In 140 words or less, tell us a little about you. I’m a native of Missouri, where I live with my teenage daughter and about five hundred books. When I’m not writing, I like to read and some other stuff I can’t think of right now. Mainly the usual stuff, but maybe some strange stuff. Depends on whose watching. I’m a parole officer by day, but I’m working toward an advanced degree in Education, and I hope to make the switch to the educational field within the next year or so. I’m addicted to Coca-Cola, Law & Order: SVU, and books (not necessarily in that order). 

In 140 words or less, tell us why your book would make a great addition to our personal library. “Where There’s Smoke” touches on several important social issues within the African-American community. Each of the three main characters is struggling with a life-altering situation that most people can relate to. I wanted to address some of the recurring issues within the AA community, so I used the characters in “Where There’s Smoke” to highlight drug addiction and recovery, black fatherhood, and the struggles of our youth. Often, these issues are portrayed negatively, but “Where There’s Smoke” takes the negativity and uses it to positively resolve the characters’ struggles. I think readers will be able to relate to the characters and see something of themselves or their personal situations in the story.

 Regarding 2009…  

What are your writing goals? Basically, I plan to keep plugging away. I hope to expand my audience, connect more with readers, and continue honing my craft, so that I can keep turning out quality literary offerings. 

 What are your reading goals? I love to read, so I plan to carve out more time to kick back with a good book. I always buy books, so I’ll keep right on doing that. And there’s always at least one book in my purse, so I’ll continue that tradition, as well.

 Name one thing you would like to do differently this year. I’d like to improve upon my tendency to be at least five minutes late everywhere I go, all the damn time. I’m hoping to get it down to less than three minutes. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was my alarm clock.

 Name one person (who you don’t normally see) that you would like to see or be in contact with more often this year. My Aunt Myra. I’ve kind of gotten out of the habit of my monthly visit and I need to get back to that. She’s getting up there and I’m crazy about her, so I need to do better before she fools around and leaves this crazy world. It’s just that she has this little dog named Rosco, of all things, who always humps my leg whenever I visit. It’s really very disconcerting. I always leave her house feeling strangely violated.

 How did you celebrate President-Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration? I was at work; yelling at clients who were strolling through the building going, “Obama, ya’ll,” just before we sat down to discuss the new arrest they’d picked up. “And just how, pray tell, are you contributing to positive change?” was my response. Oh, and we were watching it on a coworker’s cell phone between appointments.

What was the last nice thing you said to someone? It’s income tax time and several of the tax preparation companies here will hire people, have them dress like Uncle Sam or the Statue of Liberty, and go out to the sidewalk to flag down customers. It’s, like, ten degrees here right now, and one of my clients was all long in the face about that being the only job he was able to find. So I said to him: “You know…ain’t nothing wrong with an honest day’s work. Congratulations on your new job. Positive progress is always good.” I think he was walking a little taller on his way out of my office.  

 What was the last nice thing someone said to you? One of my clients discovered that I had written two books. “I’ma tell everybody I know that my PO writes books. Man, I feel like a just met a football star or something!” he told me.

  What’s the nicest thing a reader has ever said to you about your book? A reader recently told me that “Where There’s Smoke” gave her hope and spoke wisdom and truth to her.

 What’s your favorite saying/quote? “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Suess

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