If you knew Nina

Shauna Roberts asks, "I've been wondering, Carleen, since I'm not familiar with Nina Simone's music, whether you think I would enjoy your book more if I got a Nina Simone album before I read it?"

First of all, sounds like you're going to read Orange Mint and Honey, and for that I thank you!! To answer your question, I don't think the reader really needs to know Nina Simone in order to get her role in my book. However, to not know Nina Simone would really be a loss (and knowing her music probably would increase your enjoyment of the story). So, yes, pick up a CD or two or check out several of her videos on my website where I have sort of a Nina Simone primer.

I had a glass of wine the other night with Bella Stander and Karen Mack who was in town (with her writing partner Jennifer Kaufman) to promote A Version of the Truth (They also wrote Literacy and Longing in LA). When I told Karen that Nina Simone is in my novel, she said something like, "Is Nina Simone having a recurrence? It seems like people are talking about her more." I thought it was just me--being sensitive to Nina sightings (like the reference in Before Sunset) because I was writing about her. As we were discussing it, a young waitress stopped and asked "Are you guys talking about Nina Simone? Did I hear you say her daughter sings?" So sometimes it does seem like Nina Simone and her fans are everywhere.

Just curious: How many of you know Nina Simone's music?

Thanks Shauna for the question!

An Invitation from Stephanie Rose Bird

I've started a new Yahoo group called International Clan of the Eclectics (I-COTE) we are a Earth Spirituality study and practice group using my books as a point of departure but exploring the work of many others as well. Every two weeks we have a new topic. We've worked powerfully on dream incubation, elders in the community during Elder Moon, lucky New Years rituals and visions for 2008. Right now we are on the topic of addiction, abuse and recovery--with guided readings from my work but also we've been looking for inspiration from Iyanla Vanzant's "Faith in the Valley: Lessons for Women on the Journey to Peace." We are small, about 30 women; just started in late Nov. You and fellow pajama gardeners interested in deepening spirituality through earth veneration are welcome to join us.

Thank you Judy Merrill Larsen!

My friend Leslie continues to be amazed at how writers help one another. And when I think about it, it is truly a lovely thing. People I've never met have been so kind to me. I am taking the time now to especially thank Judy Larsen who has talked me down off the ledge a few times. One of the Ballantine Babes, Judy's book All the Numbers was a Target "breakout book" and stayed on their shelves for a year! I'm going to go out on a limb and say this was due not only to the fact that it's a great book but because Judy worked hard herself to get the word out. She's still working hard, finishing her 2nd novel and promoting her 1st one...yet she's willing to take the time to help other writers sort through the maze of the publishing world. A gem.

I will try to pay it forward.

Maya Angelou weighs in

My friend Helene sent me a link to a Canadian interview with Maya Angelou. You can watch the whole 10-minute video here or the short version below (if you have time I recommend the full interview). When Dr. Angelou read On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton's inaguration in 1993, it was the first time I felt included by my government. It was the first time I felt invited to the party. Barbara Jordan once said, "But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in 'We, the people.'" That's how I felt to hear and see Dr. Angelou read that day.

But for some reason, as much as I admire Hillary Clinton (and if she gets the nomination, I will definitely, happily support her), I can't help but feel that we will have taken another step forward from that January morning in 1993 if in January 2009 Barack Obama is the one taking the oath of office.

Either way, it's a beautiful thing that we live in a time in which Clinton and Obama are the top candidates for the Democratic nomination. On top of that Dr. Angelou is backing Clinton and Oprah Winfrey is backing Obama and people are LISTENING to them. Can it be that what black women say matters? Truly, these are exciting times!

Walk Tall

Today is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (not the holiday, the day he was born). In honor, I'm posting the January 15 reading from the new edition of Walk Tall: Affirmations for People of Color, which is now available from iUniverse:

There’s an old adage that goes, "If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything." We have to stand for something in this life. If we think we can avoid responsibility by choosing not to take a stand, we are wrong. If we’re not part of the solution, we’re part of the problem. There are many things we can commit to—our personal growth and recovery; the well-being of our children; the welfare of our communities; equal treatment for all people. Whatever it is we believe in, we need to be committed to it and be willing to face the hardships we might encounter along the way.

I honor Dr. King’s memory by taking a stand for something I believe in.

Walk Tall

is a dream I had a long time ago. Fourteen years ago actually. My mother had recently died, and I was doing freelance PR. I was leaving a meeting to set up free prostate cancer screenings at a church on behalf of the American Cancer Society. I was driving down Colorado Boulevard and this voice in my head said, "You should write a book of affirmations for people of color." I was near 1st Avenue and swerved into the far right lane so I could turn west and go to Tattered Cover (it used to be located in Cherry Creek). That day I bought a book called How to Write a Book Proposal and went home and told everyone I was going to write a book. Just like that. (There's a funny/sad story about that book that I talk about in the new intro to Walk Tall.)

Where did that voice come from? God? My mother? My deepest self? I don't know, but I listened to it and I'm so glad I did. Walk Tall lived in print, first with RPI Publishing then with Beacon Press, for 10 years and had 100,000 copies in print. When it went out of print, I thought the story was finished...but not yet.

I'll be posting about new chapters in the life of Walk Tall over the coming weeks. (I also hope to get a decent jpeg of the cover)

Black or female?

Yesterday's NY Times had an article that reminded me of the book All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave edited by Akasha "Gloria" Hull (who has a short fiction piece in Age Ain't Nothing but a Number), Patricia Bell Scott and Barbara Smith.

The article asked the question about the Democratic candidates: Who will make history first, a black man or a white woman? The article explored the linked movements of women's rights and civil rights, and the historical friction about which group would get the right to vote first: black men or white women.

When I was a little girl, I remember my parents and their friends (all black) having a friendly argument on the topic of the presidency. The women believed a black man would be president before a woman of any color. The men believed that a white woman would be president before any black man.

As Olufunke and I were discussing the article via email yesterday, I couldn't help but notice the missing element of the Times article and of my parents' conversation: What about black women? Where do we fall?

Some of the quotes from Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were shameful. For those who don't have access to the Times, here are a couple paragraphs from the article:

"One bitter case from the 19th century involved a split between the abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the women’s rights’ pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Stanton was herself a fervent abolitionist, and a close ally of Douglass, who later confined herself to the cause of women’s equality. These ideals would eventually clash, resulting in increasingly divisive rhetoric that reached a harsh climax after Stanton condemned the 15th amendment — which gave black men the right to vote but left out women of all races — as something that would establish 'an aristocracy of sex on this continent.' She also alluded to the 'lower orders' like Irish, blacks, Germans, Chinese.

