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An Interview with Denise Billings

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Denise is a book lover with the childhood goal of reading every book in the library. A former book-seller, operating out of her home, she delivered books decades before Amazon. The highlight of her bookselling career was packing her car full of books for black men and peddling them to guys on their way to the Million Man March. She sold every last book.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, she attended Lincoln University and made the Dean’s List, was selected to the Who’s Who Among College Students, and earned a B.A. in Psychology. After college she moved to Los Angeles, California, and held three different positions during thirteen years at Pacific Bell Telephone Company, where she served many years as a Union Representative.

For five years she raised funds for the St. Louis Science Center, Dance St. Louis, and St. Louis Black Repertory Company. She has a son, a bonus daughter and son-in-law and she lives in Los Angeles with her fourth and final husband, noted actor Earl Billings.

She has contributed articles to several publications and Before, During & After the ‘C’ Word Anthology and A Gathering of Voices: Stories from the Longwood Writers Workshop. Her recently published book, Road Trip: A Memoir, was a finalist in the biography/memoir category of the 2024 Black Authors Matter TV Awards.

She can be contacted at: denisebillings.com, Facebook, Instagram @neciebug, and neciebugsblog.blogspot.com.



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

I am a lifelong reader. My love of all things books tilted me toward thinking maybe I could write a book. When I wondered who would be interested in my story, I remembered how I was drawn to the Black women’s stories I’d read. How happy I was to read about someone like me. A brown girl.

Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Iceberg Slim, James Baldwin, J. California Cooper, Richard Wright, Claude Brown, Frank Yerby (who I didn’t know was Black until I was an adult), Toni Cade Bambara, Ann Petry, Alice Walker, and Gloria Naylor showed me what life was like outside of my small world.

I read my father’s books, too. He had a collection of paperbacks about military men and hard-boiled detectives. I read the assigned books from school but the most engaging stories were from outside reading. As a youngster my goal was to read every book in the library. I had no idea how many books would come to be.

As an adult the desire to write my story got stronger, but fear held me back. I wrote in my journal, stories piled up in my computer. One friend told me, “Write something every day for a year and you will have a book.” I did that. That whole year is diligently chronicled. Not such a good book, though. I tip-toed toward actually writing a book. I looked at online classes, and went back and forth without going anywhere. I even submitted stories here and there to magazines. Nothing was accepted.

About ten years ago I started saying out loud that I wanted to write a book. Fear tightened its grip on me. I didn’t think I could handle criticism or rejection. I also didn’t think I could just make up a fictional story, so if I wrote, it would have to be my own story. The only one I know.

Finally, a friend, after years of listening to me talking about writing a book but not wanting to take a writing class, whispered to me, “Don’t you want it to be good?” I was stumped. I wanted it to be good. I marinated in that idea for another couple years.

Five years ago, I started a blog. I figured it was a safe place to write and I could just put it out there and see what happened. I also thought in the end I could print it out and it would be a book. Not. It did become the kernel for my memoir. The book that I learned how to write by joining a writers group.

I scraped up the courage to ask Denise Nicholas if she was in a writers’ group. I’d read her wonderful book, Freshwater Road, and I was going to beg her to let me join. She replied she was not in a group. Crestfallen, I didn’t know what to do next. But a few days later, she got back to me and she had decided she wanted to start a group. I nearly cried tears of joy and gratitude.

There can not be too many stories about Black women. There are people out there who need to know that others have gone through similarly rough things, terrible things and have survived. I think there are many who will be able to relate to my story, my mistakes, my fun, my life. So I decided to go ahead and write this memoir. It has been good for me, too. It has shown me how resilient and strong I am.

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

I don’t think they’d know that I was a liquor store clerk when I was in college. I worked for the IRS then too, in data entry.

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

It evolved as I wrote from the kernel of a story from one of my blog posts.

How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?

I was like a little kid at Christmas! I videoed the moment and it’s precious to me.

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

Janet Jackson’s “Enjoy,” Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” Freddie Jackson’s “You Are My Lady,” Bob James’ “Angela, Smokey Robinson or D’Angelo’s “Cruisin’.”

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

That we can survive even the most horrible things. That there is hope and healing and laughter and joy on the other side.

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

Hearing stories of how the book touched people in deep and meaningful ways.

What new writing projects are you currently working on? Or, other projects that are not writing?

A Gathering of Voices: Stories from the Longwood Writers Workshop is an anthology of work from the six members coming out this fall. Also my next individual book, a collection of essays and short stories.


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