read by a contemporary Black writer. The main character, Sophie, is a Harvard-educated, rock star from Baltimore. It’s quirky, complicated, and wrought with musical influences. How did you come up with the idea for the book?

FC: I have been a huge fan of rock ‘n roll, as well as soul, R & B, and hip hop, for years. I started out with the characters (although they changed a bit as I was writing). Then I wanted to set it in worlds I knew well: Baltimore, Harvard, and downtown/hipster New York.

Black people and the black imagination are vast…. we have our trends and fads, but we should push ourselves to expand our world. I felt the world of hip hop and hip hop literature was getting too constraining, so I wanted to do something different.

(Now, of course, you see projects like the Tony Award Winning black rock musical Passing Strange being turned into a movie by Spike Lee. There are the Afro Punk and Urb Alt festivals, and a documentation of black rockers on boldaslove.us. I didn’t plug directly into that community when I was writing the book, but I have now done several events with black rock folks, including a black rock showcase with Rob Fields (boldaslove.us) and Boston Fielder of the band MuthaWit and organizer of the Urb Alt Festival. I actually read part of the book while MuthaWit played at UrbAlt up in Harlem earlier this year.)

TPW:  Music plays a key role in Kiss the Sky. The title pays homage to the Jimi Hendrix classic and a song introduces each chapter. Why did you choose to give music such a pivotal role in the novel? What music inspires you when you’re writing?

Music captures our souls, marks our days. It can lengthen time, giving us a sense of spaciousness on long summer days; or shorten painful or boring times…. just think of the work songs that enslaved men and women sung. It can give us a sense of shared identity. Music is human.

TPW:  Sophie is an interesting character and unlike anything we’ve come to expect from a 30-something Black woman fronting a novel. She’s a wild child and embodies the phrase, “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll,” but she’s also bound by some very traditional values. How did you come up with Sophie as a character? Did you purposely try to make her stand out from what readers have come to expect from Black protagonists?

FC: Yes, I wanted Sophie to be unique or at least different. I call folks like Sophie (and myself), somewhat jokingly, “non-conforming black folks” because we do not conform to the media’s stereotype about what a black person is. We’re not Cosby and we’re not Zane. But the funny (or provocative) thing is, most black people are non-conforming in some way. We just get pigeonholed AND we often pigeonhole ourselves. Don’t do it!

TPW: The publishing industry is going through some hard times right now. Some people are even saying it’s dead. What advice would you give an up-and-coming writer on how to get their work out there and make it as a writer?

Publishing is not dead but it’s wounded. Right now you may not be able to sell what you wrote. You have a few options, including:

1) stop writing (Again, DON’T DO IT!)

2) take a hard look at your book and see if you can edit or improve it

3) self-publish and self-promote

4) hold on to the book, cultivate relationships in the writing world, and put it on the market again.

I have some tips from my own experience here:  How Do I Write A Novel

TPW: Farai, thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat about your novel. It’s truly been a pleasure!

FC: Thank you…and much love and luck to all writers and fans of writing….

Click here to view the embedded video.

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How great is Farai Chideya?

Did you read the novel? Thoughts?

DO you think the publishing industry is dead? (are you a writer?)

What author interviews would you like to read on this site? (Carleen Brice is up next!)