Simply Cheris. . .

          I enjoy watching the Awkward Black Girl web series, but when I went to work the next day, I felt as if I was living an unseen episode of it. Rich and I exchanged icy glances, confused glances and finally, angry glances when we both realized, we had a project to work on –together.                 It was about 10 a.m. when he walked over to my desk. “Morning,” he said.                 “Good morning, Richard,” I said with a forced edge of cheerfulness in my voice. “I have some files I’d like to go over with you – when you have time.”                 “This is how we’re going to play this?”                 “What? I’m doing my job....

                Rich and I ate dinner on my sofa watching Sports Center -- his choice. I didn’t mind, because it gave me a chance to study his shirtless frame:   smooth brown skin with a tattoo of a fire breathing dragon across his shoulder. When he caught me staring at his ink, he smiled. “What?”                 “Is there a story behind this beast?”                 Rich shrugged as I ran my fingers across his tattoo. “I was in college and my ex was into ink. I think she was the first tramp with a stamp.”                 “Ouch.”                 “Anyway, she suggested getting our names tattooed on each ot...

Forget what Spike Lee has to say about Django Unchained , I want to know if Aaron McGruder recognized his work on the big screen. After reading what Quentin Tarantino said about Roots , I had plans to sit this one out. Then I got an invite to see it.  Tarantino called out Roots as inauthentic as a part of his battle with Lee, who accurately said Django was disrespectful to his ancestors. About ten minutes into this overly long spaghetti western/blaxplotation flick, I wanted to make a tee shirt that would read, SPIKE WAS RIGHT.  Tarantino should've made a western with a black hero -- the slavery aspect of the movie was just so unnecessary. Granted, this movie is a work of fiction and not based on any historical slavery story. And yes, people go to the movies to be entertained, but overly violent movies aren't entertaining to me. However, I digress.  The fact that some many people are talking about how "original" this movie is proves one thing: Y'all don...

Hot M.A.M.A. Land: Twas the weekend of Christmas : Christmas Eve is my favorite part of the season. No, I'm not some big kid who looks forward to a man in a red suit sneaking into my house in...

The name Hornets means a lot to Charlotte. But what difference would it make to rename the Bobcats? The history of The Charlotte Hornets is storied and awesome. The 1988 expansion team helped put Charlotte on the national sports map, and the Hornets' distinctive teal-and-purple merchandise was among the league's top sellers. But the team failed to hold players who were fan favorites, including Alonzo Mourning, and attendance declined. Disenchantment grew during the 1998-99 NBA lockout and a civil trial in which founding owner George Shinn was accused of sexual assault. A South Carolina jury found against Shinn's accuser in that case. The Hornets sold out nearly 400 games in a row in their hay-day. But when the fans got pissed off at Shinn and the team for wanting a bigger arena, attendance became the league's worst. The Hornets packed up and moved to New Orleans in 2002. Charlotte was awarded another team...

It's hard for me to believe that my first romance novel, Revelations, is about to be 10 years old. The publisher had my manuscript in December and I waited for the process to begin. Since I'd never had a serious edit of a novel, when I got my marked up manuscript back, I was confused. I had the nerve to think that my book was perfect as it was. Thank God for editors. Here are some things that taken out of the book because it made no sense at all! I'd written a scene where Shari (the heroine) found a letter her dead fiance wrote -- some three years after his death.  Shari's mom is a bitch and I never showed why she was. I just made her mean for no reason. I learned what an info dump was. I had written paragraphs upon paragraphs telling a characters back story rather than show how things shaped these characters into who they were.  I can't say it enough. Thank God for editors. So, to mark my upcoming decade of romance I'm giving away some of my out of...

Remember Wisconsin news anchor Jennifer Livingston? She had every right to stand up for herself and tell her "bully" to leave her alone. After all, when someone has the microphone, you shouldn't call them names. Everyone -- for the most part-- was on Livingston's side. Cheered her courage. Watched her on the morning talk shows, read about her on the Huffington Post. And if you live in Wisconsin, you're still watching her on TV as well. Now, let's look at this situation with Rhonda Lee in Louisiana. Lee has a short afro and someone made racially offensive comments about it on Facebook. Lee responded. Lee got fired. Here's what the Huffington Post says: Lee was terminated from her position at KTBS 3 News, an ABC affiliate in Shreveport, La., after responding to racially charged remarks about her short natural hairstyle. The exchange between Lee and a KTBS viewer happened back in October on KTBS 3 News’ Facebook page, where a viewer, Emmitt ...

Sunday, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was Superman. He made history. He's the first player in NFL history to throw for over 250 yards, rush for 100, toss a touchdown pass and rush for one.  EVER. Oh and he scrambled for 72 against the best team in the NFL to get a touchdown. Watch it here . Superman indeed. Newton has been criticized a lot this season, some of it deserved. But this is the Cam folks have been waiting to see. The player who makes plays. (If I called him the playmaker, I think Michael Irvin would sue me.) After the game, Newton who is from Atlanta, said this game was personal and now when he goes back to the A, he can have a chip on his shoulder. Newton can be some what happy with his play of late --after all the Panthers aren't going to the post season --- but he has shown maturity as a QB. In his last four games, 11 touchdowns and no INTs. Panthers fans, this may be the start of something good--next season. 

The Kansas City Chiefs and the Carolina Panthers should not play in Arrowhead Stadium this Sunday. Anyone with common sense believes this and I don't care that reports have surfaced saying the players want to play. Two people are dead . A child doesn't have parents and will grow up to Google what happened to her mother and father, yet the NFL wants to play a game? A game that is meaningless in the light of this tragic event. Angry Chiefs fans are classier than the NFL. Originally Posted by Marty Mac Ver 2.0 forgot to cover back here...been on FB and Twitter all morning SaveOurChiefs.com would like to inform our followers that out of respect to the Chiefs organization, coaches and most importantly the players, we have cancelled the Can Pioli Food Drive and airplane banner for tomorrow. Furthermore, we encourage fans to wear what they feel is appropriate to the game be it black, red, grey or whatever color you want to wear. We ask that you...

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Trojan Magnum. All I could think was please don’t let this be ego and hype. I needed him to drop his pants immediately just to be sure. Instead, Rich lifted me up on the table and spread my legs apart. Stroking my inner thighs as he knelt down in front of me, the heat of his breath made me shiver with anticipation. Then his tongue met my wetness, I screamed. God, that felt good. Better than my nightly play with a rabbit named Ross. Rich licked and sucked my clit until I felt as if it was raining between my thighs. I couldn’t’ tell if it was that good or if my body was just that love starved. I’d never had multiple orgasms from oral sex. So far, so good.                 Rich pulled back, his face stained with my desire, and stripped out of his pants. Did I dare to look at what was waiting for me? What if he didn’t need a Magnum? What if . . . My goodness, his peni...

People always ask me questions about writing. How do you get started? How do you write a book? Here's a workbook from a workshop I did a few years ago. Hope this helps. The Novel Within Workbook What Do You Want To Write?           Every novel starts with one sentence. What do you want your sentence to say? How do you want to hook the reader into moving on to the next page? Exercise 1. Open your favorite book and read the first sentence. Write five things about it that captured your attention. Exercise 2. Write a sentence with an interesting hook. Exercise 3. Build a paragraph around the sentence from exercise two. Planning and Plotting           There are many ways to start writing your novel. You can plan it with an outline, defining your plot, developing your characters and describing your setting. Or you can “wing” it. It depends on wh...