But I refused to give up, because deep down in my heart and soul, I knew they were wrong. That was code for: Black people only want to read one type of book and "Sugar" ain’t it. The publishers and agents thought the book was good, but claimed there was no audience for it. During that time, I received over 75 rejection letters. Which means, I started work on the novel when I was 24 years old. I was 34 years old and had been shopping the novel for nearly a decade. I published my first novel, "Sugar," in 2000. Tell me about that first book? How old you were? How long you worked on it and how you failed then succeeded? You have a fascinating story from becoming an unpublished writer to a highly acclaimed author.
There are times when I feel the book doesn’t care about the fact that I have children and times when I know the children couldn’t care less about the book.
Each child and novel required an immense amount of attention and nurturing and I am sure that over the years one or both suffered because I was incapable of evenly dividing my time. Raising my daughter while writing books wasn’t always easy. I’m an all-in or nothing type of person, I’m not comfortable multitasking. What do you think you had to do that was different from childless writers and different from what male writers with children have to do?īeing a single parent and a writer was challenging. When Lauren Sandler suggested that perhaps having one child was ideal for a writer/mother, Zadie Smith responded that “the idea that motherhood is inherently somehow a threat to creativity is just absurd.” But I admit that at times it’s been challenging to write as I raise two small children.
When we were together at the Anguilla Lit Fest we chatted about motherhood - about writing and mothering and the specific challenges of this occupation. So, I saddled up next to Bernice McFadden, author of 14 novels (her latest is "Gathering of Waters"), who was gracious enough to chat and offer advice. While there, I got to spend time with some lovely writers, both new and experienced, and I started thinking about how lost I feel navigating this new world I’ve been invited to join since my debut novel, "'Til The Well Runs Dry," was published this spring. It was a wonderful locale, warm and lush, to relish the love of books and writers. I attended the Anguilla Literary Festival in late May.
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