1.       How old were you when you discovered writing would be a part of your life?

 

I was ten years old and I won a school wide contest for a short story that I wrote about my grandfather who was a moonshiner back in the day.

 

2.       What is your reaction to someone who doesn’t know “Lesbian Authors” exist?

 

I'd want to know where they'd been hiding. Lesbians are everyone in to absolutely everything. I’d try to break them in to the genre by introducing them to a little Fiona Zedde and Skyy.

 

3.       Speaking of the term “Lesbian Author,” do you feel that the label Lesbian keeps you in a box and limits what you can write?

 

I'm aware the label may influence others vision of my abilities, so I do prefer to just use the title author. I'm capable of writing in many other genres, styles and from a wide range of perspectives, so I don't allow a title to restrict my work.

 

4.       Have you ever written anything that wasn’t same-sex associated?

 

I have poetry, short fiction and essays on a broad range of subjects that are not same sex based at all.

 

5.       If you could change one thing in your first publication, what would it be?

 

There is nothing I would change. I wont let my mind go there. It’s amazing to see growth as you continue to write, educate yourself and hone your skills over the years, so I’ve released previous work to the universe and I let it stay there.

 

6.       Your writing space catches on fire, what are the first three things you try to save?

 

My Lasonic boom box, picture of my mother and my "happy lamp." Every writer should have a “happy lamp.”

 

7.       Who is one person in the writing community that you admire and why?

 

It's hard to narrow it down to one but the first person that comes to mind is Toni Morrison. Her prose captivates me. She pulls you in to other dimensions with her work, pulls you in to the moment, that second in time. You can feel it, see it, smell it and taste it. Her writing transports you inside of her characters experiences and her prose down to the sentence level is so beautiful at times it's impossible not to stop and admire the way she crafts a sentence.

 

8.       What is one book that you’ve read more than once?

 

I have a copy of Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within that I have been carrying around for over twenty years, it’s pages are torn and discolored, duct taped, scotch taped, stapled and highlighted in every possible color. His core principles are timeless.

 

9.       Do you have a stash of snacks reserved only for those long hours of writing?

 

Not at all. I don't eat when I'm writing, especially if it’s flowing. Endless mugs of masala chai and I can go for hours.

 

10.   Who is one character, that you’ve written, that is the closest to your personality in real life?

 

Cleopatra Giovanni from my first novel, She Wants Her.

 

11.   What was your reaction to your first bad review?

 

Really?! Ok. I must know this person. Because the review was so scathing and personal like I kicked her dog. Like I kicked her dog twice with some steel toe boots on. It was so fueled with hate that it was funny.

 

12.   How do you deal with bad reviews?

 

I try to be objective and give the person the benefit of the doubt. “This book sucks,” is not a review. At the same time if their gripes have merit, for instance if I had no character development, if my dialogue wasn’t believable, my timeline was off or something of that nature I can only respect that opinion. I understand my writing and my stories aren't for everyone, so it’s cool. Reading reviews that someone took a sick day from work to finish my book or that a reader is trolling the streets looking for a woman like my main character is a lot more fun.

 

13.   What is your creative process when preparing to start a new novel?

 

One of my biggest pet peeves is wasting my time so when I start a new project I outline like a mad woman. I need and crave structure so I don’t go off on a useless tangent. Outlining keeps me focused and writing as efficiently as possible.

 

14.   What is your writing space like?

 

I have a dedicated writing desk that I write at every once in a while. To be honest, its seen more of my laundry than it has of me. The best writing advice I ever received was from a professor that noticed I wrote with the same gel pen in the same Moleskin journals all semester. He advised me not to fetishize my writing. He went on to explain that I should be able to write anywhere, anytime, with and on anything. At that moment he dug in to his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled Starbucks receipt and dug in to his messenger bag and pulled out a box of broken crayons that he used to keep his kids distracted on their long morning commutes. He proceeded to write off the top of his head with a broken green crayon. After watching him in amazement, I stopped his flow and said, "I got it." Of course, my preference is to use that pen, in that journal, in a particular pair of sweats and a rag on my head but I no longer need to fetishize my art like I once did.

 

15.   What genre or writing best suits you and would you think about trying one that is completely left field from what you write?

 

My passion lies in literary fiction. I'm also considering trying my hand at writing a Harlequin book. Their requirements are so stringent, their topics so straight-laced and vanilla that it would be the ultimate writing exercise to crank out 80K words under their guidelines.

 

16.   I don’t know many children that dream of being writers, so what did you want to be when you grew up?

 

A writer and an artist, after a few detours I'm finally both.

 

17.   What are your top five must reads whether they are lesbian or not?

 

I’m going to have to cheat on this one. Since it’s hard to narrow it down to just five, I’ll give you five nonfiction and five fiction books. Each one alone is guaranteed to change your life.

 

Fiction

Sula by Toni Morrison,

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

 

Non-Fiction

Slave in a Box by Maurice Manring

Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis

Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany by Hans J. Massaquoi

Everything Happens For A Reason by Mira Kirshenbaum

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

 

18.   To whom was your first book dedicated to?

 

To my mom. And every follow up will be dedicated to her as well.

 

19.   What can we look forward to in the future from your writing? (books, articles, anthologies, etc.)

 

I'm currently working on the sequel to my first novel She Wants Her. She Wants Her Too will be out next year. The project after that will be totally different from my past work, I hope those who enjoyed She Wants Her will ride with me while I step in to another genre and try something totally different and unexpected.

 

20.   Last hurrah: If you ever lost the ability to write physically, how would you complete a novel?

 

I would recite it in to my smartphone. I actually do that already.