During a heated meeting in New York City’s Steinway Hall in 1869, Stanton wondered, 'Shall American statesmen ... so amend their constitutions as to make their wives and mothers the political inferiors of unlettered and unwashed ditch-diggers, bootblacks, butchers and barbers, fresh from the slave plantations of the South?' At which point, Douglass rose, paid tribute to Stanton’s years of work on civil rights for all, and replied, 'When women, because they are women, are hunted down through the cities of New York and New Orleans; when they are dragged from their houses and hung from lampposts; when their children are torn from their arms and their brains dashed out upon the pavement; when they are objects of insult and rage at every turn; when they are in danger of having their homes burnt down... then they will have an urgency to obtain the ballot equal to our own.'"

Need I point out the double dis for black women? On one hand we're part of the "lower orders," on the other hand, it's completed ignored that black women's children were torn out of their arms and their brains dashed upon the pavement and all the rest.

I hope in this election we can move past the either/or paradigm. In 2008, must we still remind people of what Soujourner Truth made clear in 1851?

Happy Dance

"Just Fine" is church, the club and aerobic class for me. Seems I'm not alone. Mary J's video for this song makes me happy, but this video of NBC's chief White House correspondent shaking his groove thang while Mary J sings cracks me up, in a good way. (his moves get the thumb's up on YouTube). It's 41 seconds of joy! Thanks to Lolita Files for turning me on to it.

Black Expressions calls OMAH "delicious"!

The Black Expressions Book Club has Orange Mint and Honey on their web site as one of the "Coming Soon!" selections. Here's the club review:

When Shay Dixon was growing up, her mother Nona was an alcoholic mess. She was either drunk or hung-over, and her string of low-life boyfriends weren’t any better. But after burning through graduate school and depleting her meager savings, Shay decides it’s time to reconnect with the mother she’s all but written off. Before she knows it, Shay’s on the next flight out. But nothing could prepare her for the homecoming she receives. Her mother hasn’t just given up booze, she’s become a new person with a positive outlook, a love for gardening, and an amazing new toddler named Sunny. A heartwarming story that shows why life tastes better when the bitter is followed by the sweet, Orange Mint and Honey is a delicious treat.

Now that's what I'm talking about!!

Let the countdown begin!

One month to the big day! I want to say I can't wait, but I can. I've waited almost 6.5 years (from the time I started Orange Mint and Honey). What's one more month?

I sold the book to Ballantine in September of 2006. One of the things I clicked with my editor about is that this book would be a spring title. (I've always imagined it as a spring title. And now, look at the cover (down and over to the right)--doesn't that look like a spring title?) And September was too late to get in the spring 2007 catalog, so spring 2008 it is.

Try explaining that to family and friends though. I've spent the last year and a half saying, No *sigh* it's still not out. But now in just one more little month I'll be able to say, Yes! *squeal of joy* It's out!

Children of the Waters

That's the working title for my novel in progress. I'll tell you the sales story of my story. My agent called me at work because Ballantine wanted to make an offer (there was already one on the table) for Orange Mint and Honey, but first they wanted to know if I had another book in me. They wanted a one-liner. I didn't have a great one-liner, but I had worked on a short pitch. Unfortunately, it was the ONE day in months I didn't have all my book stuff with me at work. Figures, right? So I winged it and this is what we sent and sold for a decent advance:

What happens when two half-sisters, one white and one black, separated by adoption, find each other? Billie and Trish have the same mother, but different fathers. Billie's was black. Trish's was white. Their mother was a wild child who brought Trish home for her mother to raise. When she brought Billie home, her mother refused to raise her black child. So Billie was put up for adoption and was adopted and raised by a black family. Trish was raised by her white grandmother. Told from both sisters' POV, Children of the Waters is a story about race, identity and what really makes a family.

This was actually my first novel. I hit 100 pages and got stumped and put it away. I started Orange Mint and Honey and got stumped when I hit 100 pages and realized that's just what happens when I hit the 100-page mark. So while Orange Mint was on submission, I pulled those original 100 pages out and read them. They weren't half bad. I still liked the premise and the characters. However, the story of what brings the two sisters together and what they do as they get to know each other has changed dramatically. (This is where my research comes in.) I'm at work on the second draft. The manuscript is due to my editor March 1 and will be published in spring 2009.

Attention short story writers

Thanks to Ja for notice of the Colorado Review Nelligan Prize:

Submissions are being accepted for the Colorado Review Nelligan Prize. A prize of $1,000 and publication in Colorado Review will be given annually for a short story. All submissions must be received between the dates of January 15 and March 15, 2008. Visit the Web site for complete submission guidelines.

Simone on Simone

I know I said I'd post about N2, but first a little more about N1.

Nina Simone's daughter, who performs under the name Simone, releases her debut album in March (according to O Magazine). It's called "Simone on Simone." From what I've heard, she's got a dynamite voice (you can hear tracks here, and be sure to check out the hair). Now there's a mother-daughter story! I wonder what Simone (aka Lisa Celeste Stroud) would think of her mother's role as a fairy godmother to Shay in Orange Mint and Honey?

Don't cry for me, Blogosphere-a

Ok. So I know I said I was stressed out and trying not to be and stuff. But really? Writing novels ain't digging ditches and it ain't soldiering in Iraq. It ain't even sitting in a cubicle working for the man. I know this, even though sometimes I forget. Like Jamie Ford said in the comments yesterday, writing a novel is something I "get to do" and I am trying to enjoy every moment of it.

On top of the simple joy of writing a good line or a good scene, sometimes because I'm a novelist I get to do interesting, fun or silly things and call it "research." For example, there was my trip to Idaho Springs. And the other day to understand how to write a specific scene I had to go drinking and sex-toy shopping. I had to! For my book! Could I have made up the 70-year-old couple walking confidently through the store? Sure, but it probably wouldn't have dawned on me. Now they're in N2 and they're wearing leather. Let's face it: there was a LOT of stuff in there that never would have dawned on me. (Strap-ons for women to wear with men? Flavored anal lube?) Actually, the store was a clean, well-lighted place mostly filled with colorful, plastic gadgets and gizmos from China, much like a Toys R Us.

For obvious reasons I didn't take pictures, so you'll have to take my word that a fun time was had. For a bit. Then I got kind of sick to my tummy. Middle-aged ladies should not chug margaritas. Not even one. However, anything for veracity in my writing, right? Because now I can vouch for the fact that one marg slurped very quickly could very well make one sick enough to barf all over a pair of fur-lined handcuffs.

And on top of the fun of writing and research, by blogging about it, I probably have at least one or two of you interested in my next book. So really my drinking and sex-toy shopping outting was research and marketing.

Next up, the big reveal: What is this mysterious N2?

