Official Site of Preslaysa Edwards - Preslaysa Williams

Author. Actress. Blasian Gal.

You are here: Home / Archives for Writing

Writing

Featured Author of the Week: Louise Lennox

By Leave a Comment

Hello everyone, Preslaysa here

I am so thrilled to share a revamped series on my blog: Featured Author of the Week. I’ve been blogging for many years. In that time, I’ve featured many author interviews. I took a hiatus from doing so, but now the hiatus is over. You’ll be seeing more author features here again.

I’m glad to have Louise Lennox on the blog today. Her latest romantic release, Memories & Mistletoe: A Kiawah Island Romance, is available now.

Welcome, Louise! Why do you write romance?

I wrote my debut novel, Craving A King and its sequel Choosing the Chief because I wanted to see more Black characters in the pages of contemporary romance novels being loved right! I wanted to offer the same diversity of tropes and settings that mainstream contemporary romances provide.

For example, instead of a rogue English duke; I write about powerful Ghanaian Asantehenes and Nigerian Chiefs. My contemporary heroes are Black men dedicated to serving their communities as well as their women.

What authors/books inspire you?

  • Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  • Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins
  • The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall
  • Unmerited Favor by Joseph Prince

What was the last romance novel you enjoyed?

Wanna Bet by Talia Hibbert

Explain the #HappyBlackRomance Campaign

This campaign is about the promotion of Black love stories with joyful endings and happy characters. I refuse to write poverty porn. I do not read it either. Black people live beautiful lives. We love fiercely and it is time that our love be celebrated and recognized. It is also time for these types of romances to be categorized as “market” romances by the publishing industry.

What was the biggest lesson you learned writing Craving a King?

If I write what I love and know, there will always be a book inside me. The moment I stopped trying to write “to market” is the moment I started to produce books and stories worth sharing!

Tell us about Memories and Mistletoe: A Kiawah Island Romance.

Memories and Mistletoe contains:

🤶🏾One anti-holiday, former small-town girl turned big -big city culinary magazine editor that has left an ex-fiancée in New York for the holidays. (Also known as Symone.)

🎅🏾One holiday-loving Kiawah Island heartthrob whose first love and heartbreak has popped back up out of nowhere. (Also known as Rhue.)

💔Ten years of estrangement and hurt feelings.

🔥One steamy night that makes them forget why they are mad in the first place.

💃🏾A Big Christmas Blues Festival to save generational land and a historic restaurant

👋🏾A Past that pops up-threatening to ruin everything.

🎄And that holiday happy ever after we all crave!

The third and final installment of the Sexy Sovereign Series, Possessing A Prince, releases January 26, 2020

Describe Your Writing Process.

I’m a plotter all the way! Once I have the idea, I find the stock photo of my couple. Then I write out their character profiles. Next, I plot out the story scene by scene in Scrivener. I get to the end by writing for exactly one hour every night. I can write an 80,000-word novel in 6-8 weeks.

If you had the chance, which book would you write a sequel to?

Pride & Prejudice! or Americanah

If Craving A King were adapted to a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?

Tessa Thompson as Ella and Kofi Siriboe as Kofi!

Thank you so much for joining us today, Louise.

About Louise Lennox

Louise Lennox is a fresh face in the romance genre. She is a freelance writer, blogger and novelist. Louise writes books to provide Black women with a diverse presence on romance novel pages. The narrative of an unwanted, unloved, and unmarried Black woman is inaccurate.

In response, Louise writes #HappyBlackRomance. Her stories highlight the joy and undeniable sexiness of Black relationships. Louise is a graduate of Spelman College, with a B.A. in English Literature. She also graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a M.A. in Education Policy.

Ways to Keep Up with Louise

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Hashtag: #HappyBlackRomance

 

A Day in the Life of an Author

By 1 Comment

A lot of folks ask me how I balance homeschooling my children, writing books, and grad school. I don’t balance. My life is usually more of a juggle, especially since we started quarantining in March. With that said, I will share an overview of what my days look like.

