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Every writer has a story of what brought their desire to write to the surface. For some it was the strong urge to put a pencil to lined paper while others just love the lyrical sound of the words they choose to marry together.

For me, it was romance and chocolate.  I wrote poetry when the mood hit and often dreamed about maturing to the point where novels, short stories and articles would just spring forth. Never a devout romantic or even a member of the chocolate addicts club, I found that some things do change. That transformation came when I found myself headed to a local chocolate fair. Amidst the luxurious concoctions all in the name of romance and chocolate, I found myself wandering toward a table full of women. With books stacked on either side of each woman, I realized I could easily be one of those women.

Romance and chocolate suddenly had a new meaning for me. Love is something that affects everyone and chocolates are often an edible representation of love everyone understands.  Much like love, chocolates comes in so many varieties. Something so universal as love needs an equivalent that tickles every one of our sense. Music beats our eardrums, anything silky or plush tantalizes our fingertips, baked goods erupt in our nostrils, romance books embrace our imaginations and fill us with hope but nothing tempts the tummy in love like a healthy dose of chocolate.

For chocolate, anyway you like it, check out Fannie May Fannie May chocolates.

In keeping with the theme of this blog, I am beginning to realize that most things have a multicultural connection. With the month of November being about food, family and gratefulness plus the great family tradition, recipe or memories that many visitors have shared it got me to thinking about other foods associated with the holiday.

One memory I have, of course, takes me back to grade school where the day before Thanksgiving we tried to emulate the first Thanksgiving feast. I don’t remember all the finger foods we used in place of normal Thanksgiving fair, but I do remember that instead of corn, we had popcorn.

I was a little skeptical about a blog post on popcorn but then suddenly recalled this memory. Popcorn, in its variety of flavors and its close association with movies and entertainment, has a long multicultural legacy.

Take the following into consideration:

·        Although reaching back to Biblical times, it was the 16th century when popcorn became a very important element in Aztec Indian ceremonies. There were tassels made of maize and popcorn garland. The women even developed a routine that was called the popcorn dance.

·        The Spanish, Peruvian Indians also had their own names for the corn kernel that popped, such as momochitl and pasancalla respectively.

·        Popcorn appears to have reached the US from Mexico and Spain in the mid 1800s and was a staple here through the Great Depression.

Now prepared in a popper, on top of the stove or in a microwave, and served by the bag, bucket or tin, popcorn is as common as any other snack food yet far healthier. So common in fact, its multicultural origins are often forgotten with each handful.

Want to share a little multicultural food this holiday season that is easy and fun to eat? Consider sending popcorn baskets or popcorn tins. The Popcorn Factory has a great variety in decorative popcorn tins and popcorn baskets you’ll want to keep long after the contents are gone.

Photo Credit: Amsterdamed

One customer came up and she was really attracted to my book cover. She asked more about Amira Press, my publisher and I mentioned that they are a multicultural publisher. She mentioned thinking that was the case but she had to tell me that my heroine on the cover didn’t really look black. I’ve heard that a lot. My heroine has a caramel complexion—very similar to my own. It’s interesting that we hold on to certain narrow perceptions of ethnic color. I love my dark sisters and brothers, but I tend to envision my characters look like me so my heroines tend to me lighter—for now.  It’s that kind of thinking I am trying to broaden. People come in all shades, not just blacks, but all people.

I went to elementary school with a girl that identified herself as Caucasian. She was so dark, that people made fun of her and called her ‘golden girl’. She was beautiful with hazel eyes and golden head of loose curls like a lion’s mane. Her skin was so dark, but you knew the minute you looked at her that she wasn’t black. Her brother on the other hand was a pretty average looking brown haired Caucasian boy. Being friends with her at such a young age altered my perception of what color is and how it’s reflected in any ethnicity.

Wow, I can’t believe It’s Thanksgiving already. I have so much to be grateful for this year. My first book was published, this blog hit the cyber airwaves and I have had the opportunity to meet, chat or blog with some amazing people. Thank you all for being a part of it!

We have just three days till the end of our Spirit of Thanksgiving Book Giveaway Contest. If you haven’t posted your favorite Thanksgiving recipe, memory or family tradition, get it done, there’s still some sand running through the hour glass.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group and this contest, you have the chance to be the talk of holiday entertaining season while remembering all the reasons why this holiday is so special.

