I breathe through the words I write and pray through the proof of them.

“Ever since I can remember I knew I was destined to become a great writer.  I vowed to live the waves of the dream that was meant for only me and every day that I awake I see it coming to fruition. I say this to anyone who has ever asked how I got into writing. When we were created it was done with a purpose and we grow into that purpose.

Our given names are only to identify us individually. I break it down as ‘Who we are [is] God’s gift, who we become, is our gift to God’. I believe that in order to achieve your destiny you must first acknowledge your purpose. This knowledge is how I came to finally getting my works published and produced. I began seriously writing at the age of 21 and for at least seven years I struggled to get my works noticed by traditional publishers and trade publications.

So, I guess you can say that the ‘freelance writing’ thing wasn’t meant for me at that time. It took me years to learn the rigors of publishing and how to get my works into the hands of publishers. Finally, I looked into non-traditional ways to get my writing noticed by publishers and by readers in general. I turned to the internet to get the word out about my writing and at the age of 28, I finally published a poem online through the American Poet Society’s Anthology of Poetry entitled Hold On in 2004.

Little did I realize that it was all a scam and at the time I didn’t care because I saw my name in print.  It was my first time and I was rightfully excited and yet wrongfully blessed.  Needless to say, I never did another anthology with them after learning about their scams on the internet.

It took me a while to before I trusted the internet to get information about publishing my work so a couple of years later I went back to traditional publishing and sought my first legitimate poem in print through Writer’s Journal. They published a piece I called Brazen Angels in 2006.

This truly became the first sign that I was on the right path towards fulfilling my dreams of becoming a published author. That same year I finished writing my first novel A Witness to Charm. Unfortunately, however, I still didn’t learn that going the traditional route of getting published was not for me. 

I received rejection letter after rejection letter and only a couple of traditional publishers wanted to read my books. One of them was a very well-known and very prestigious publisher but they didn’t want to give me all of my royalties.

After about three years of frustration and hopelessness about getting published I surfed the internet again to look for other means of publishing. While doing this I turned to other writers to see how they came to get published and one thing stood out as a common denominator with all of them.

They self-published! I did research on it for about three years while revamping my debut novel A Witness to Charm. I found that a lot of people paid to get their work published and showcased in bookstores and online. I didn’t want to come out of pocket for anything and so I searched online for a better way to do self-published and just happened to stumble upon www.createspace.com.

They do their self-publishing deals strictly online to help authors cut down on the cost of having their books on store shelves and paying the fees that come with it when their books don’t sell. Selling your books online cuts down on store fees and makes it easier to market and you keep more royalties that way and it’s easier to get listed on Amazon and other online bookstores.

The most I had to pay was for my proof to be mailed to me and I was able to set any price I wanted to for my books. The only downside to using the online self-publishing is that you don’t get free copies. The upside about that particular thing is that you can give yourself your own discount to where you won’t have to pay anything except for shipping cost to get copies of your book. So it all works itself out! I can also put in place a discount for my readers so that they will be able to purchase my books at an affordable rate.

Finally, I went ahead on January 7, 2009, and self-published my first thriller A Witness to Charm. It is the story of two former lovers forced to come together under the tragic murder of a mutual friend and bring her killer to justice! They must find a way to trap their friend’s killer quickly before their desire to rekindle a forbidden flame ruins more than their own lives.

This novel is just the first of many to be released in 2009. My second book comes in the form of poetry entitled Sistahs Play’ in Savior: The Poetic Side of Lust released on March 31, 2009. This book is for any sistah who has ever lost their mind in the whim of a man’s ego.

After publishing my second book I received an opportunity to finally pursue another dream which involves filming. Hustlewood Entertainment recruited me to finish a screenplay titled Da Becoming which is set to be released in 2010. I will also be following my own personal film ventures and start production on my screenplay Love In Manifest in the spring of 2010. While doing so, I will be co-producing and co-hosting a variety show geared towards film, books, music, and sports reviews in the entertainment industry.

Plans to release three more books this year is already in play. I will also have a television series in the form of webisodes that will be released this year. Also, I just signed a screenplay that is being filmed right now. There will be much more to come from my writings in the near future.”