No deadline drama

I'm on deadline--my 2nd novel is due March 1. My first novel drops on February 12. These are glorious, busy, crazy, stressful times. So I'm going to do something wise: I'm going to take care of myself. I'm going to be very gentle, very kind. Rather than get into "finals/term-paper mode" (you know, no sleep, no grooming, lots of caffeine), I'm going to take it easy. I'm going to write every day, but only with the intention of about 500 words a day. If I get more than that, great. If not, that's okay too. I'm in great shape to meet my deadline and I'm going to move forward under the assumption that I will. I'm going to move forward under the assumption that everything, as Mary J. puts it, is just fine. Because it is. No matter what happens.

I'm also going to:

exercise (gently) every day
pray a lot
get a massage (or 2 or 3)
keep my Rescue Remedy handy
write in my journal
take naps
breathe
watch at least one comedy a week
trust the process

If y'all have any other suggestions for self-care, I'd love to hear them. What do you do to take good care of yourself?

Hot Flashes-Call for Submissions

Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Laurie McAndish King are looking for short (1200 words or less) erotic fiction, nonfiction and poetry for the third anthology in the Hot Flashes series, to be published in 2009. The submission deadline is March 1, 2008.

Laurie says, "We are not interested in gratuitous sex. We want the erotic framed in a way that is fascinating, entertaining, enlightening, surprising. We want fine writing. Think: appetite, humor, action, romance, food, travel, nature, personality, nostalgia, culture and counter-culture, mind, body and so on ... and add your erotic spin." More info here:

Please mail hard copy of your submission, along with a short bio, to:

Hot Flashes 3
Left Coast Writers
484 Lake Park Avenue, #29
Oakland, CA 94610

If your work is selected for publication, they will request a Word RTF (rich text format) document via e-mail or on disk.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!

Congrats Orange Bowl Champs! And they said you couldn't do it!

Seattle

We spent Christmas in Seattle with hubby's brother and sister-in-law. The damp climate was unbelievable. Moss was growing everywhere. Though the temperature was in the 30s, I was freezing the whole time. Something about the wetness sinking into your bones. Brrrrr!

And yet, roses, geraniums and yarrow and other plants were still in bloom!

It was so exciting to see flowers in December!

It rained for much of our stay, but the sun did shine. Or at least the pale, soft light that passes for sun in the Northwest. (Notice the lamps are on during the middle of the afternoon.) My brother-in-law is a landscape architect. These trees are part of a pear-tree hedge around their front yard. My in-laws also grow plums, cherries, blueberries and lots of other fruits and veggies.

The view on another "sunny" day.

On this trip, we didn't make it to the Pike Place Market (we drove by). But we did go to Chinook's for lunch. It's on a real fishermen's wharf.

More fishing boats.

The sun beginning to set around 4 pm.

This was along Magnolia Drive at sunset. I can't recall which body of water this is, Lake Union, maybe? The picture is a little fuzzy because I took it from the car as we were driving, but I love the colors.

I also saw The Panama Hotel, inspiration for Jamie Ford's upcoming novel, Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

Awards Season

Lisa, leader of Eudaemonia Land, gave me the Shameless Lions Writing Circle's "A Roar for Powerful Words" award.

The award was initiated in November by Seamus Kearney, a writer living in Lyon, France. Here are Seamus’s instructions: Those people I've given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honour, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc etc. Let's send a roar through the blogosphere!

The three things I believe are necessary for good, powerful (fiction) writing are:

1. Passion. Call it heart, call it feeling. To me, the quality of caring about what you write about is crucial to being a good writer. Caring about the story, caring about your characters, caring what readers are going to think and feel as they read. Why write about something you care nothing or little about? And why should I care if the writer doesn't even care? Tell me a story that is important to you and chances are much greater the story will be important to me too.

2. Strong dialogue. I can forgive any flaw but boring, repetitive, empty, flat, unbelievable dialogue. To me, dialogue is the strongest means of developing a character. What they say (and don't say) and how they say it (or not) makes a breaks a character. It's probably what I spend the most time on when I write.

3. Storytelling. This is plot, but more than plot. It's also the appreciation of set-ups and pay-offs, tension, suspense, pacing, rhythym. One thing logically, organically leading to another without being so predictable that even the writer is ready to go to sleep. I include it because it's what comes hardest for me.

I'd like to give the Roar for Powerful Words Award to:
Angela Threatt
Jamie Ford
Judy Merrill Larsen
Rebecca Burgess
Tayari Jones

I'm curious to see what they have to say about what makes for strong writing.

In other awards news, Sherry over at Sage and Thyme kindly awarded me with the "Citizen of the World Award." I would like to consider myself a citizen of the world, but I'm afraid I have a lot to learn before that can actually be true. First, I've got to get down being a citizen of my own community; trying to tend to my own little plot here in Denver.

I admire people like my friend Val who can do both--be volunteers and activists at home and passionately contribute to better people's plights in other parts of the world. So, I'd like to give Val the "Citizen of the World Award."

Thanks Lisa and Sherry! I am very humbled and honored by both these awards.

Happy New Year!

Here's to a healthy, joyful, loving, prosperous, peaceful, creative and flower-filled year!

I'll be eating popcorn and watching movies tonight, and tomorrow I'll be eating black-eyed peas and cornbread. What are you doing to celebrate? Any new year traditions you care to share?

Vishnu is a star!

Vishnu made his debut on Galleycat (Dec. 26). As did Amy's pal Babe (Dec. 26) and Bella's Max (Dec. 28). I hope it doesn't go to his head!

The humans in our household just returned from a Christmas trip to Seattle. I'll post pics after I recover from our 10-hour trip back home (which included 4 hours at Sea-Tac, 2 hours sitting on the runway and an icy drive from DIA) and shoveling the foot of snow that greeted us.

Holiday Hiatus

The Pajama Gardener is taking a little break for Christmas. Yesterday, I turned in my page proofs for Walk Tall to iUniverse and gave a draft of my novel in progress to my beta-reader to read for me. Whew! So I am taking some time off.

I have received 2 wonderful blogging awards of late that I promise to post about...it just may be next year.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, Happy Kwanza, Happy New Year and Joyful Everything to you and yours!

Dance Dance Revolution!

For everybody on deadline or stressed out from the holidays.

This first song has been getting me through for almost 20 years now. (I do have a thing for James Browns' spiritual godsons, especially the ones who like to change their names. I'd include a video from His Purple Badness, but I'd get sued.) Best lines: "It ain't easy. Giving up is the easy thing to do. Time is on your side, but you just watch the clock and let it tick for you."




This song has only been getting me through a few weeks, but I can tell already that I'm going to listen to this whenever I want a boost. Best line: "Feels so good when you're doing all the things that you want to do." Yay, Mary J. is back!

OK, back to work!

