Writers’ group prompt: (30 minutes to write) You are a figurine brought out because you symbolize a holiday or a season, and you stand for a memorable moment. What are you and why were you purchased? When the light of day hit my face I was in awe. I’m always “in awe”. The wooden lever […]
How to know when your manuscript is ready. For writers, trusting in your own talent is hard after a critique. You wouldn’t show it to anyone unless you felt it was perfect in the first place. Yet, when you get a critique that shows you just how wrong you are it can shift your confidence […]
Nothing prepared me for what happened when I got out of bed. I woke up to the smell of bacon and the aroma of coffee. Instantly, I craved both. My eyes were heavy with sleep as I dragged my hand to the edge of my quilt. I slid the covers down and let the cool […]
A tweet came across my screen with a quote from Stephen King: “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us get up and go to work.” This is from his book, On Writing. I read the book cover to cover one time, but it wasn’t until I saw this tweeted out recently that it […]
Last week I listened to a podcast by Eclectica Cafe on Soundcloud where they spoke with a group of LGBT and allied writers about the state of gay fiction in the publishing industry. What some of the members of Out in Colorado had to say really resonated with me. I feel the same as they in their […]
Some controversy has been stirred up recently with the casting of a black actor, Noma Dumezweni, for the role of Hermione in a stage production of the next chapter in J. K. Rowling’s mega book series. There seem to be two camps of thought ranging from “don’t change the character” to “it’s great – she […]
So there I was. I finished the second draft of my novel and emotions were riding high. It was time to let more eyes see what I’d created. After much self-reflection and preparation to allow my baby to get torn to shreds, I had but one problem: Who could I get to read this for […]
The Known World Edward P. Jones’s novel takes a unique angle on the slave narrative with its focus on a black slave owner. In my new YouTube video, I give my initial impressions of the first 100 pages and talk about what we can take away from it as writers. One thing of note about […]
My goal as a gay, black author is to add more gay characters of color to the stories in which we indulge. It has been my experience growing up that in none of the media that I watched, read, played, or listened to has there been any main character that truly represented who I was. […]