Upcoming radio interviews

I'll be on the Voice of America Radio Network (on "Hip Hop Connection") Tuesday, June 30 at 12:05 p.m-12:20 p.m. ET.

On Wednesday, July 1 at 9:15 a.m.-9:25 a.m. ET, I'll be on WCBQ-AM/WHNC-AM on "the Alvin Jones Show."

Hope you'll listen in!

Black or white

RIP Michael. Since this song goes with the theme of my new book, I'll post this. If you want to see the actual video, go here

Book News

Lifetime extended the option for Orange Mint and Honey, which is very good news! The head of the network is reading the script. Cross your fingers for the green light!

Lori Tharps is giving away a copy of my novel at her blog My American Melting Pot.

LadyLee blogs about buying a copy of Children of the Waters and makes my day!

I was on Blog Talk Radio yesterday with Cyrus Webb of Conversations Book Club. You can listen here. This evening at 7:30 p.m. ET I'll be on with Deardra Shuler and you can join us live.

I posted some pics of Children of the Waters and a few friends' books on the shelves at Tattered Cover.

Summer reading

Looking for something good to read in the hammock this summer? Children of the Waters is out TODAY.

Shelia Curran and Everyone She Loved

I have a special request today, author Sheila Curran's 2nd novel Everyone She Loved is on sale now. She's hoping that people will order it on Amazon today to help the book get in their top 100. Because Sheila had a tiny, little bout of cancer this year she won't be touring or doing many events to promote the book. Buying today on Amazon will help.

To the Go On Girls with love!

The GOG DC #1 chapter with me and my Aunt Verlene.

This is a love letter. I've said it many times that I love book clubs, but let me say it again: The people who form groups to get together and talk about books (whether online or in person) help me keep the faith. So thank you to all the book clubs out there!

This time, I'd like to specifically address the Go On Girl! Book Club, who I had the pleasure of meeting with in Houston at their annual meeting. What a joy! About 160 smart, funny, kind, lovely, well-read and fun women (and a few "supportive husbands") showed up (out of the 300 or so members around the country) to shower lucky authors (including myself) with affection.

I didn't know much about the Go On Girl! Book Club when I sent them my book, except that they were a book club and I thought they might enjoy reading my novel. They only pick 12 books a year (6 fiction and 6 nonfiction), so it's quite an honor for them to have selected mine. Anyway, I didn't know much about them but last weekend I learned about their mission and history and I have to say it floored me. And brought me to tears more than once. Their mission is to let publishers know that black people do indeed read and they enjoy quality fiction. After they read a book, they send a letter to the author's publisher to make their voices heard, to say, in effect, "black readers exist."

The group was founded about 18 years ago, and sadly, their efforts are needed just as much today as they were then. Some might say even more. (Indeed, some of the members told me that it felt like that "we are going backwards" or said they've been hearing the same author tales of how hard it is out here for all their years in existence.)

This group's mission is basically to keep black authors going so that readers like them can keep getting good books. At the awards dinner, several of the members spoke about how they know that writing is a lonely art and they want to tell authors that we are not alone. That when we're worried or disheartened that people like them are out there rooting for us and waiting on us to write another book for them to read. This alone is balm for the writer's soul.

But on top of this, they give awards! And put together a hell of a weekend of events to almost literally heap praise and support on the writers lucky enough to attend. This year, Ravi Howard, author of Like Trees Walking won the New Author Award. Tananarive Due, Stephen Barnes and Blair Underwood won Authors of the Year (and you have never heard so many giggly women in your life when they showed Blair's video acceptance speech!). And J. California Cooper received the Life Achievement Award (and stole the show every time she opened her mouth-very wise and funny woman!).

It is a credit to the Go On Girls' hospitality that, while I wasn't an award winner, I still felt well-loved over the weekend. We had a pajama party with orange mint cookies, and I'm drinking coffee out of the GOG mug they gifted to me (along with an apron and boxes of tea)!

And, on top of all this, they give scholarships for new writers! This is a group that offers a wonderful model of walking their talk. Dear Go On Girls, you humble me, inspire me and awe me, and I am so, so grateful for your support!

June in the garden

Privet hedge in bloom.

Mock orange flowers.

One of the first "heart of gold" roses.

Poppies and fire witch dianthus.

California poppies and snow-in-summer.

Poppies and yarrow.

Iris, yarrow, snow-in-summer, mugo (shrub).

Ground cover.

Feverfew and yellow roses.

Lots o yarrow.