Blacks History Month every month

On Saturday, I went to a holiday tea for the Read Aloud Program, which was held at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. I had never been there before. Drive by it all the time, but I had never stopped in. The third floor features a museum about Denver's black history and the history of blacks in the West that was fascinating. For example, Madam C.J. Walker, this country's first female millionaire, got her start here in Denver.

One of the exhibits includes the manumission papers of Robert Smith. It's a handwritten letter that documents "that the Negro slave named Robert" has been "manummitted, emancipated and set free." The letter also describes Robert Smith as a "man of yellow complexion, about five feet five inches high and lame in the left ancle [sic]...and is about thirty years old." Robert Smith went on to open a barber shop in Five Points and purchase his family out of slavery.

This exhibit was especially moving for me because one of the characters in my current novel believes in communicating with her ancestors. This exhibit reminded me that "the ancestors" were once living, breathing individuals, not a faceless, nameless mass. I believe it will give my story more depth.

It could be a good exercise for writers to explore your history and let where and who you come from influence your work.

On another note, artist Raymina Mays, who emailed me this lovely picture of collards in her garden, and Paula Johnson are working on a project to photograph black women in their gardens. If you're interested in participating, shoot me an email (carleenatcarleenbricedotcom)and I'll hook you up with Raymina.


Raymina also forwarded me this link to the the Anne Spencer Garden. And a link to this video about folk artist LV Hull, also known as "the shoe lady."



Much food for thought here!

Holiday round up

Yesterday was my last day for this semester's Read Aloud program. This was a great class. The kids were very eager readers and really loved stories. That's me buried under (from left) Jayla, Nakia, Sean, and Danisha. I believe we start up again sometime next month. Next semester, at the teacher's request, I'm going to work with the kids to write a book.

I just got home from the Ladies Literary Luncheon white elephant gift exchange and boy did I get some stinkers (though I gave as good as I got-hee hee Kristin)! I'd like to thank Rebecca and Debra for some truly "special" gifts.

Seriously though, Robin Owens (who's book Keepers of the Flame comes out next month), handed out lovely cards. I selected Magnificence. On the other side it says "Own your magnificence. The world needs your brilliance and grace." Nice, huh?

Look for LLL's Andrea Cohen's signing at the Lodo Tattered Cover on January 29th and Debra Fine's signing at the same store on January 30th.

Now a note from hubby's and my friend T.M. who always writes a hell of a Christmas letter. He always includes a round-up of his favorites from the Harper's Index of Harper's Magazine. A couple of relevant stats:

Minimum number of different books sold in the U.S. last year, as tracked by Nielsen BookScan: 1,446,000.

Number of these that sold fewer than 99 copies: 1,123,000.

Number that sold more than 100,000 copies: 481.

And FINALLY as I was scouring for links for my LLL friends I happened to notice this little open secret on Amazon. Guess the cat's outta the bag. Check out the emblem on the cover: It's for the Essence Magazine Book Club, which has named Orange Mint and Honey as an upcoming selection. Merry Christmas baby!!!!!

Meme-of-the-Month

Tayari Jones (check out the best-dressed writer I know here) has tagged me for a fascinating meme. You post the first line of the first post for each month of 2007. Let's see what I was going on about this year.

January. I don't really make new year's resolutions.

February. Stay tuned for the Pajama Chat with Stephanie Rose Bird. (better late than never!)

March. Got cabin fever?

April. Hubby took this group of pictures today.

May. On April 24, my grandfather, William Oliver Melton, passed away.

June. "Boldfaced Lies," a self-published first novel by Charlene Porter has been nominated for a NAACP image award. (A Denver writer I've never met, btw.)

July. "Shakespeare, Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni just to name a few."

August. Happy Birthday Yuh Yuh! (my middle brother)

September. Last Labor Day I was in a completely different space physically and mentally.

October. I finished No Place Safe yesterday, turning the pages as quick as I could.

November. Extreme Cover Make-over

December. Snow Miser vs. Heat Miser.

I guess this shows a little of what this blog is about: books and family. Not one of the first lines was about gardening though.

So, on to tagging. I will tag: Ms. Peri, Iyan and Egusi Soup, Sage and Thyme, Judy Larsen, Sustenance Scout. Have fun!

Upscale Magazine calls OMAH "gripping"!

Whoo hoo! The December/January issue of Upscale Magazine has a great review of Orange Mint and Honey:

"Daughters strive to either be just like their mothers or the exact opposite. Shay has every reason to avoid imitating her alcoholic mother, a habitual street wanderer who left her home alone for days and one long, scary week that the now 25-year old still can't forget.

After moving back home to tortuous childhood memories and an Alcoholics Anonymous-enthused mother ready to make amends, Shay refuses to forgive until her own misstep shows her a glimpse of life from her mother's perspective in Carleen Brice's gripping Orange Mint and Honey."

This review makes for excellent discussion questions: Do you think daughters strive to be just like our mothers or the exact opposite? If so, which did you go for? Is the same dynamic true for fathers and sons?

I tried for opposite for a long time. After my mother died, I was able to allow the parts of myself that were like her to breathe. Now I'm grateful for them.

In the spirit

It's snowing here in Denver. Last night, Hubby and I packed up 6 fruitcakes to mail to family. Every year, my husband makes fruitcakes. It is a major production. Six pounds of fruit. A pound of butter. A pound of pecans. Fifteen eggs. Wine and brandy. I thought he and his brothers and father were the only ones on the planet who liked them, until I found out Grandmama LOVES fruitcake. So he started sending her one. Well, my father and brother heard about this most delicious fruitcake so now THEY get one every year. And it turns out our families aren't the only ones who adore fruitcake. There are the Fruitcake Sisters and the Fruitcake Anti-Defamation League (you have to scroll down). Who knew?

Anyway, between the snow and the fruitcake (which I enjoy from afar since it's loaded with sugar), I am definitely in the holiday spirit. So here's a little Christmas wish from the Pajama Gardener to you.

Let it go, let it go, let it go

"Let go and let God" is a saying from 12-step programs. To help one do that, people in 12-step programs sometimes make themselves a "God box" and write down their problems and put them in the God box for their higher power to take care of. It's a a way they can symbolically, ritually turn their problems over to God. Often, God boxes are hat boxes or shoe boxes with a slit in the top or a paper bag. (Here's a great essay by Anne Lamott on her own God box rituals.)

In Orange Mint and Honey, the mother, Nona, is a recovering alcoholic in AA. She uses her garden as her God box. She writes what she wants to release or let go of and buries the slips of paper in her garden. Over time, the papers break down and serve as a kind of mulch and soil amendment. Nona says, "the best way I know to turn over my problems to God is to turn over some dirt."

