Entries from January 2008 ↓

Writer’s block. What is it? Is there a cure or a special remedy, like herbal tea? Or a stiff shot of booze?

I’m using humor here, but I understand that getting hit with writer’s block when you’re trying to write is no laughing matter. It can be devastating when it happens and you can’t seem to shake it no matter what you try. I know, I’ve been there. But never for more than a day. That’s right. In fifteen years of writing novels, I’ve never experienced writer’s block for more than a 24-hour period because I developed several tips and tricks to help get me unstuck quickly when it does happen. These tips work for me, they work for my writing friends who use them and they can work for you. And they can work whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction.

The most important tip is to not blow it out of proportion when it happens. I honestly think some writers can’t write because they think they’ve got writer’s block. In other words, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Having said that, all creative writers eventually get stuck now and then. But those moments, agonizing though they may be, should never have to last more than a day. Usually, no more than a few hours.

The first time I experienced something like this was while working on my first novel, Sisters and Lovers, and I decided that it was NOT going to stop me from making progress. A big-time New York agent had expressed an interest in working with me when the novel was finished, and I was determined not to let my momentarily malfunctioning mental state hold me back. And it didn’t. I think my determination to plow forward when it first hit me early in my career set a positive pattern for how I would deal with it in the future.

Over the years, I’ve developed some very useful tips that get me through writer’s block every time it strikes.

More Tips for Dealing With Writer’s Block

Writing Tip #1: Don’t fight it. Get up and do something else. Make some tea, have a glass of wine. For minor cases, a short break works like a charm. I’ll often sit back down at the keyboard after 10-15 minutes away and get right back into the flow.

Writing Tip #2: If a short break doesn’t work, take a longer break. No, not for several days or weeks. You’re not getting off that easily (I think people sometimes use writer’s block as an excuse when things get a little tough). I’m talking a few hours. Forget about the writing and go do something else. Read an unrelated book, do some housework, go for a walk or drive, flirt with your lover. Just don’t think about your writing.

Now sit down and get back to work. Ninety percent of the time, one of the above two methods works for me. It seems that when you put the writing aside, the brain quietly goes to work and unties all those gritty knots. It’s strange, yes, but it has worked for me countless times.

Writing Tip #3: Once in a while, you get really stuck, and 10 minutes or even a couple of hours just won’t free you. This may mean that you need an overnighter; that is, you need to sleep on it. Try it. You’ll be surprised to find that when you wake up in the morning and sit at the keyboard (or wherever it is that you write) the problem you were having the day before has vanished, your mind has cleared and the writing flows smoothly once again.

When I told a friend who was experiencing writer’s block about the overnighter and she tried it, she was amazed at how well it worked for her. I think you’ll be surprised, too.

If any of you have tips for coping with writer’s block feel free to share them here with us.

Photo credits–
Top: Daniel Beltsazar/iStockphoto.com
Bottom: takeIdeas/iStockphoto.com

Many of you are aware by now that starting this year Essence magazine will give out literary awards in several categories. What you might not know is that my latest title Jewels, a photo-essay book coauthored with photographer Michael Cunningham, was nominated in the category of photography. Yeah!

OK, so I had little to do with the photos in Jewels: 50 Phenomenal Black Women Over 50, but my name is still on the book jacket. Close enough. And I helped all the classy women in Jewels with their essays. And I can cheer on Michael, who knows a thing or two when it comes to photographing women. The photo of Ruby Dee on the book jacket is just one example of the many stunning photos in the book. A lot of you will know Michael’s work from his earlier titles like Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats and Queens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Glorious Hair. Check out his portfolio, especially his work from Jewels. Michael is the hottest photographer out there today.

The public can vote on the top five finalists in the Storyteller of the Year category at Essence.com until January 15. Winners in the other categories will be selected by a panel of publishing experts and all will be announced at an awards ceremony, emceed by Hoda Kotb and Dr. Ian Smith in New York City on February 7, 2008. Terry McMillan will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Countee Cullen Regional Library in Harlem, a branch of the New York City Public Library system, will be the first recipient of the Save Our Libraries campaign.