Morning

I usually awaken around 6:30am, and (if I’m good!) I don’t scroll social media in the morning. LOL. On my good days, I dive right into my spiritual and self-care routine. This involves reciting and writing my affirmations, reviewing my goals, journaling, and reading.

After that, I make myself breakfast and jot down a to-do list for the day. My to-do list is usually longer than the actual hours in a day. As a result, I create three top tasks that I aim to accomplish. The rest of the to-do list is either rolled over to the next day or completed as I’m able.

During breakfast, my children usually awaken. I sound like a broken record every morning because I always tell them to brush their teeth, get dressed, and make their bed.

Have you noticed that I didn’t write anything else yet besides journaling? I go through periods of time where I’m a morning writer, and I undergo other periods where I’m an afternoon/evening writer. As of late, I’ve been an afternoon/evening writer.

After the children eat breakfast, I start them on their school work.

Afternoon

Once homeschool is underway, I am usually an “on call” homeschool teacher. I am busy doing other things on my to-do list (chores, paying bills, etc). If my children need assistance with a lesson, then I’ll stop to answer them. They have a list of assignments to work through each day, and they cannot do any recreational activity until their assignments are completed.

Our days aren’t regimented, however. They take many breaks during the day, but I remind them that the longer they break, the longer it’ll take to finish. That usually motivates them to finish early because they want to play their Nintendo Switch!

Have you noticed that I haven’t started “officially” writing yet?

Before the sun sets, I usually go for a walk while my children ride their bikes. I use this time to pray or read on my Kindle. Going for walks has been tough for me since the pandemic started. I just started going on regular walks again last week. How did I do it?

I created an open space in my life by spending less time on social media. Since doing so, I’ve felt more peaceful, and I slowed down my life.

Evening

Prior to the pandemic, I spent most of my writing time at the YMCA. They have childcare, and so I would get three uninterrupted hours to work on my current novel or grad school work. I haven’t been to the YMCA in months because it closed because of the coronavirus.

As a result, I spent the majority of March, April, and part of May in a haze. Like many of you, I was trying to adjust to quarantine life. Now that it’s June, we are still quarantining even though businesses are opening up. I’ve found my groove.

I usually write or edit in the afternoons and evenings. This is the best time of day for me to write right now. It may change. Once I finish edits on my romance novel, I may feel differently and become an early morning writer again. We’ll see.

So there you have it. A day in the life of an author-homeschooler-grad student (who is graduating soon!) Let me know if you have any questions about writing by leaving a comment below. I’d love to answer them!

 

Writing Craft – Creating Powerful Dialogue

By Leave a Comment

Picture of a typewriter with a flower

 

Writing fiction seemed so magical when I first started writing novels. I remember looking at my horrible scenes, comparing it to published fiction, and aching inside because I didn’t know what I was doing.

I learned some craft techniques to help me along the way. But first, what is dialogue?

Dialogue is what your characters say between the quotation marks.

Here are some tips to strengthen dialogue:

  • Use a character journal.

Nailing your character’s unique voice is tricky for many writers. In my MFA program, I used a character journal to help me get into my character’s mind. A character journal involves writing as if you were your character. You can use the journal as a make believe diary where they recount story events. You can set it up as a character interview. You could even have write stream of consciousness from your character’s point of view. Any journaling method that’ll help you get to your character’s heart and mind works!

  • Avoid dialogue tags that tell emotions to the reader.

Here’s an example of explaining your dialogue to readers:

“I didn’t buy any milk today,” she said with sadness.

It’s easy to write dialogue like this, especially if you’re new to writing fiction. It’s even easier to name a character’s emotion than to show it. Here’s how this line could be improved:

“I didn’t buy any milk today,” she said. Her expression flinched, and then she glanced away.

In the second example, I use body language to convey emotion instead of an adjective. You could also convey emotions through a character’s thoughts or the physical setting.

  • “Said” is the best dialogue tag.

Try not to overcomplicate your dialogue by adding adverbs to a dialogue tags or by using verbs other than “said” as a dialogue tag. For example:

“I did not,” he grimaced.

Can someone grimace while they are talking? It would be difficult. Use “said” instead.

Here’s another example that uses an adverb:

“Are you cold?” she said kindly.