As someone who can be a tad obsessive-I'll pause while I wait for hubby and friends to collect themselves after falling on the floor laughing at my understatement-having such a way to let things go is very helpful. Once when I was worried about getting an agent, I tried Nona's method. I wrote down that I was freaking out about getting an agent and buried the piece of paper in my garden. And it worked. I was able to let that worry go. (And I got an agent soon after.)

Lately, I've been getting a little worried about how my little baby Orange Mint is going to do once it's out there in the world (in almost exactly 2 months!). So I wrote that down on a slip of paper and gave it over to something greater than myself to take care of. And I feel so much better! It won't last forever. I'll get wound up again and have to release again. In fact, I may end up papering my whole yard in the next few months. It takes what it takes.

If you have something you want to release to your higher power, give it a try. Another good exercise in letting go is repeating this mantra from Life is Goodbye, Life is Hello: Grieving Well Through All Kinds of Loss, by Alla Bozarth-Campbell:

"Love Mantra for Letting Go"

I bless you
I release you

I set you free
I set me free

I let you be
I let me be

I find it works for all kinds of things.

Peace.

Lighthouse auction

Got a picky writer and/or reader to shop for this year? Lighthouse is auctioning off some very clever stories written on napkins (and nicely framed in glass). Napkin authors include: Tobias Wolff, William Henderson, Nick Arvin, Shari Caudron, Harrison Fletcher, Alexandre Philippe, Ryan Kelly, Chris Ransick, and Michael Henry.

Check them out on eBay, and, if you can swing it, bid on an item. It's for a good cause. Proceeds go to Lighthouse Writers. The auction ends Dec. 13th.

Omaha

I grew up in Omaha. I shopped, went to movies, and hung out too many times to count at Westroads. It's where I bought my prom dress. It's where my best friend, her boyfriend and I lied about our ages to see Felix the Cat. Our friend J went with us, but she choked when the time came to lie and didn't make the cut. The story on the front page of today's Denver Post from the Omaha World-Herald is written by a guy I went to high school with. The kid who entered the mall with a gun lived in the same suburb as one of my favorite aunts. Nobody I know was shot or a witness to the horror. Just the same, everybody in and from Omaha is affected. I guess we all are whether we're in or from Omaha or not.

I just needed to say this.

Things that make you go hmmm

Not sure what I think about Karith Foster, a black comedienne who is joining Don Imus on his new show. In this interview, she sounds like she's thought this through and has her head on her shoulders. But she says that Imus was just trying to sound like a young hip guy when he made his infamous comment. I listened to what Imus said at the time, and it did sound malicious to me. Not to mention completely unnecessary. And the "ho incident" isn't all that he's known for. So I don't know what to think. I hope it works out for her, but it kinda feels like signing on with the dark side to me. What do y'all think?

Rerun

In support of striking TV & film writers (and because I'm on deadline), I'm posting a rerun from the archives. From March 2, 2007:

Got cabin fever? Tired of snow and gray skies? Feeling blue? Get yourself some orange...orange essential oil that is and some peppermint oil. Then:

• splash a few drops in your bath water (though the peppermint is cooling like menthol)
  
• put a few drops on a tissue or in a bowl of hot water and place them next to you
  add a few drops to your bottle of lotion (make sure the essential oils get diluted)
  
• heat them in an oil diffuser (I use a clay pot diffuser with a tea light candle)
  
• or sprinkle a few drops on your clothes (be careful with fine fabrics) or in your hair

Will perk you right up. No calories. No side effects. (Read the directions. Don't use undiluted oils directly on your skin and keep them away from mucous membranes.)

And this is a new warning from personal experience: make sure you don't end up with an oil slick in your bath water. Your skin will NOT like it! It burns. Add some milk to your bath or add the drops of oil under the running water.

Who's your Miser?

Snow Miser vs. Heat Miser. Vote in the comments.

I heart Target

And Target hearts me!* Since Therese (a fellow Ballantine author) has made the big announcement, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume I can too. Target has selected Orange Mint and Honey as a February Breakout Title!!! What does that mean? According to their site, breakout titles are the ones "everybody's going to be talking about." It also means that the book gets into Target in the first place. As my pal Judy (a fellow Ballantine author whose book All the Numbers was also a Target breakout title) pointed out, most Target stores only stock 100-200 titles. So just getting in the door is great. But there's even more. Breakout titles are sold on the endcaps in special displays. Just the bestest news!

On February 12, look for Orange Mint and Honey and Therese's book, Souvenir, at a Target (or indie bookstore, sorry just couldn't forget the indie stores) near you! Go Ballantine Babes! I think we need t-shirts! :)

*I should say WE heart Target and Target hearts us, huh Therese and Judy?

Stuck in the middle with....

Lisa tagged me for the middle name meme, and this isn't one I've seen before, so I'm in.

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
   
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, just make one up...or use the one you would have liked to have had.
   
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
   
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

I have the middle name from hell for this meme!

Y-Young at heart. What else you gonna do with a y? Seriously though, I do have a youthful spirit (not body, but spirit). I'm a Gemini, "the child" of the Zodiac.

V-Vajajay: I have one, and saying it makes me laugh. Valedictorian: I wasn't one. Vacation: I need one! Vampires: Totally don't get the popularity of "urban fantasy." I mean, I watched Buffy and several Draculas and I read some Ann Rice...but there are so many vampires now. Don't get it.

E-Eastern medicine. Acupuncture helped me go off sugar almost a year ago. I had dinner with friends last night at 8 Rivers Cafe, a Jamaican restaurant. It was my first time having jerk chicken (very good, but very hot!). The waitress was kind enough to make up some sangria for us with Splenda instead of sugar. However, it was still way too sweet for me! I had to cut it with soda water.

T-Timing is everything. Today is the last day for Frontier Airline's Christmas sale and we're booking flights for my parents, grandmother, brother and sister-in-law and best friend to be here for my launch party!

T-Tree. Yesterday, I decorated one of our pines for Christmas.

E-Earth. Hubby calls me an "earth muffin" because of how I dress sometimes and because I eat flax seed and drink green tea.

I'm breaking the last rule and tagging Sherry (Happy Birthday!!!) and Rebecca.

Damn good book trailer

Though I still kinda can't believe it's come to authors doing videos, this is my kind of book promotion! Funny, soft-sell, AND actually makes me interested in her book.

Setting-Colfax Avenue

One of the settings for Orange Mint and Honey, Colfax Avenue, was in the NY Times today. I had a hard time with Denver as a location. I had to stop and think about how I see the city and how my characters would see the city and then give a little info (debunk some myths, like that Denver is not in the mountains) for folks who know nothing about it. So Colfax Avenue is in the book, as is Park Hill, Five Points, Capital Hill, Aurora, and I-70 up to the mountains (because to write about Denver and not mention the Rockies would be silly). Local haunts in the book include City Park, the Tattered Cover , Blackberries, Liks, and the Mercury Cafe. So far the locals who have read it approve.

