Simply Cheris. . .

June, 2003, I had the pleasure of seeing my first romance novel. I enjoyed writing this book, loved telling Malik's and Shari's story. Here are some of my favorite parts of the book:

#Forces of Nature excerpt: Crystal Hughes was mad as hell and the person behind this madness would feel her wrath, she decided as she ripped the notice she’d received in the mail to shreds. “Welco!” she muttered. Crossing the vast living room, Crystal grabbed her purse and keys from the coffee table. Dashing out of her plantation styled house, Crystal nearly bowled over two teenagers planting rose bushes near her steps.             “Miss Crystal is everything OK?” asked Renda Johnson as Crystal placed her hands on her shoulder.             “Yes, I’m just in a hurry. What are you and MJ doing?” Crystal smiled at Monique and Renda, two sisters who lived in the Starlight Group Home that sat less than two miles from Crystal’s house. No one else in Reeseville, North Carolina wanted a home for wayward girls anywhere near them. But Crystal, who owned more than 100 acres of la...

I watched some of the Republican National Convention on TV last night. I'm confused by the statement, take our country back. Take our country back from what? That seems to be theme of the RNC. I wish they'd just be honest, they want to take the country back from the black man in the White House -- w ho obviously can control the weather to hear Rush Limbaugh tell it . Rush Limbaugh had a typically unique take on the threat of Tropical Storm Isaac during his Monday show, appearing to suggest that the Obama administration had tampered with the forecasts of the storm to hurt the Republicans. The tropical storm is threatening to turn into a hurricane just as it hits New Orleans, bringing up grim memories of Hurricane Katrina and making the GOP worry about how its convention in Tampa will be affected. Monday's proceedings already had to be canceled. To hear Limbaugh tell it, though, that was the point. "With none of this am I alleging conspiracy," he said on...

My favorite Spike Lee movie, besides Malcolm X, is Crooklyn . I honestly thought Red Hook Summer was going to be a movie in that vein. Well, I was wrong. Lee takes you to church and then he makes you think long and hard about what you believe and who you trust. Initially, I thought this was a Spike Lee movie that Tyler Perry fans could enjoy as well. Yeah, not so much. This movie is the latest in Lee's chronicles of Brooklyn series, which includes She's Gotta Have It, Crooklyn, He Got Game, Do The Right Thing and Clockers. So, you know there's a Spike Lee twist in this movie. Here's the synopsis: Flik Royale, a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse, in the housing projects of Red Hook. Having never met before, things quickly get off on the wrong foot as Bishop Enoch relentlessly attempts to convert Flik into a follower of Jesus Christ. Between his grandfather’s con...

While I was riding around and getting it, well, going for coffee. I headed to Charlotte's Arts District. And something struck me. . .THERE ARE NO GALLERIES. THERE IS NO ART. Are we seriously still calling NoDa (city slang for North Davidson Street) the city's art's district? The Matheson Street bridge is not enough. Watch this video: Want to read more? Here's a sanitized oral history of NoDa (North Charlotte).

Hot M.A.M.A. Land: Yeah, so, you just made the next book . . . : There's a reason why you should never make a romance writer mad. All of our books need a bad guy or girl. I've found inspiration in being...

A lot of times authors complain about the covers of their books. I have give a standing ovation to my publisher for this one. Forces of Nature looks so good!! Here's why I love this cover, that lady is Crystal Hughes. From the hair to the dress, that's my Crystal. And he is Douglas after being on the farm for a few days. OOH, I love it. This was me after I saw this book cover: Crystal Hughes is mad as hell … No one is going to tear down the farmland that’s been in her family since the turn of the century—certainly not multimillion dollar Welco Industries. And until Welco's president meets with her, Crystal will wage a fiery one woman protest to prove it! But when he finally appears, Douglas Wellington III is far from the elderly curmudgeon she expected... Tall, lean, and fabulous, Douglas is in for a surprise of his own. Crystal's cafe au lait beauty takes his breath away. Still, if she had any sense, she'd realize his project will save the impover...

Join me over at Hot M.A.M.A Land on Tuesday.

Some people aren't going to like this. I may lose a few friends -- oh well. The Olympics are finally over and I'm so happy. Do you know what I've learned from the 2012 games? It's hard to be a light skinned black woman. Lolo Jones , this is for you. We treated Lolo like crap. And when I say we, I mean the media, Twitter, Facebook, bloggers and the like. We gave her shit because she's a 30-year-old virgin, because she admitted having a crush on Tim Tebow and because she talks publically about God. Dude from the New York Times talked about her looks and how she's like the Anna Kournikova of track. Yo, Jere Longman, I dare you to challenge Lolo to a race. Now, we showed Gabby Douglas much love after people started talking about her hair. That was the right thing to do, though. But Lolo? We mocked her. Even her teammates got pissy about the attention that Lolo received --even though it was negative attention. Colorism is an evil animal in the blac...