There are other ways to convey kindness in fiction without using the word “kind.” You can describe the person’s nonverbal actions or their tone of voice. You can write the character’s thoughts. This is where the magic of fiction happens.

  • Read your dialogue aloud.

Reading your dialogue aloud will help you convey the heart of the scene. Reading aloud helps you also catch the rhythm of the words (or lack thereof) and revise your dialogue accordingly.

 

Question for you: Have you tried any of the tips in this post?

If so, how did it work for you?

If you haven’t, which one are you willing to try soon?

Comment below!

Did you enjoy this post? Consider becoming a patron of my work today.

Author Interview with Kathy Douglass & a Giveaway

By Leave a Comment

I’m so happy to have Kathy Douglass here today as our very special guest. Kathy’s latest book, A BABY BETWEEN FRIENDS, released in e-book & paperback this month, and I’m so very thrilled. She is giving away one signed paperback of A BABY BETWEEN FRIENDS too. Enter the giveaway here. AND you can read an excerpt of A BABY BETWEEN FRIENDS here.

Order your copy today at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Google Play, Books a Million, or Harlequin.

Kathy stopped by to chat with me today. Without further ado, let’s get started!

What inspired A BABY BETWEEN FRIENDS?    

Joni and Lex first appeared in HOW TO STEAL THE LAWMAN’S HEART, my first Sweet Briar Sweethearts book. They’ve been in several more since then. I liked each of them individually as people, but I loved them together. They’re good friends and enjoy each other’s company. But there was something special about their relationship that let me know they should be more than friends. They belonged together.

Knowing that didn’t make their story any easier to write. In fact, it made it harder. They were already so close that there was no reason they shouldn’t be together. But a book with no conflict is not a book. At least it isn’t a good one. In order to give them the romance they deserved, I had to come up with a believable conflict that was true to the couple I had grown to know and love. It took many tries before I came up with a story I liked. Hopefully readers will like it, too.

What’s your writing process like?

When I start a book, I like to get to know the characters. If they’ve been mentioned in previous books, I go back and reread scenes that feature them. If they’re new to the series, I interview them so I can get to know them. I have to submit a synopsis to my editor, so I need to figure out the conflict and where the book is going early on. That’s really difficult for me because I don’t know what’s going to happen before I start writing. When I work on my first draft, I often find myself straying from the synopsis, but that’s okay. As long as I have a believable conflict and a satisfying ending, my editor is happy with me.

I usually just type the first draft straight out of my head. I do very little, if any, rewriting at this stage. I just want to get the story down so I can fix it. During this time, I generally listen to smooth jazz on accuradio.com. Over time I have created my own five-star station, so I’m guaranteed to only hear songs that I like. Although I can write in silence, I like the company music provides.

I create a playlist for each book.The words in these songs generally reflect the mood or conflict in the story. I’ll often have songs that reflect where the hero and heroine start in the book, then another song or two that follows the progression of the romance. Then I’ll play that playlist over and over while I work on the second and third drafts. I have added the playlists to my website, kathydouglassbooks.com for people who want to listen to them.

I set a wordcount for each day and try to stick to it. Most days I meet or exceed it. But there are times when I reach a wall and can’t think of a way to move the story forward. If there are a lot of words left to be written, I’ll take a break for a while then come back and try again. If I’m within a hundred or so words, I just quit for the day. When I come back the next day, the wall is usually gone and I know exactly what is going to happen next.

I generally do three drafts before I send it to my editor. Once I had to do four. I can tell right now that the book I’m working on will be a four-draft book.

What is the one thing you’d want readers to take away after reading A BABY BETWEEN FRIENDS?

I want readers to take away a feeling of happiness. I love romance novels because they are so positive and always end with the main characters getting their happily ever after. I want the readers to know that they can also find that certain someone and get to live happily ever after, too.

Coffee or tea? What’s your favorite?

Tea. I drink a mug of green tea every morning.

Any last words for our readers?

I hope you enjoy A BABY BETWEEN FRIENDS as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you’d like to communicate with me, feel free to drop me a line at my website, kathydouglassbooks.com. I love hearing from my readers and answer every message. I’m also on Facebook as Author Kathy Douglass if you’d prefer to reach me that way. Finally, thank you so much for your support. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

A BABY BETWEEN FRIENDS

They pretended to be lovers.

