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5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, interview, poems, poet, poetry, romance

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Patricia Neely-Dorsey, author of Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia

February 22, 2009 Joey Pinkney 4 Comments

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Patricia Neely-Dorsey, author of Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia
(GrantHouse Publishers)

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia?

Patricia Neely-Dorsey: I didn’t really intentionally try to come up with an idea for a book or intentionally try to write a book. It all sort of just fell/landed in my lap. I woke up on Valentine’s Day February 2007 with a poem dancing around in my head. I quickly got up and scribbled it down. The rest, as they say, is history. After that day, poems just started pouring out. They just keep coming and coming day after day. In about two months, I had well over 200 poems. A friend of mine was very instrumental, and I guess you would say inspirational in encouraging me to publish them in book form.

JP: What sets Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia apart from other collections of poetry?

PND: I think that all poetry is very unique and individual like a fingerprint because of where it comes from. Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia is a collection that essentially chronicles my whole life up until this present time. The book includes poems about things that happened to my parents before I was born, my early childhood growing up in Mississippi, my college years in Boston, meeting my husband on a blind date, love, marriage, my son, and thoughts about mid-life…where I am now ( the Fabulous Forties). Specifically, it is my life in poems. Generally, it is a true celebration of the south and things southern. One reader called it a “love letter to the South”

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia getting out to the public?

PND: I always rely on what I call Patricia’s P-Attitudes: Positivity – staying positive, believing in the dream, believing in myself and the book. Perseverance – never giving up. Persistence – being relentless and never taking no as a final answer. The forth one which was something I have had to really work on and learn is Patience, but it pays off in the end. The answer or outcome that you seek may take a minute! You just have to hold on. These P-Attitudes translate, of course, to every area of life.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia?

PND: That’s funny. I don’t really have a process. I just write the poems down as they come. That can be at any time and any place (very often in my car). The entire process from writing my first poem (Feb 2007) to the actual publication of the book (Feb 2008) took exactly one year. The actual publication process which included the submission of the poems, editing, proofing, cover design, and all that took less than two months. The poems was submitted the first week of January 2008 , all of the appropriate changes and additions were done and the book arrived at my door February 22, 2008

JP: What’s next for Patricia Neely-Dorsey?

PND: To infinity and beyond! (LOL) Well, I’m hoping that this book will have widespread, mass appeal and be wonderfully successful. I have enough poems for several books, so those are certainly down the line. My publisher would like for me to do an illustrated children’s book with age-appropriate selections from Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia. That is definitely a possibility in the near future.

www.myspace.com/patricianeelydorsey

http://www.patricianeelydorsey.webs.com/

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Holliday Vann, author of When Sexy Came Black to Cleveland

February 16, 2009 Joey Pinkney 3 Comments

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Holliday Vann, author of When Sexy Came Black to Cleveland
(Outskirts Press)

When Sexy Came Black to Cleveland is a fast-paced tale of sinsuality committed in the backyards of C-Town (Cleveland, OH). Odessah Johnson, the heroine of the story is a young and sometimes dumb 23-year-old mother of three. She is mostly bored with living an impoverished lifestyle. When the unexpected happens, Odessah finds that she has all the backing she needs to lure excitement into her life-and the city of Cleveland.

With the problems that plague Clevelanders in the background, the book will surprise the typical john who is expecting just sex. The true entree may be the dinner, arts & culture, or the wickedly good social commentary.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write When Sexy Came Back to Cleveland?

Holliday Vann: “Sexy Black” was initially written as a short story of erotica called Applesauce. Odessah comes home from her cleaning job at one of the ho’ & mo’tels in Big Dirty Cleveland. After not being able to reach her boyfriend Nougat, she arrives to a dark apartment and romantic candles glowing from room to room. She believes the gesture is for her.

With mouth agape and fingers pressed lightly against her chest, she turns to mush-like applesauce. I submitted Applesauce to Zane to be included in an anthology. So . . . if . . . they don’t write . . . or call? Yeah, that means it was rejected. First, I felt sorry for me. Then I felt sorry for Odessah-and others like her-not living, but merely existing in “da Land.” That’s when I decided to tell her whole story. The reader who likes food as much as sex will enjoy sampling my descriptions.

JP: Why did you choose to write this novel in diary style?

HV: Diary format? What diary format? That’s a misconception. It’s written in the third-person, and the omniscient narrator often speaks directly to the reader. So hardly… The date stamp is there to add to the setting. I wanted to conjure up atmospherics-the sounds that add to the reality of a scene-and to further enhance a sense of urgency to a story that’s already written in a style that makes it consumable within a matter of hours.

Won’t you always remember where you were on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008? Same thing but conversely. Odessah’s story is a colorful illustration of how it takes no time at all to ruin a life.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to When Sexy Came Back to Cleveland getting out to the public?

HV: I am uncomfortable calling my efforts in getting When Sexy Came Black to Cleveland out to the public a success. I’m not there yet. There is so much more to do. Perseverance will be key. But as far as getting it published? If it hadn’t been this book, it would have been another. Probably should have been another book. I was very angry when I wrote Sexy Black.

