The HEA Cafe

This week, I received copies of my November Kimani Romance, TO LOVE A KNIGHT, the second in my The Knight Family Trilogy.  Immediately, I ripped open the box and stared, for I-don’t-know-how-long, at the sparkling shiny new cover.  I started to tremble with excitement and slowly picked one up.  I sat, opened the book and read the prologue and first few chapters.

When I finally closed the book, I could not help but wonder.  Did I really write that?

I had…and I realized something at that moment.  I was growing as a writer.  My words flowed smoother.  The few lapses were no longer there.  I had somehow moved from a hesitant cautious newbie into a writer whose words breathed confidence and experience.

Almost two years have passed since my first book, SLOW MOTION went on sale.  Four books later and a new contract being negotiated, I’m becoming someone who not only writes by somone who knows his craft.  During the years that have passed since that first flawed effort, I’ve done everything possible to learn the business of writing and improve my craft.  Thought I still have a long way to go, I know I’m a better writer.

Of course, I don’t love everything about writing.  I hate deadline; I hate the fact that I have fives stories working themselves out inside my head and not being about to write faster, and I hate the fact that African-American authors are often treated like the ugly stepsister of romance by publishers, authors and readers.  However, I don’t want to talk about that stuff right now.  I just want to pamper myself and share the joy of being part of a noble but misunderstood genre.

I know that there are other newly published authors out there who know exactly what I’m talking about.  And to the unpublished author, never, never, give up on your dream.

Of course, I know there will be more deadlines and wordcount changes and all that goes with being a published author.

But I will continue to dream…and dream big dreams.