2008 ESSENCE LITERARY AWARDS FINALISTS
FICTION
Red River by Lalita Tademy/Grand Central Publishing
Casanegra by Blair Underwood, Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due/Atria
The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson/Unbridled Books
New England White by Stephen L. Carter/Knopf
Knots by Nuruddin Farah/Riverhead

MEMOIR
Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat/Knopf
The Women Who Raised Me by Victoria Rowell/William Morrow
Alek by Alek Wek/Amistad
One Drop by Bliss Broyard/Little, Brown and Co.
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

INSPIRATION
Reposition Yourself by TD Jakes/Atria
From the Heart by Robin Roberts/Hyperion
Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy/Tyndale
Do You! by Russell Simmons/Penguin
How Strong Women Pray by Bonnie St. John/Faith Words

NONFICTION
The Bond by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt/Riverhead
Friends: A Love Story by Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance/Harlequin
I Got Your Back by Eddie and Gerald Levert/Harlem Moon
Foreigners by Caryl Phillips/Knopf
Supreme Discomfort by Michael Fletcher and Kevin Merida/Doubleday

CURRENT AFFAIRS
Come on People by Bill Cosby/Thomas Nelson
The Covenant in Action by Tavis Smiley/Smiley Books
An Unbroken Agony by Randall Robinson/Basic Civitas
Know What I Mean? By Michael Eric Dyson/Perseus Books Group
Twice As Good by Marcus Mabry/Modern Times

PHOTOGRAPHY
Daufuskie Island by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe/University of South Carolina Press
Pop by Carol Ross/Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Jimi Hendrix by Janie Hendrix/Atria
Let Your Motto Be Resistance edited by Deborah Willis/Smithsonian Press
Jewels by Michael Cunningham and Connie Briscoe/Little, Brown and Co.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine illustrated by Kadir Nelson/Scholastic
Sugar Cane: A Caribbean Rapunzel by Patricia Storace and Raul Colon/Jump at the Sun
Marvelous World by Troy Cle/Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing
The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-mbachu/Jump at the Sun
Sallie Gal and the Wall-a-Kee Man by Shelia P. Moses and Niki Daly/Scholastic

POETRY
Duende by Tracy K. Smith/Graywolf Press
Acolytes by Nikki Giovanni/William Morrow
Totem by Gregory Pardlo/American Poetry Review

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Terry McMillan

STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR
Eric Jerome Dickey
Lori Bryant-Woolridge
Trisha R. Thomas
L.A. Banks
Tananarive Due

CRITERIA
* Eligible titles were published in 2007
* Finalists illuminate the African-American experience throughout the Diaspora while provoking discussion about the human condition
* Demonstrates excellence and originality in concept, content and execution
* Recommended by Essence readers and Essence Book Club members

I’ve been keeping my eyes on the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike for personal reasons explained below. Now it seems that many actors nominated for the Golden Globe Award will refuse to cross the picket lines for the televised ceremony on January 13, in support of striking writers. Unless, of course, they can strike some kind of deal beforehand. This is huge. Can you imagine television and film with no Golden Globe ceremony? And think of all the money that will be lost–or never earned. But that’s exactly what the striking writers had in mind, no doubt. Hit ‘em where it hurts–the wallet. No pain, no gain.

NBC plans to go ahead and air the ceremony and hope that enough actors will want the prestigious award badly enough to cross the picket lines, but it doesn’t look too cozy for the network at this point. Hollywood writers have been on strike since early November seeking better payment terms for shows that air on the internet, and the strike’s tentacles are reaching far and wide.

For some of us it’s not just having to put up with reruns of reruns and endless reality shows. (I happen to like some of the reality shows but enough is enough. Even I’m getting fed up with them.) But on top of all that, two of my novels–PG County and Can’t Get Enough–were optioned by a Hollywood production team and were being shopped around to actors and directors. Weeks before the strike, all activity ground to a halt as the strike seemed imminent.

Yeah, it’s frustrating. Painful, even. Still I support the writers. I understand where they’re coming from. All too often, we’re courted and treated like royalty when they need our creative talent and then given shaft when the money is passed out. And it’s not like the writers are asking for the moon. All they want is to ensure a cut of the profits when their work appears on the internet. So I’ll dig in and hope for a better day on this one. Hopefully soon.

A big question ahead is what does this mean for the Oscars, slated to air on February 24?

Photo credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Graffizone

History in the making–

First there’s Barack Obama, the very first black person ever to run for the Democratic presidential nomination with a serious chance of winning. Even if he wins only a single caucus or primary, that will be huge. And if he gets the nomination he will make the history books and get himself more than a paragraph. I don’t even want to think how crazy things will get if he wins the presidency.

