Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I find your book?
For now, right here! I'm still working on connecting with the literary agent who is just right for me and my story.
Are you a professional writer?
Ha! I wish. I call myself a 'freelance' writer, meaning that I'm *trying* to make this into a job. The sage advice 'don't quit your day job,' yeh, that was totally intended for aspiring authors.
Did you always want to write a book?
Sort of. I always LOVED to read. I was that kid who constantly had her nose buried in a book at school, and would go to the library on Friday afternoon, check out ten books and then spend the rest of the weekend in my room devouring them. In the back of my head, I'd always considered writing a book but it never really seemed like a realistic thing to do. So I went to law school, which seemed like a very realistic thing to do. It was. And for the most part, I hated it.
I started writing Jasmine Powers, Super Geek after my 2nd year of law school, as a creative release and an experiment to see if I could really do it. And I did! I guess you could say I caught the bug because now I can't imagine not writing.
Where did the idea/inspiration for Jasmine Powers, Super Geekcome from?
Two places.
The first one was a conversation with some of my cousins, who have brown skin and blue/green eyes. We got into a conversation about their unique eye color and my cousin said "People always ask the dumbest questions. Are your eyes real? Do you have super powers?" and I thought to myself "Man, that must really be annoying!" and then... "But what if you did have super powers?"
So after that conversation, the idea of a Black girl with green eyes and superpowers started bouncing around in my head, but I really decided to buckle down and write after a conversation with my then 14-year-old sister in law, who is Black. She was visiting my husband and I in VA, where we lived at the time, and I offered to take her to the library because well, when I was fourteen, there was nothing more exciting in the world than going there. (Yes, I was a geek. I know this) She rolled her eyes and declined what I thought was a super fun idea, then proceeded to explain that she was not interested because "All of the books there are about White girls on horses." And that really stuck with me.
Now don't get me wrong, I've read some great books about White girls riding horses. But sometimes it's nice to pick up a book with a main character who looks like me. And when I was 14, it was tough to find books with Black main characters I could relate to. The books I had access to either had no Black characters (The exception being Jesse in the Babysitters Club. Shout out to Francine Pascal! And there was that ONE Sweet Valley Unicorns book) or they were dodging bullets and trying to escape the projects. Nothing wrong with telling that story, but it isn't my story and wasn't one I could relate to. Where are the YA books about the suburban Black teens who are growing up middle class, stressing about grades, and having boy problems? There still aren't enough. And I'm trying to change that.
Does that mean that you write books just for Black people?
Not at all!
I write books for everyone to enjoy! But its important to me that my characters are diverse and not just a reflection of stereotypes, i.e. 'the sassy Black girl.' So I created a Black main character who speaks traditional English, has a regular life, and is easy for anyone to relate to, kinda like Laura Winslow from Family Matters or Raven from That's So Raven. And Jasmine has friends who are White, Puerto Rican, and Japanese.
I strive to be a literary version of Grey's Anatomy, with awesome characters of all different colors and backgrounds who aren't defined by what they look like.