But there’s nothing make-believe about the baby on the way.

When Joni Danielson recruits her best friend, Sweet Briar mayor Lex Devlin, to be her fake boyfriend for a wedding, it’s a no-brainer. But their staged kisses lead to real passion – and heartbreak when Lex pulls away. Now Joni’s in a bigger bind: she’s pregnant. Can she and Lex once again fake it ’til they make it – to a real relationship?

Order your copy today at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Google Play, Books a Million, or Harlequin.

ABOUT KATHY DOUGLASS

Kathy is a born reader who as a child always had her nose in a book. That love of reading grew with her. She often would finish one book and immediately pick up another. She went from reading Bobbsey Twins to long, lush romance novels. One day she stumbled upon the Shining by Stephen King and was hooked. She turned her back on romance and became a serious Stephen King fan, reading every word he wrote. When she caught herself checking under the bed and looking in the closet for monsters or worse, she knew it was time to put down the horror stories and pick up the romance novels.

Her return to romance novels was short lived. She’d started law school and soon her reading was limited to legal opinions. Then one happy day her younger sister handed her a Harlequin romance. They were just what the doctor ordered. The books were short enough to read in a week and still get her required reading done. Best of all she knew there would be a happy ending and she wouldn’t have to search her room before she went to bed each night.

When her first child was born, she stopped practicing law to become a stay at home mom. Her second child followed nineteen months later. With two little ones in the house, reading suddenly became limited to Dr. Seuss and other children’s books. Any free time was spent trying to catch up on sleep or laundry.

All too soon her kids were attending pre-school two hours a day. She spent those few precious hours renewing her relationship with romance novels. After a while she felt the urge to write a book of her own and she began writing the stories she wanted to read. She spent many years writing some really terrible books and learning her craft. In 2016, Kathy sold to Harlequin Special Edition. Her first book, How to Steal the Lawman’s Heart, was released in February, 2017. Since that time, she has released several books with her Harlequin Special Edition with more to come. Sign up for her newsletter here. 

Healing Your Life Through Writing

By Leave a Comment

I find solace through writing.

Since 2009, I’ve engaged in writing Morning Pages a la Julia Cameron. This is how Julia defines Morning Pages:

Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages–they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind – and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page and then do three more pages tomorrow.

However, as my life has become more full…more children to tend to,  more responsibilities to manage…my heart has had a greater yearning for rest. It craves the quiet moments. My cat knows these moments well. With kiddos in the house, she usually spends her days in hiding. It’s only until naptime or in the early morning that she comes comes out and chills with me.

My morning pages practice has been shoddy over the years because whenever I engage in them, I feel like I’m wasting my writing minutes. With little ones underfoot, I usually steal every available moment I can to work on a writing project that others will read. I often neglect the writing that only I will read…(and perhaps my children one day in the future after I hit dirt.)

Could this an indication that I only care about my public face…and not my private heart?

Healing doesn’t start from the outside in. It starts from the inside out. Why do I so want to reverse a timeless principle?

Because I want to get to it! Power through that ‘to do’ list!

When I do slow down and commit the first part of my day to Morning Pages and time in alone, I feel anxious and restless. Julia Cameron says Morning Pages are like running a vacuum cleaner over your brain. Howevever, after  consistently doing Morning Pages for a week or two, I still feel anxious and restless, but then something happens.

I am able to be fully engage in the rest of my day whether it be that novel or that baseboard. I feel clear. I feel present. I feel creative. Magic?

Nope. Just operating in the inside out.

Novel Lines – “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison

By Leave a Comment

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is a classic. I read it when I was in my twenties, but the events in the novel didn’t resonate with me until I was in my thirties. I had to live more before I understood.

With that said, I hope to reread this book in the next few months.

Is there a book you’ve read that you didn’t “get” until you had more life experience?