Healthy Holidays!

Like millions of women around the country, I spent hours in the kitchen yesterday. (Unlike billions of women around the world, I only do that a few times a year. Hubby is the cook in our home, and God bless him!)

I roasted a turkey, mashed potatoes, cooked cranberries and...drum roll please...made stuffing from scratch with herb bread I made myself (in the bread machine) and for the first time EVER I made good gravy. Yummm. Oh, and I made a low-sugar gingerbread. Recipes, you ask? But of course.

Stuffing
To my regular 1/2 wheat 1/2 white (King Arthur Bread Flour) bread recipe, I added:

1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 small handful of rosemary from my garden
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

I let the bread get stale for a couple of days, cut it into cubes, then added:
more sage (maybe a teaspoon?)
more thyme (ditto)
more onion powder (maybe 1/2 teaspoon?)

I sauteed a couple of onions and celery stalks in 2 sticks of butter (yep, 2 whole sticks--for me it's just not Thanksgiving without butter--however, you could add less butter and more broth), and added that to all the dry stuff. Then I added about 2-3 cups of turkey/chicken broth (I always cook the turkey giblets mixed with some chicken broth on top of the stove for extra broth).

We always stuff our bird (or "stuffing delivery system" as we call it) and cook it to an internal temp of at least 180-190 degrees, and every year I worry we're going to die of turkey poisoning, but so far, so good. This year I was even brave enough not to cook it until it was dry as dust. (Oh--we also always get a Red Bird turkey and brine it overnight, which helps greatly with the dry thing.)

Cranberries
1 bag of cranberries
about 2/3-3/4 cup of crystalized fructose (fruit sugar)
1/2 cup grape juice
1/2 cup water
Lower sugar, still kind of tart, but quite good!

Gingerbread
1/4-1/3 cup canola oil
1 container of baby food prunes (maybe 1/4 cup?)
1 egg
1/2 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda


Beat the wet ingredients together for about a minute. Add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour into a pan and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. My gingerbread was kind of flat, so I'll try adding more baking powder next time; the wheat flour and molasses are pretty heavy ingredients, so more leavening might be a good idea.

Served with whipped cream made with heavy whipping cream and 2 packets of Splenda. Even Hubby liked it!!

I wish I could give you a recipe for the gravy, but I just kept adding stuff (flour, butter, turkey drippings, chicken broth, milk, salt & pepper) until it worked. The trick was that this year I had some great pan drippings, so the gravy tasted like turkey and not like weak chicken broth.

And for lunch today? Turkey-lettuce wraps with mayo (again mayo is more of must for me than bread, especially because I will be having more stuffing for dinner tonight).

Gratitude

Bella Stander is posting stories of gratitude on her blog, Reading Under the Covers. I'm happy to say that I sent her one thanking some friends of mine and she posted it. In addition, last year she ran beautiful stories from Therese Fowler and Judy Larsen (who also has a lovely new posting on gratitude).

I encourage you to send your own stories to Bella and to read the ones she has posted. They are definitely in the feel-good category!

For cat lovers

Authors' podcasts

You might recall I heard Ann Packer read about a month or so ago. Well, her reading is now available online at Authors On Tour-Live. Burst Marketing (owned and operated by my buddies Rob and Marisol Simon) podcasts different authors live from the Tattered Cover Book Store. Check it out-lots of interesting authors and discussions!

Breaking news!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming with a note from my editor:

The Black Expressions Book Club has selected OMAH for one of their titles. Their membership is several hundred thousand readers strong!

About the other thing...wasn't supposed to say that just yet!

Okay, back to my blathering about bulbs....

Fall planting

Yesterday I finished planting 130 more daffodils on the west side of the house. That brings the bulb total to about 500. So next spring, we'll have even more of this.

Most of our bulbs are a variety of "naturalizing daffodils,"

which I bought in big mixed bags. These, I believe, are "Las Vegas."

Some are a little more exotic, like these, whose name I can't remember,

but they might be "Pink charm." I also have some "Tahiti" and a few other

exotics. There's a great big world of daffs, beyond yellow.

Though a sea of yellow in March is a lovely sight.

This is one of my favorites; I believe it's a Cassata.

These are scilla. We have about 150 of these little bulbs.

I also have a tulip bed with about 50 bulbs in it.

I've been pleasantly surprised at how many years I've

gotten out of these bulbs.

In defense of ugly shoes

Shoe lust has launched many an episode of Sex and the City and provided a plot point in the Devil Wears Prada, the covers for lots of chick lit books and was the subject of an entire novel.
And I just don't get it. For me shoe-shopping goes like this: In my size (11)? Check. Comfy? Check. A reasonable price? Buy.

I don't get handbag mania either. When it comes to accessories, I'm much more inclined to go for jewelry and scarves. But then I'm not exactly known for my fashion sense. I was once given fashion advice by a man who worked as a secretary by day and performed as Brown Sugar by night. The conversation went like this:

Me: May I speak to [his boss]?
BS: She’s not in.
Me: Will you tell her that Carleen called?
BS: Carleen? Are you the one that walks around the office in those big black Army shoes?
Me: Um…yeah.
BS: I saw you! I said to myself, Oh no she didn’t wear those big black Army shoes....

And off he went on a rant about the horror of seeing my ugly shoes one day.

In the latest issue of New York Magazine, there's an assault on ugly shoes. As a founding member of the Ugly Shoe Anti-Defamation League, I take offense. Join us! Jennifer Hudson might be on our side.

Or, if you understand shoe lust, please splain it to me!

"Juno"

My friend Marisol gave me a ticket to the Denver Film Festival's showing of "Juno" last night. The buzz is that it's this year's "Little Miss Sunshine." I'd say that's a good comparison.


It stars Ellen Page as the title character and also features Michael Cera and Jason Bateman (you might remember them as father and son in "Arrested Development"), Allison Janney ("The West Wing") and Jennifer Garner ("Alias"). Fans of "The Office" don't get too excited; Rainn Wilson is only in one scene.

I've never been to the Denver Film Festival and always wanted to go. The movie was shown at Denver's new Ellie Caulkins Opera House. It was a very cool experience! There was even a red carpet. The director, Jason Reitman, spoke before the film. The only thing missing was popcorn. And it was strange attending a film festival when movie writers are on strike, especially because "Juno's" dialogue and characters left me really fired up about writing.

Jason Reitman also made "Thank You for Smoking," which I wasn't too impressed with. I loved the book by Christopher Buckley, but the movie didn't capture the spirit of the book. He did a much better job with "Juno." Loved it! It opens December 5th and I recommend it.