For those just finding out about it, here’s the scoop:

In a contest event that takes place from November 10th to November 30th, sponsored by Hachette Book Group, Sable Lit Reviews will be holding a drawing for 5 free books representing the best in holiday entertainment.

Up to five winners will be selected to receive a print copy of all five books after the contest concludes on November 30th. The books up for grabs are:

• The Flavor Bible By Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg ISBN: 0316118400 $35.00
• Karen Brown Celebrates By Karen Brown ISBN: 9780316118187 $30.00
• I Like You By Amy Sedaris ISBN 9780446696777 $15.99
• Festivus By Allen Salkan ISBN: 0446540668 $9.99
• Holidays on Ice By David Sedaris ISBN: 0316035904 $16.99

How to Enter:

To enter simply navigate to the following link and post your favorite Thanksgiving family tradition, memory or recipe. All those who post a tradition, memory or recipe will be entered into a drawing. Up to five names will be drawn after 11:59 PM PST on Novemeber 30th and contacted to make delivery arrangements.

Spirit of Thanksgiving Book Giveaway

For more information select the “Win Books” tab at the top of the page.

Thanks for supporting Sable Lit Reviews and Hachette Book Group.

I participated in my first book signing last night. It was at an RWA chapter meeting. It was a great opportunity to get the feel of book signing before I sign my books at the Tempe Arts Festival next weekend.

I wasn’t expecting a stampede at the book signing table because I write multicultural romance and I think that I am one of the few if not the only interracial romance writer in the chapter. It’s interesting that my experience has been that there’s a lack of interest in multicultural writing while people with more obvious ethnic backgrounds tend to read culturally based books as well as those where all the characters are white all-Americans. I’m grateful that it’s changing and I hope that blogs like mine will make the change a little swifter. I want to live in a world where the curiosity about all cultures runs deep.

I still remember talking to my Caucasian friend about the perils of trying to find a hairstylist who will do African American hair in an environment where the African American population isn’t very large. My friend couldn’t empathize of course, but she wasn’t even interested in hearing about my situation because it was not her experience. Since when does an experience have to mimic one of our own in order for us to take an interest? If that were the case, we would never learn about anything new. Wouldn’t we get tired of everyone we talk to just nodding and saying “me too”. I am happy when people can empathize with my books, but I love it when someone can read my book and say ‘I learned something new about a culture or a long-held belief about one culture or another has been changed’.‘

Photo credit: Real You Inc

Every wanna-be writer and actual writer daydreams about their book signing. Picture this: You’re sitting at a table in a popular bookstore in your favorite city or in a locale you’ve dreamed of visiting surrounded be a number of of your books only surpassed by the number people  waiting for you to sign it.  Every person you encounter is waving your book in his or her hand and are just gushing over how your words changed their life. Each patron is hurling questions at you about your inspiring talent and making comments in the hope you’ll let details about your next book slip. It soon becomes obvious from the pillows, sleeping bags and smell of stale coffee that some fans have even camped out all night just to ensure the chance to meet you.

Now you have the pressure of having something inspiring to say to the single mom that took off work to bring her daughter to meet you–in the hopes of teaching the girl that even the seemingly impossible is possible.

You have little old ladies parceling out cash from their fixed income to buy your book feeling comfortable that a few hours of enjoyment is only a cash register ring away.

After your hand begins to cramp and you have no more fascinating words to impart, the store manager closes his doors promising rainchecks and a repeat performance in the coming months.

Wouldn’t be great if that was the play book by which every book signing is executed? Many say book signings are useless to most unless you are already a household name. Many who gathered a strong following from coast to coast or even just in their own backyard enjoy the opportunity to meet their fans.

Potentially all this can be true and more. I’ve witnessed the incredible lines that wait to meet Sherrilyn Kenyon and I’ve heard about the writers who sat at tables only to be greeted by their mother and a few close friends.

If you’re a new writer, the best thing is to get involved in art festivals and writers groups that host book signings. Make friends with bookstore managers who support local authors. Most of all, until you break the big time, know that a book signing may be more about selling yourself as an author and promoting your book as a dynamite read. Remember that short pitch you used to sell the book to an editor or agent? Yeah, you better dust it off and read it over a few times because you’ll need it for those scrutinizing book buyers that haven’t heard about you yet. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

I bet very few peeping toms have stumbled on a show like the one Veronica Blaque concocts in Somebody’s Watching, an African-American same-sex erotic short. Whether you’d rather watch or be watched, this short speaks to your sensual senses as Tiana, a dancer in search of her true professional calling, tries to satisfy her desire for Bella who is currently attached to Danielle among several others. After witnessing in secret a routine fight and the steamy show that usually follows between Bella and her lover, Tiana decides to take Bella up on the open dinner invitation after her boyfriend ends their sluggish relationship. Not realizing she’d become the main course, Tiana quickly forgets the rumble in her tummy for the yearning that’s overpowering her from further south. When she wakes up the next morning with a sustaining hunger for her new partner only to find out that her live-in lover has bowed out of the arrangement completely, the women feel free to pursue each other with abandon for all who might be to watching.

