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Thank you for taking time out of your life to read these words. I decided that I would like to blog about my journey as an author. Maybe my words will inspire someone else to write a book. Perhaps my blogging will help someone overcome a personal obstacle. Whatever the case... I hope it helps someone.
THE BEGINNING
I developed a love for writing in 4th grade. In 1990 Ms. Stringer, my 4th-grade teacher at Sherwood Elementary had us write an anthology for Mothers Day. We had to have 50 poems some our own and some poems from other authors. 2 years later my sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Shipp from John P. Freeman gave us the same Mother's Day assignment. I included 15 original poems, 1 from my younger sister, and 35 from author Shel Silverstein. After checking out his books from the library I fell in love with poetry.
THE MIDDLE
I continued to write poetry all throughout junior high, high school, and college. I still have my poetry book from high school. Through these years I wrote about my life experiences. I included the sadness, the happiness, and the in-between. My mom and boyfriend in college said a lot of my poetry was depressing. Maybe it was; however, it was a reflection of something inside of me. Looking back I'm sure it was therapeutic to get those feelings out on paper. After college adulting began and my poetry writing slowly faded away. No time to write to busy trying to survive adulthood.
THE END
17 years after graduating from college, I decided to give writing another try. This time I decided that instead of writing poems, I would try to write a book. I have struggled for years to find books that show people that look like my children. With my son who's now 12, it was a huge struggle. Now with my daughter (age 7) it is still a struggle. I admit we have more options now but it is still a shortage of black/African American books. It dawned on me that instead of complaining about it that I could be a part of the solution. That is when I decided to write Do Not Touch Me There.