After my big night on the town, I came home and regaled hubby with erotic tales of my compacted sinuses and the strange whistles my nose is making lately. Scheherazade ain't got nothing on me!

Just say no

I've had a cold for over a week, and today I pulled a muscle in my neck that is slowly becoming a neck-shoulder-back spasm from hell. Needless to say I have not accomplished much this week. And at first this morning I was starting to freak out about it. I know of other writers (you know who you are!) who can hit 2,000 words a day seemingly without breaking a sweat. Something I can't do when my sinuses aren't packed and I can turn my head from side to side like a normal person. Well, I can do it some days...just not every day. Some days, it's 300 words. Some days it's 3,000 words. It just depends. Anyway, I was freaking out because yesterday it was only 800 and today barely any. But then I remembered: I have been here soooo many times before and always, always it works out okay. I am going to end up wherever I end up no matter how I treat myself. Freaking out is completely optional. And, today anyway, I think not.

Get your mojo workin!

Just in time for fall comes the *long-ago promised Pajama Chat with Stephanie Rose Bird, author of Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones and Four Seasons of Mojo.

I'm thrilled to have Stephanie here to share with us her views about natural living and creativity. Stephanie and I met a few years ago. She has a lovely essay in the anthology I compiled. When I read in Chicago at the indie bookstore Women and Children First, Stephanie joined me and we had a great time.

Stephanie is a spirituality and health writer, educator, visionary artist, solitary green witch, hereditary intuitive and contemporary rootworker. (And I might add a beautiful writer and a really nice woman.) She has an MFA from UC San Diego.

Without further ado*, here's our chat:

Pajama Gardener: You write about hoodoo and working roots. What are these practices and how/when did you become involved with them?

Stephanie Rose Bird: Hoodoo is a unique collection of folkloric practices of African American people. People from diverse cultures including Native American (Southeastern North American groups) as well as people from Appalachia and immigrants from Europe, particularly those from northwest and eastern Europe, became involved with its development. The tradition is about self-determination, and may include healing or harming as the Hoodoo practitioner sees fit. Early on, Hoodoo, like other African-based traditions was used very proactively to help enslaved Africans in the Americas gain freedom. This is well documented by scholars. This was accomplished by using knowledge obtained in Africa of venom, poisons and herbs to effect slave holders (the masters) health or otherwise influence them so that a revolt could take place. Hoodoo healing was also used proactively and very positively, as plantation medicine, because blacks and even many whites were not able to see mainstream (allopathic) doctors. Hoodoo also involves the intersection or crossroads were humans and the spirit realm meet.

I focus my work on Hoodoo as a healer's tradition. Hoodoo can be used to help people have a better quality of life. Folk medicines are used for healing common ailments using the roots, berries, seeds, flowers and leaves of plants, typically called herbs. Matters of everyday life include finding and keeping a life partner, creating domestic tranquility, putting an end to vicious gossip, finding and keeping a job, increasing prosperity, doing well at school and maneuvering through the challenging passages of life like pregnancy, childbirth, adolescence, marriage illness and death are all addressed. There are people who use Hoodoo to bring terrible harm to others. I am not interested in that particular application and it is not something I am involved with. As someone interested in history, I am much more interested in the ways Hoodoo demonstrates how African culture has survived and continued in the United States. I am interested in the diversity of expression of Hoodoo, for example Hoodoo's appearance in blues songs, folkloric uses of plants for healing, the folkloric stories that grew from within Hoodoo and art objects used such as mojo bags, handcrafted brooms and magical soaps. I see Hoodoo as an interesting application of ethnobotany that is uniquely American.

Hoodoo and Voodoo are not one practice. Voodoo is derived from the word Vodoun, a well-developed belief system that began in West Africa and evolved in the New World, very strongly manifesting in Haiti and in New Orleans. There are priests and priestesses of Vodoun and an in-depth ordination process. There are also deities lending it a religious tone that doesn't necessarily exist in Hoodoo. There are commonalties between Vodoun and Hoodoo yet they are not one in the same. Just like Hoodoo is not Santeria, Obeah, or Candomble although there are certainly some crossovers.

So Hoodoo is not a religion yet it is practiced by an eclectic group of people. In the past most of the practitioners were involved with the Protestant church as Baptists, Methodists and Pentecostals, while a few were African Moslems. Today, Hoodoo continues to attract an eclectic group of people regardless of their religious affiliations. There are Hoodoos who lean toward West African traditional faiths like Ifa of the Yoruba people like myself; others look towards Khametian practices of the ancient Egyptians, still others come from a background of Wicca, Witchcraft, Paganism, Shamanism and other practices.

PG: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
SRB: One of my favorite things to do as a child was reading. I devoured books and all my favorite teachers were either Language Arts teachers or teachers of other arts like visual art, dance and singing. I loved Shakespeare growing up and dark tales. I grew up in the country and there was a very large series of food storage buildings that captivated me; they were covered in quotes of the wise from throughout time. I found them to resonate and as a combination of their omnipresence and the rhythms of people like Shakespeare, T.S. Elliot, Langston Hughes and Edgar Allen Poe, soon enough I was writing poetry of my own and reciting it. As a teenager I was involved with a small group of African American teenaged poets under the direction of an elder poet Ms. DuBois. Still, writing remained overpowered by my chosen art forms for much of my life which was dance and fine art. It wasn't until about 1999 that I got the call--something or someone spoke to me across time and said, "Hey! You should write." Still, before that many of my artist friends were calling me a writer because whenever I had the chance I was incorporating writing into my art and utilizing nonfiction writer's processes in my art, like planning & research, research, research!

PG: You are something of a modern Renaissance woman: you write, paint and dance. How do visual art and dance inform your writing and vice versa?
SRB: I have to give credit for these overlays to my parents. I grew up in an unusual household. My mother studied dance for many, many years and she made sure I did the same, from the time I was 4. My parents were very artistic and we had a craft business. We spent a lot of time creating together and discussing aesthetics of what worked and what didn't, what people might like and why or why not. That upbringing made it natural to be creative and not to really compartmentalize each one but to just do it. That's how it was and it has begun to be the same way for me. I've given myself that freedom. I've been dancing for about 7 years as an adult-spread out over time. Most recently, I've become heavily involved with American Tribal Style Belly dance. Right now I'm also studying Kahiko, which is ancient Hawaiian Hula and Spanish folk dance. I try to also take West African workshops whenever possible and have it on my to-do list to learn classical Indian Dance and the dances of Java. At the same time I paint and I write, every day. As I said earlier, it is a natural way of being for me, started in my childhood. The three-forms are all centered around a nexus of creativity and they are inspired for my passionate interest in world cultures. As I paint and write I listen to world music and classical music typically--the music will spark inspiration also for potential dance choreographies to try out.