Blaque portrays these beautiful women loving each other and respecting the others involved in a manner that is pure electricity. In Blaque’s words you can feel the suppleness of skin and the heat of desire regardless of your own persuasion. Somebody’s Watching earns 4.0/5.0 Sable Seals.

Publisher: Wicked Women of Color Press

Format: ebook

Price: 1.99

As a writer you should never stop challenging yourself. National novel month has been going strong every November now for nine years.  I’ve only been aware of it for the last three years now and up until this year I have avoided it. I’ve never liked the idea of setting goals around the quantity of my writing. I’d rather have it well written than written fast. I don’t mind reasonable deadlines since a meaningful deadline would suggest there is someone awaiting its completion.  Maybe I have a fear of turning writing into work. Writing takes work, but it feels like the work associated with creation. A mental exhaustion that is as exhilarating as it is laborious.

            Sure, a successful national novel writing effort could result in a completed novel or just a novel that is 50,000 words longer than when I started a month earlier. But this emphasis on just getting the story out of my head and onto the paper takes some of the fun out of writing. The frenzy of writing leaves things like research and character study out of the equation until December. Some of my favorite aspects of novel writing are researching and character analysis.  While I am definitely behind the curve for my first national novel month writing competition, I am glad I gave it a try. I’m not out yet, but regardless of the number of words I actually accomplish between now and November 30^th, each attempt will be an improvement from the next until I reach the 50,000 wordmark in a month. Besides getting a homerun right out of the dugout is boring, isn’t it?

I’ve beat to death the notion of getting story ideas from movies, books, television and magazine stories. But some of my best ideas have come when I was doing something else. Many folks like to brainstorm, where they take a piece of paper and frantically write whatever comes to mind in a set period of time.

In the moments when I’m trying to fall asleep or avoid waking up, the best phases that later spark articles or book ideas that I have been conjured up have occured.

As a matter of fact the whole idea for Sable Lit Reviews and the sable seal rating system came to me while I was pruning the God-forsaken 20 foot Palo Verde tree in my front yard.

They say life happens while you are doing something else. For me, the best part of my writing happens when I am doing the mundane. So, next time you are stuck do something else. Start a load of laundry, do some gardening or watch your favorite movie. You’ll be surprised how the writing solution will suddenly appear right before you.

We have just nine days till the end of our Spirit of Thanksgiving Book Giveaway Contest. If you haven’t posted your favorite Thanksgiving recipe, memory or family tradition, there’s still time to get in on this great book giveaway.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group and this contest, you have the chance to be the talk of holiday entertaining season while remembering all the reasons why this holiday is so special.

For those just finding out about it, here’s the scoop:

In a contest event that takes place from November 10th to November 30th, sponsored by Hachette Book Group, Sable Lit Reviews will be holding a drawing for 5 free books representing the best in holiday entertainment.

Up to five winners will be selected to receive a print copy of all five books after the contest concludes on November 30th. The books up for grabs are:

• The Flavor Bible By Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg ISBN: 0316118400 $35.00
• Karen Brown Celebrates By Karen Brown ISBN: 9780316118187 $30.00
• I Like You By Amy Sedaris ISBN 9780446696777 $15.99
• Festivus By Allen Salkan ISBN: 0446540668 $9.99
• Holidays on Ice By David Sedaris ISBN: 0316035904 $16.99

How to Enter:

To enter simply navigate to the following link and post your favorite Thanksgiving family tradition, memory or recipe. All those who post a tradition, memory or recipe will be entered into a drawing. Up to five names will be drawn after 11:59 PM PST on Novemeber 30th and contacted to make delivery arrangements.

Spirit of Thanksgiving Book Giveaway

For more information select the “Win Books” tab at the top of the page.

Thanks for supporting Sable Lit Reviews and Hachette Book Group.