I'm sure you've heard that the Miami Dolphins released Chad Johnson following his arrest on a charge of domestic violence against his new wife Evelyn Lozada . Let me be clear, I'm not fan of the Basketball Wives bully, but if Johnson hit or headbutted her then he should've been released from the team. But why stop with Johnson? The NFL is full of men who have hit a woman. Dez Bryant , wide receiver for my favorite team -- The Dallas Cowboys -- should've been released from the team after putting his hands on his mother.  Let me add--allegedly. So, why is Johnson the only player being punished for violence against women ? NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has paid lip service to domestic violence in the league, but what has he done about it? If your answer is nothing, then you're right. “ We are going to do some things to combat this problem because some of the numbers on DUIs and domestic violence are going up and that disturbs me,” Goodell told Mike...

Shani Dowdell poses with a reader at a signing for her novel Mocha Chocolate. Shani Dowdell is one of the most driven writers you can ever meet. She's a novelist and a playwright. And let's not forget she's a publisher. Whew! This is one busy sister. She took time out of her schedule to chat with me about her career.        How did you get into writing?        I cannot say that I was a natural born writer, because I don't remember doing much creative writing or reading as I grew up. However, I have family and friends who remember seeing me carrying around a journal as a young girl, as well as I do remember getting my first diary at the age of 10 and chronicling things that I saw. I did this until one day my seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Threadgill, took up my diary and began to read it to the class and I got in trouble about the contents. From the seven grade forward, I stopped writing all together, bec...

This firestorm about golden Gabby Douglas's hair just won't die down. Social media is lit up with comments about it. There are pictures of a beaming Gabby with words telling her haters that she's been to busy winning the gold to care about their crass comments. I pulled up a Yahoo! News story, which I won't link to because I think it is VERY STUPID, and looked at these negative comments about Gabby's hair. The comments were pulled from Twitter, and there are three of them. The offending tweets are written by women who are 1. Very young--in age and mentally. 2. Post pictures like this: 3. And have an overly inflated ideal of themselves. I mean, one of these girls posted her eyebrows. Who really cares? But again, it was three tweets. Three tweets that turned in to national news. Why can't Gabby just have her moment in the golden sun without the media looking for some water to throw on her? Three Tweets. And don't get me started on Kevin Hart.

Remember me telling you that my next novel was coming in May? Let me refresh your memory: Crystal Hughes is mad as hell … No one is going to tear down the farmland that’s been in her family since the turn of the century—certainly not multimillion dollar Welco Industries. And until Welco's president meets with her, Crystal will wage a fiery one woman protest to prove it! But when he finally appears, Douglas Wellington III is far from the elderly curmudgeon she expected... Tall, lean, and fabulous, Douglas is in for a surprise of his own. Crystal's cafe au lait beauty takes his breath away. Still, if she had any sense, she'd realize his project will save the impoverished community. With battle lines drawn, Crystal issues Douglas a challenge: spend one week on the land he wants to destroy. He agrees, if only to be alone with her. But when nature takes over amid North Carolina’s lush countryside, these two warriors just may discover what happens to even the best ...

Sixteen year old Gabby Douglas won a gold medal in the London Olympics. She's the first African American to ever, EVER, win gold in the all around gymnastics. And you petty people are talking about her hair? And when I say YOU PEOPLE, I'm looking at the media. The Huffington Post : I really thought you all were more progressive than this. I guess your progression stops at the African American hairline. The New York Times points out how people weren't happy for Gabby. It kind of only matters that her mother, her beautiful mother, was over the moon proud of her child. And at the end of the day -- this is all that matters: Douglas, a 16-year-old who left her Virginia Beach, Va., home and her family when she was 14 so she could train and learn better gymnastics in Iowa, won the Olympic gold medal Thursday at the North Greenwich Arena. She led from start to finish, scoring 62.232 and leaving a pair of Russians, Victoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina, as disconsolate silv...

Not much impresses me. But every time I see First Lady Michelle Obama on TV, I stop and my heart swells with pride. See, Mrs. Obama is everything that I hope my niece will be when she grows up --classically classy, beautiful, smart and successful. Shoot, I want to be Michelle Obama when I grow up. Just listening to Mrs. Obama speak reminds me that  it's OK to support your man's dreams. But has Mrs. Obama lost herself? Nope. She stands with her man -- The President -- and on her own. Today, Mrs. Obama fired up a crowd in Greensboro, NC. According to The Charlotte Observer: Obama peppered her speech with personal references to illustrate broader political points, including how she and Barack Obama were so in love after they first met – and, she assured the crowd, “We still are.” She talked about the debt they both amassed during college. “We’re doing this because we believe that everyone should have a fair shot,” she told an estimated 2,400 people at UNC Greensboro...