PG: A lot of writers and aspiring writers read the Pajama Gardener, what Hoodoo might help writers (encourage creativity, combat writer's block, build self-confidence)?
SRB: Here are three different ideas choose one or try different ones on different days but not all of them at once.

(1) Buy a few unscented pillar candles of about 4" x 6" --in the colors red, orange and/or white. While intently focused on overcoming your creative block, take a couple tablespoons sweet almond oil or sunflower oil and crumble in a handful dried pink rose buds. Stay focused and breath deeply--stay relaxed. Next, roll the candle(s) in the floral oil (this is called a candle dressing). Roll dressed candle in an ample sized piece of tin foil covered with a paper towel--let sit this way overnight. Before you attempt your creative work picture a pure white dove flying away from you carrying a red mojo (bundle) in her beak--the mojo is your bringing creative block with her. Open a nearby door or window and imagine fresh inspiration blowing into your life with the breeze. Keep breathing consistently even, slow and deep until you feel completely relaxed and willing to accept the return on your creativity. Close the window or door after you complete your visualization. Light the candle(s) on a fireproof plate and as you breathe in its sweet scent look for inspiration in the fire of the candle(s). Blessed Be! You'll be creating in no time.

(2) Neroli helps ease inhibitions and promotes relaxation as well as ethereal visions; dab some of this on your pulse points before bed so that creative dreams and visions may come to you.
This oil is sold by many different aromatherapy and herbal suppliers online and it is carried at various local health food stores in most communities. Seek out pure, organic oil--Aura Cacia is a decent brand.

(3) Sprinkle magnetic dust under your work desk and chair, discreetly (don't get carried way). Imagine you are planting the seeds of creativity, inspired visions and a fertile imagination. Magnetic dust brings what you seek. It is an attraction, drawing powder. It can be purchased through various online suppliers.

Generally I suggest:

(1) I like the strength, warrior spirit and tenacity represented by the metalsmiths, metal gods and embodied by metals. Sprinkle pennies in your work space to invite and please the ancestors. Hang a horse shoe in your studio/office--cup shape and prongs facing upward to hold the energy that comes from the great beyond.

(2) Having fresh fragrant flowers in your workspace--the fragrance attracts good spirits and inspires interesting thoughts out of the ordinary.

PG: In your book Four Seasons of Mojo, you talk a lot about the "profound impact each season has on our spiritual lives." As we head into winter, what ritual or practice would you recommend for those of us who get a little blue during the cold dark months? And any suggestions on how to stay physically well?
SRB: We've just been engaged in that time of the year when the veil between worlds--spiritual and earthly; human and ancestor is thinnest. This is the time to truly delve into the spiritual in whatever way you feel most comfortable. Furthermore, it is the time to pay attention to family and to ancestors--whether this means learning more about your ancestry, visiting family cemetery's to pay tribute or as simple as cleaning and reflecting upon family photographs fall is for family and ancestors. It is also nice to break bread with family and with friends--very good for the soul when you are with good people.

I also like candles during this time of the year because they are a source of spiritual warmth and tangible light. Burn candles near your work spaces but always with attention towards health and safety. For some this may mean unscented or beeswax candles, this is helpful for those with allergies. As I mention in Four Seasons of Mojo, avoid lead wicks and synthetic scents. Try out soy candles and other alternative sources. I really like the handmade candles by Pacifica because of the essential oils they scent the candles with--they burn in a very pleasing manner and scents such as orange, grapefruit, neroli, lavender and mint are very uplifting. Adding river rocks to the fireproof plate brings in the earth element and rocks are very grounding--something we need during this spiritual time of the year.

Also in Four Seasons of Mojo I provide numerous recipes for healthy seasonal foods and drinks. I recommend colorful roasted root vegetables (which I'm actually baking right now), these include parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes or yams, red & purple potatoes, red onions, garlic, rutabagas, turnips and leeks. The more varied the better--this is chock-full of antioxidants.

Peppermint tea with honey and lemon is soothing and peppermint has numerous medicinal qualities. I like teas for fall and winter. Honey and lemon are medicinal and I speak about many of their benefits to the immune system in Four Seasons of Mojo. Lately I've been enjoying the health benefits of white tea with ginger which is very warming and good for the digestion in our season of heavy foods.

PG: What are you working on now?
SRB: I have two new books in the works: A Healing Grove: African Tree Medicine for a New World (Lawrence Hill Books; Chicago Review Press) and Light, Bright, Damn Near White: Biracial and Triracial Culture in America (Praeger Books, Greenwood Press--both will be out 2008 or 2009.
My daughter and I are dancing together and hoping to perform together sometime within the next year. I've been studying my genealogy both traditional paper trail and deep ancestry through a series of DNA tests--Fascinating doesn't quite describe it. I have a solo show opening Feb. 15th in the Chicago area, so I'm painting as much as possible.

Stephanie, can't wait for your next books. Thanks so much for your time!

*Lafreya, this one's for you. Thanks for being patient!

The wisdom of tea

This morning I noticed some helpful advice on a box of peppermint tea: "Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something." It's from Life's Little Instruction Book.

This is a good thing to remember about characters. I was up till 1:30 a.m. making notes about 2 of my characters, 1 of the sisters and her significant other. I've come to a point in my writing when I need to know much more about him to know how things progress. I know a lot of people write bios for all their characters before they dive into the story, but somehow that doesn't work for me. I have to do things kind of simultaneously. I had a brief sketch about him, but he's become more pivotal in the story so I need to know more.

I reread parts of Brothers and Sisters by Bebe Moore Campbell over the weekend. A wonderful book about race, gender and class, and a great primer on character motivation. Even her bad guys have insecurities that are sympathetic. It reminded me to think about all my characters' secrets and fears.

All this work and all I needed was to read a box of tea.

The first review

From Publisher's Weekly:

In Brice's accomplished debut, African-American Shay Dixon, a burnt-out grad student, has a “visitation/fantasy/fever dream” featuring Nina Simone, the high priestess of soul, who counsels Shay to “go home.” To do that, she must face Nona, the drunken failure of a mother she's not spoken to in seven years and blames for a harrowing childhood that left her emotionally scarred. Still, she takes Nina's advice, heads home to Denver and discovers that Nona's now an A.A. member with a good job, a lovely home and an adorable three-year-old girl, Sunny, Shay's half-sister. Their reconciliation is complicated by Shay's stubborn anger, Nona's A.A. sponsorship of a troubled young woman and Shay's sexual awakening. Brice's straightforward prose is dead-on in describing the challenges Shay and her mother face as they reconnect.

Extreme Cover Make-over

Before
After