Oh, wait. Yes, yes, I do want to think about that. Niiiice! Not that I’ve made up my mind who I’m voting for–I haven’t. But Obama definitely makes the short list of candidates I’m taking a hard look at. It’s refreshing and exhilarating to see a black person making a serious challenge for the highest office in the land. It’s also cool to see Hillary Clinton, a woman, making a real run for the presidency.

But I digress. In addition to Obama–Tiger Woods, Will Smith and Denzel Washington have all made the cover of Men’s Vogue in its first year of publication. Twelve issues, four black men on the cover. Of Vogue. Ok, so it’s Men’s Vogue, not THE Vogue. But still. Did something happen while I was buried deep into my next novel?

The commonality that I see among all of these men–other than their African ancestry–is lots of cross-over appeal. They draw interest from a broad range of people of all colors. The question, though, is which came first? The cart or the horse? Is it because they are all so captivating (not to mention good-looking) that they generate such broad appeal among us? Or is it that nonblacks have become more open-minded (i.e., less racist) which has allowed these beautiful (and I’m not talking about just looks here) black men to shine?

Hmm, before we get all giddy, it’s good to remember that very few black women have ever graced the cover of the original Vogue–or any other top, nonblack, general interest magazine such as Vanity Fair for that matter. Which is puzzling to put it nicely. According to the most recent U.S. census, fully one-third of the U.S. population is nonwhite. You’d never know it when you flip through the pages of most magazines or turn on the television. I’d say it’s way past time for other publications and media to take a hint from Men’s Vogue and begin to reflect the truth that is America.

Tavis Smiley Expanded Smiley Books

Good books. Thoughtful books. Intellectual books. We needed something to counter the smut and slut books out there like a hairy dog needs flea spray after a romp in the woods. Not that I think the books are completely horrible.

OK, so there’s more than a hint of what I really think about some of these books in the creative labels I’ve chosen. But seriously, I don’t think the books are wrong in themselves. I’ve met and admire some of the authors. They’re nice women and moms just like me. And there’s a time and place for everything.

But c’mon, people, do we have to have so many of them? I know that we’ve been denied the right to have our thoughts published for far too long but do we gotta air all our dirty laundry now just because we can?

OK, rant off. Now for the good stuff.

Tavis Smiley hosted a reception in October to announce the expansion of his book publishing company, Smiley Books, and to introduce new company president Cheryl Woodruff and a very impressive lineup of authors. Woodruff comes from a long line of publishing goodness including a stint at Random House, where she founded and headed up one of the first black imprints at a major publisher. Smiley Books’ new authors include luminaries Iyanla Vanzant and Dr. Cornell West. Others who attended the affair: Ruby Dee, Terry McMillan, Walter Mosley and Charlie Rose.

Top Photo: Connie Briscoe and Cheryl Woodruff
Mid Photo: Ruby Dee and Walter Mosley
Bottom Photo: Tavis Smiley, Ruby Dee, Unknown, Benilde Little, Connie Briscoe, Walter Mosley

Way Too Much Weight Snuck Up On Me

I finally quit smoking in late 2006, and 2007 was the year of weight gain. Every time I got on my scale I did a double take. I thought the thing was broken, so I secretly weighed myself on other people’s scales whenever I came across one. They were all broken, too. Or so I thought until my annual checkup rolled around and the doctor weighed me.

OKaaaay, so every scale in America isn’t broken.

Fortunately I was always a skinny thing and could afford to add a few pounds but I’m approaching the keep-this-up and you’ll-be-wobbling- around stage. Unfortunately, I now have to watch the pounds and I’m none too happy about that. I used to be able to eat anything anytime and now I’m paying a hefty price while I learn to count the calories….

So I Learned to Cook a New Low-Cal Pepper & Onion Dish

Two Red Bell Peppers
One Orange Bell Pepper
One Yellow Bell Pepper
One Package of Mushrooms, Sliced
One Red Onion
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Remove seeds and stem from the peppers and peel the onion. Cut peppers and onion into bite size pieces and place into a baking dish (I use a glass dish). Add sliced mushrooms and sprinkle with a dash of kosher salt. Dribble olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste (if desired). Stir it all up to coat the peppers with the olive oil.

Roast at 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes depending on your preference for crispiness. Serves 4-5.

Delish!! And peppers are loaded with vitamin C.

Met Some Folks I Really Admire

Ruby Dee, Terry McMillan, Tavis Smiley, S. Epatha Merkerson, Marian Wright Edelman. OK, so I met some of them in 2006 but I didn’t have a blog then and couldn’t brag to y’all. Now I do.