I am a founding/member and former senior features editor of the Washington Independent Review of Books (WIRoB), which began when the Washington Post ceased publishing Book World. I interviewed authors and wrote regular articles about writing for WIRoB. I designed a writing program for high school students while teaching in a Saturday program. I was editor of The African Safari by P.J. Fetner (St. Martin’s Press); Take Me with You by Scott Jackson, president and CEO of Global Impact; and Inner Strength, Osteopathic Medical Students Reflect on Resiliency and Physician Leadership: The 11 Skills Every Doctor Needs to be an Effective Leader, Karen J. Nichols, DO (Wiley, 2021). My short story “Monroe” was published in an anthology of women writing about men, Brothers and Others. A Good Ending for Bad Memories, my first novel, was published in October 2021. One of the main characters is Selsie Macomb, a slave known as “Two for the Price of One,” with undiagnosed multiple personality disorder. Her disease, which skipped a generation, is then inherited by her great granddaughter, wife of the first African American Attache assigned abroad. She spends all of her free time attempting to unearth the reasons she is as she is. Reedsy review compared the writing to Colson Whitehead and Toni Morrison. I am a second-generation African American living and working in Washington, DC.

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Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I’ve always written, kept secret diaries, etc., and when I was younger, a book never crossed my mind. I always wrote stories, even poetry, and truthfully did not think of sharing. My oldest brother and I borrowed my grandmother’s typewriter and collaborated. He was a spoken word poet. In my family, we always told stories. I remember when we were little and had to sit at the table with the adults without contributing to the conversations. Listening, everything seemed like a story that the adults were telling us. My father and his brothers had the most musical voices and cadences and listening made you want to remember. The way to remember was to write it down. My grandmother was also a writer. She composed a column for years about Christian living, Points to Ponder.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I have been a researcher, an executive assistant, a teacher … My readers wouldn’t know that I am awed and fascinated by nature. Trees are a true inspiration for me, dirt, water—awe!

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Spoiler alert! Something had to happen to all of the memories that my characters carry as heavy weight within the psyche. The title was not sure until the book was finished.

What part of publishing your book made it feel real for the first time?

I think it was when I received the contract signed by both parties.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

“I’ll Write A Song for You” by Earth, Wind and Fire

“Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears

“Ordinary Pain” by Stevie Wonder

“Brand New Day” by Sting

I love music. These songs and so many more do not register in a typical sense but all the music I love flows into the words I write … All the trees and flowers I see, too.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

Healing is absolutely possible! And as cliched and improbable as it sounds, love is a factor and there is a reason that it was given to us!

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

Holding the actual book in my hand, reading from it to others, sensing genuine interest in the story and the characters. At the end of one of the book clubs where I was invited to share, they asked me if I would write a book about the youngest and last character in the story. They all wanted to know what would happen to him.

What creative projects are you currently working on?

I have two stories that are mostly finished, A Frankenstein in Eden, which is about two women who leave New York City to become modern-day homesteaders in a small rural town. Well-laid plans go awry! The other, An American City, is a family saga about two young women who become friends in spite of their families and the expectations of their neighbors. Their town is on the precipice of change and could become a place where hatred lives—or not.

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