But all anyone needs to know is that I love to write. I was meant to write. This is not a hobby… I love struggling with the words and their positioning to express a thing in just the right way and sometimes in a way that is uniquely my own. I always aspire to write lines and unveil revelations that give people chills-in a good way-like a singer’s voice when truly blessed. LOL. Whether I am successful at that is for others to say.

JP: Many people would like to clump this novel into the Urban Lit genre. How would you classify this book?

HV: I classify this book as “comical erotica with a social conscience.” What’s that? Well, the sex provides much of the levity in this story. But the novel deals with serious issues: poverty; racism; narcissism and self-hate; inequality in healthcare; government decisions ruining livelihoods; motherless and fatherless children-with parents; how no life should be in vain; and can love really conquer all?

The novel is funny, providing a cultural adventure when the Blackberries clash and “interact” with businessmen from China, Ghana, France, Russia, and Italy. Readers might be shocked to learn that the artists, writers, cultural events, and charitable projects mentioned in the book are real. Just Google them.

I tried to incorporate literary technique, which is mostly missing from most Urban Lit. I like using personification. I believe that every object, human or not, has life: “The day was several shades of gray depending upon where the eye wandered, and the streets were wet. But in a lower part of the sky, where the sun was yawning, the clouds were pink, lavender, and slow in moving into darkness.” I am so glad that I didn’t give up after the first chapter of Wuthering Heights.

Metaphors are fun, too: “Nougat’s car was a garbage bag short of being a rolling trash can.” I use similes, repetition, foreshadowing, fragments, vary sentence length, etc., not by accident, but with intention-just as the great Maya Angelou does. Her mind is amazing.

JP: What’s next for Holliday Vann?

HV: I’m working on the anti- or non-sequel to When Sexy Came Black to Cleveland, which is still available on Amazon.com. Buy it today! I keep some of the elements from Sexy Black. But with a new heroine, I take the storyline into some strange, new, but appealing directions. It’s half-finished. Thanks, Joey!

http://wwww.myspace.com/hollidayvann

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The 14 Days After Q&A: Do you have to be a freak to enjoy great sex?

February 15, 2009 Joey Pinkney 3 Comments

For women, there is a stigma attached to being labeled as a “freak” that keeps some women from fully exploring their sexuality. Do you have to be a “freak” to enjoy great sex?

Tanya White: No, you do not have to be a freak to enjoy sex. Society has ingrained in our minds that sex is cheap, dirty and perverted. In actuality, sex is a sacred encounter between two mature adults who have agreed to become physically intimate because the have become emotionally intimate. When sex occurs in this context, nothing is undefiled or off limits because the two have communicated their desires amongst themselves and nobody else.

Dedan Tolbert: I believe that the negativity that many believe is associated with being a freak is intended for those women who portray themselves as a “hoe”. There is nothing wrong with being a freak under the right circumstances. My definition of a freak is a woman who will do any and everything to make sure her man is completely satisfied. Most men desire “a lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets”. A hoe is someone who is promiscuous and does freaky things for a large number of people. I don’t think you have to necessarily be a freak to enjoy great sex because you’re not going to do any and everything for everybody. Some things should be saved for your man, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have great sex without doing all the “freaky” things.

Cassandra Washington: Of course not. You only have to be comfortable with your situation and your body. If you’re with a man who makes you feel safe enough to be who you are, and you accept who you are and what you can do, you’ll be quite surprised the tricks you come up with and the fun you have doing them. Having fun and trying new things doesn’t make you a freak. It just shows that you are uninhibited and open-minded, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Big Boom: To stop the stigma, women need toÂ slow down. If you just have to have sex, then hold back some of your wild side because it could end up a one night stand. As the relationship progresses slowly begin show the side that you held back.While you two are watching something with love making in it, suggest that you and your man try it. This will make him feel he taught you something new, and you can get your freak on at the same time.

The 14 Days After Q&A is a relationship mini-series. For the month of February, each day after Valentine’s Day will feature a new relationship question to be answered by two female and two male authors who have written books about relationships. Click here for more information about the authors Tanya White, Cassandra Washington, Dedan Tolbert and Big Boom.

Sun 02-15-09 Do you have to be a freak to enjoy great sex?

Mon 02-16-09 Is sex overrated?

Tue 02-17-09 When should men draw the line in role playing?

Wed 02-18-09 Why do men really cheat?

Thu 02-19-09 Why do I date the same people over and over?

Fri 02-20-09 Why are men challenged by their perineal G-spot?

Sat 02-21-09 Do I tell my friend she’s dating a married man?

Sun 02-22-09 How do I tell my husband I’m sexually frustrated without hurting his feelings?

Mon 02-23-09 Would more racial boundaries break if more people dated interacially?

Tue 02-24-09 How do I cope with not trusting my girfriend after catching her with another woman?

Wed 02-25-09 How do I get my boyfriend of 8 yrs to understand my desire to marry him with losing him?

Thu 02-26-09 How do I cope with my boyfriend sending me mixed messages?