 

Restored Hope: My Writing Journey, Pt 3

By 4 Comments

writing-blog-post

So it’s been a couple of weeks since I posted on my writing journey. I intended to finish up this series in August, but alas I attended the ACFW conference + I ran my first half marathon. Then I was busy gearing up for a new homeschool year with the children, so there ya go.

But I haven’t forgotten my promise to share my story in all it’s glory, lol.

Here’s part 1 and part 2 in case you missed it.

The Present

2016 has been a really tough year for me as a writer. There have been major God-can-only-fix-this obstacles tossed in my path, and it hasn’t been your usual rejection of a manuscript. Manuscript rejections are typical in the publishing industry. Manuscript rejections are like earning your battle stripes. I’m cool with battle stripes.

The writing obstacles I’ve undergone in 2016 have been deeper and unnerving.

My core values have been tested. Truths have been revealed. I’ve had to run into the arms of a God who shines His light in the darkness, and who I believe is 100% fighting on my behalf.

He sees all the details, and He knows all the details. He will work this out for me in the end.

The Distant Past: My High School Story

In the first post, I told you about how I think our past gives us clues on how we can develop in the present. In high school, I was accepted into one of the top universities in the nation, but the vice principal of the high school said I couldn’t graduate because I hadn’t met the attendance requirement. You can read the details here.

To combat this obstacle, we had to appeal to a higher authority. My mother contacted the Bishop of our Diocese and explained the issue to him. The Bishop contacted the principal, and then he came up with a solution: I’d attend a senior retreat that was hosted by another high school, and that would fulfill my attendance requirement. Problem solved. I graduated high school and went on to attend and graduate from my dream college.

In my present (2016 writing situation), I’m appealing to an even higher authority: God.

The Not So Distant Past: The 2013 ACFW Conference + Pitching Nervousness + Finalist Nervousness

I had lots of hope coming into the 2013 ACFW conference as a Genesis finalist. But there was one problem: I didn’t know who I should pitch to! There were so many options for agents and editors, and I didn’t want to make the wrong choice. I figured that I’d request an appointment with an agent who I had queried and sent a subsequent follow up email, but who had never responded.

My husband said: “Don’t meet with that person. If someone isn’t going to answer your simple email, why spend over a thousand bucks to meet with them one on one for 15 minutes?”

That was my first lesson in determining my worth as a writer. I never requested an appointment with that agent.

Know your worth.

I pitched to other agents and editors at that conference, and I left with multiple requests all around. I didn’t win the Genesis that year, and yes, I was bummed out. Thankfully, my husband attended the conference with me. He gave me a pep talk before my pitch appointments, scoped out the people I’d be pitching to, and he gave me a tough love talk after the awards gala. This was the tough love talk:

“You better get your tail downstairs and mingle. I’m going for a swim.”

He doesn’t mince words.

I followed his advice, and that evening I ended up meeting writers who would be my companions on this publishing journey.

I left the 2013 ACFW conference early the next morning intent on two things: 1) fulfilling those agent and editor requests and 2) upping my mastery of the writing craft.

Part 4 Next Week (For real this time!!)

Restored Hope: My Writing Journey (Pt 1)

By 6 Comments

This month, I’m talking about my writing journey. I’ve recently received some emails asking me: “You’ve won all these writing awards, when will I be able to read your books?”

God knows the answer to that one. I’m fully trusting in Him. But I wanted to answer the question posed in those emails by sharing my publishing journey with you to date. In doing so, I hope to restore your hope in your own dreams.

Just as an aside, I had hoped to write about my publishing journey in one blog post, but there was absolutely NO WAY I could cram eight and a half years of writing and publishing experience into one post. So this is the first of a multi-part series 🙂

typewriter2

 

First, a Bible verse (And second, a little anecdote…And then third, my publishing journey.)

“They that trust in the Lord will be like Mount Zion. They shall never be removed.” (Psalm 125:1)

Since becoming a writer, I’ve learned to notice patterns. Patterns in events. Patterns in behavior. Patterns in my life. I think that’s because the gargantuan task of writing novel length manuscripts causes me to pay more attention. And so I’ve started paying attention to my life’s patterns. Whenever I reach a personal turning point, God always brings me to what I now call: “the very end of the end of the end”. Meaning, there’s no one else I can trust in but Him to make it through. Hence, Psalm 125:1 This “end of the end of the end” moment happened to me when I was a high school senior.