We've had weeks of cool, rainy weather with just enough sunshine. The plants are very happy.

Stop! Hammer time!

A flash mob invades a hipster store. I am officially in love with flash mobs now!

Welcome Judi Fennell and beach getaway contest!

My pub date is just a couple of weeks away and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. So how appropriate that the new Girlfriends Cyber Circuit title is In Over Her Head. While the title says, "Modern women, I can relate," the cover says, "Forget your problems and come with me!"

In Over Her Head is by Judi Fennell. Here's a peek:

When Erica Peck, one terrified-of-the-ocean marina owner, finds herself at the bottom of the sea conversing with a Merman named Reel, she thinks she's died and gone to her own version of Hell. When the Oceanic Council demands she and Reel retrieve a lost cache of diamonds from the resident sea monster in return for their lives, she knows she's died and gone to Hell.

       When they escape the monster and end up on a deserted island, she amends her opinion - she's died and gone to Heaven.

       But when Reel sacrifices himself to allow her to return to her world, she realizes that, Heaven or Hell, with Reel, she's In Over Her Head.

Here's some of the early buzz:

"In Over Her Head is a heartwarming, but action-packed story of two people-one human and the other of the seaworthy body-joined together in an adventure. I enjoyed this story immensely."

-Dawn M. Ekinia, Armchair Interviews

"A delightful underwater adventure... full of good-natured humor and fun. A strong first effort by a promising new talent."

-Romantic Times 

"A playful debut... sincere wit."

-Publisher's Weekly 

And I have to point out the front-cover blurb from LA Banks, not only because it sings the book's praises, but because I've wondered about authors of different races blurbing for each other over on my other blog.

Judi's hosting a great contest over at her site. Check it out-you might win a free trip!

To celebrate the release of each of her books, Judi Fennell and the Atlantis Inn (www.AtlantisInn.com) and the Hibiscus House (www.HibiscusHouse.com) bed and breakfasts are raffling off three romantic beach getaway weekends. All information is on Judi's website, www.JudiFennell.com

And on to my chat with Judi:

Who do you picture in your mind when you write? 

I see the scene. It's one of the best things about writing paranormal, and being under the sea. I can make anything be there that I want to be and can explain it away with magic. But I also do adhere to reality as much as possible and LOVE when that reality exists where I need it to.

What's been your biggest surprised about getting published?

The biggest surprise was going to industry functions and having different interactions than you do as an unpub with industry professionals. It's more like, you're there, in the business and you're not looking for a sale as you are always hoping as an unpubbed. I hadn't thought about it but when it happened, it was very obvious. Surprising.

Is writing your main job?  If not, what do you do for your real source of income and how does it impact your writing? 

I got laid off from my day job (in the housing industry) shortly after I sold. I do still do a few hours for the company and am waiting for the market to turn around to go back to work, and in the meantime, I'm writing. The layoff was actually a blessing, although that pesky money/bill thing isn't fun.

What's the main thing you hope people take away from your book? 

A good time and laughter. And a desire to read about the rest of the Mer family.

Art or entertainment? Is one more valid or important than the other? 

I'm a reality tv junkie, so I'll go with entertainment. Is one more valid? No. The beauty of a democracy is allowing people their freedom to choose. What works for you might not work for me, so to have the selection is great.

What comes most naturally for you to write, dialogue? plot? character?  And what's hardest? 

Dialogue is the easiest and that's usually how I write. I'll write that first for each scene then build the rest of the scene around it. Hardest? I don't know that any other element is harder than the other. They're all part and parcel of the scenes and once the story is on the page with the dialogue, everything gets worked in.

So...go buy the book and don't forget to enter her contest!

Salon: Writing in and out of the niche

The Lighthouse LitFest begins this Friday. 

I'm doing a panel discussion. Please join us! 8 p.m. Thursday, June 18 at the Wynkoop Brewing Company.

Cost:
$10/members $15/nonmembers

Description:

Carleen Brice started “White Readers Meet Black Authors” as a lighthearted way of calling out the sometimes limiting ways bookstores categorize her (and many other authors) books. But there’s something to this. Do partitions exist between authors and readers of different genders, races, and backgrounds?  Where do genres of writing fit into all of this?  If the partitions exist, how can we all benefit from tearing them down, at least at times? Join this fun, interactive, enlightening panel of Brice (Orange Mint & Honey, Children of the Waters), William Haywood Hendeson (Augusta Locke, Native, The Rest of the Earth),and Mario Acevedo, whose Vampire Detective Felix Gomez has appeared in four books so far.