1. What inspires your authorship?
It pretty much began like that of most authors—being a voracious reader. From a young age, I fell in love with words—the way they can be twisted and turned, mixed and matched, and flipped and flaunted. I started writing poems and short stories in my teens. There came a point in my adult life when an insidious little voice started to whisper to me: Write, write, write a book. And I’m like: I don’t have the time, I work full-time, and I have two kids. What finally propelled me into action was the scarcity and paucity of traditionally published books that depicted characters of my faith in nuanced ways. I felt it was my obligation to help change the narrative by writing stories that my children and my friends’ children can enjoy and identify with. At the same time, I didn’t want my stories to be boring, dull and preachy. I wanted them to be exciting, adventurous and intriguing. In 2018, I published The Moon of Masarrah, the first of four books in my middle grade mystery series. I’m presently working on a fifth book—the first of a middle grade fantasy series.
2. What advice do you have for emerging writers?
Your love of writing has to be sufficient for you. If you’re looking for fame and fortune at the beginning, you’re going to be bitterly disappointed. You have to accept that you won’t get the attention and accolades that established authors enjoy—the act of writing itself must bring you joy and fill that void. If that can sustain you in the early stages, then you will certainly last for the long haul. For me, as a BIPOC, self-published author, I’m aware of the hard realities on the ground. So I teach myself to take satisfaction from the small successes and not sweat too much about the big breaks.
3. What is the message you hope rings out to the world from your work?
The protagonists in my books are four teenage sleuths who solve murder mysteries on their vacations. My message to the world is what I would tell my protagonists—to have inquiring minds, to look beyond the obvious, and to dig just a little deeper beneath the surface because you might just be surprised at what you find there.