My Anecdote

As a high school senior, I had one dream college: Columbia University. I loved everything about Columbia. Their Core Curriculum. Their location (Manhattan). Their history of producing some of the greatest minds in the world. I loved Columbia so much that I applied to it through the Early Decision process. Early decision shows the Admissions Committee that you’re serious about attending their school. You’re not “playing the field” so to speak. Early decision is also a binding agreement (versus Early Action admission, which is non-binding) Early decision means that you send in your application exclusively to this school and withdraw all other applications to other schools. You can’t apply to more than one school under Early Decision. If you are not accepted via Early Decision, you will be either rejected or deferred. Rejected applicants can’t apply again to that school until the following year. Deferred applicants will have to compete in the larger, regular admission pool. If you are accepted via Early Decision, then you HAVE to attend that school. You are committed.

I applied to Columbia University through Early Decision, and I was accepted! Squee!! I remember receiving that letter and thinking about all the hard work I’ve done leading to that point. I didn’t excel in academics alone. A lot of the applicants to Columbia were also top students. Everyone was highly intelligent. For me to really stand out, I had to focus on one non-academic pursuit and shine in that pursuit. For me, that was acting. (I hadn’t discovered writing at this point in my life.) The Columbia admissions committee saw this in me and decided to give me a chance.

However, there was a hiccup in my dream even after I received the acceptance letter. I was a series regular on a TV show. Acting on a TV series meant that I was out of school a couple of months of the year. There are union regulations and laws in place for these situations, and so my teachers, producers, and I made sure we met them. I had a tutor on set, and I had to fulfill a set number of school hours each day. I would regularly mail my work to my teachers. They’d grade them, and I’d move on to the next assignment. I did pretty well, ranking in the top ten percent of my high school class and graduating with honors.

Yet the vice principal of my school didn’t think this was enough. He had met with me in his office and stated that because I wasn’t physically in the school building, I hadn’t met all the attendance requirements to graduate. And so I wouldn’t graduate from high school. Mind you, I have already received my acceptance letter from my dream college and I told them I’d be going. Under the Early Decision criteria, I had to attend that fall or my chance would be gone.

A huge dilemma for sure…

(Anecdote to be continued next week…)

My Writing Journey…the beginnings

I started writing fiction in January of 2008. I had left my full time job which held the promise of promotion and increased income to become a mother at home. My first child was eventually born two years later, and so I used these quiet years to start learning the craft of fiction. This was my adult “Early Decision.”

I wrote a lot of stuff. Journal entries. Young Adult. Fantasy. I finally decided that I’d focus on writing contemporary inspirational romance. I’d eat, sleep, and read romance until I knew the genre. (Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit when I say that I ate, slept, and read romance, but you get the gist. I had a strong hunger to master the romance genre.)

After a couple of years, I felt confident enough to enter the Genesis in 2011. (Okay, I’m exaggerating here too. I wasn’t confident at all about putting my work and my heart out there for people to judge! I was so nervous when I entered the Genesis in 2011!) I didn’t place that year, but I attended the ACFW conference and learned all that I could about the craft and business of writing. I love the ACFW conference. I even scoped out some agents and pondered someday signing with a literary agent 🙂

After the conference, I submitted my book to some publishers. I received non-acceptance letters. The letters were all very kind and professional. I wallowed a bit, but then I kept writing and submitting to publishers. I eventually received interest in my manuscript from one publisher, and they offered me a contract! I was over the moon happy! I was un-agented, and there was little room for negotiation in the contract. I didn’t think the terms would benefit my career in the long run, so I declined.

That was one of the toughest decisions I have ever made. Especially after my adult “Early Decision” to become a professional writer years earlier. I had set my other options aside and decided that for the rest of my adult life, I’d be a professional writer. Tough. Tough. Tough.

But I said to myself that I’d remain pre-published for now and trust that God had something better in mind for my writing career. By this time it was 2013, and I entered the ACFW Genesis contest a second time…

(To be continued next week!)