Simply Cheris. . .

We need diverse romance. But Pocket Books didn't think so last year.  Here's the details : During the Spotlight on Pocket at the 2015 RWA Conference, an attendee asked Executive Editor Lauren McKenna, “Are you working at all on diversifying your author list?” When McKenna requested clarification, the attendee observed that it seemed most of Pocket’s authors were white. McKenna then responded: “Right now, we [Pocket] don’t have an African-American line. Our sister imprint—because we are all Simon & Schuster—we are just two different imprints that we spoke about today within Simon & Schuster. “Our sister imprint, Atria, has an entire two lines dedicated to African-American titles, and they really do corner that market. We find doing just one in a larger list, it tends to lose its focus and it really doesn't get the attention and time it deserves, so it also requires a different marketing and publicity plan. “So we leave that, whenever we get something str...

My South Carolina sister writer, Synithia Williams, has a treat for readers in the form of Making It Real , which is on sale through March 14th. If you haven't had a chance to check out this romance, let me let Synithia tell you why you should!  Tell the readers about your book Making it Real? The easiest way to do that is with the blurb.  After five years in prison, Kareem Henderson is starting his life over. Though business is good at his barbershop, his goal is to open a high-end gentlemen's salon. But the road back is rough, and he needs connections in the society he once snubbed to make his dream a reality. He just never expected his second chance to come from the sexy female barber he hired last year. Patrice "Neecie" Baldwin escaped the pressure of being the perfect daughter in one of North Carolina's most prestigious families to live life on her own. When family responsibilities call her home, she fears going back will expose her to the pressures that near...

Twitter is all a buzz about Kim K revealing nude selfies. Ok. We've seen this before. But the nasty comments from other women —even a woman I respect, Bette Midler, have me thinking about body shaming and slut shaming. Bought or not, Kim K has a nice body. She had two children and I guess she wants people to see that she's held up well. Some people are saying that she's showing young women that their worth is just their bodies. But when did Kim become a role model? Why did we put her on that pedestal? She's famous for a sex tape. She pretty much owns her sexuality. This isn't anything new, so why blast her? What do you think she's going to do? Take the insults and change her ways? Nah, that's not going to happen. What do we care what she does anyway? Kim could tweet a picture of fried chicken and the would would turn upside down with: She's being racist. She's promoting cholesterol. Or something along those lines. I get it, folks don't l...

I haven't been a fan of the Super Bowl since I saw my husband propose to the skank who came between us in college. This year when his team made it to the big game, I got all up in my feelings. It was probably hormonal. But I didn't make the trip to the game with the rest of the family. I regret that now. I knew my boo was going to keep pounding and come back with his second ring. But things didn't work out that way and Maurice got hurt in the game. A separated shoulder. I should've been there. I try to pretend that I'm over what happened all of those years ago, but in the back of my mind, that hurt is still there. And it didn't help that two days before the game I got a letter that Lauryn Michaels is coming up for parole. I haven't told Maurice. I don't plan to tell Maurice and it's not because I think he's going to sleep with that crazy bitch again, but I don't want our lives taken over by that insanity again. I'm out. My husband...

This is probably going to be my last Super Bowl. I'm excited that my Panthers are back! The first time I got my Super Bowl ring, I almost put a wedding ring on the wrong woman's finger. Lauryn Michaels had come to Miami with me and I asked her to marry me right after I got my MVP trophy. Thank God it didn't happen. Hope you enjoy the game in prison. When we made it to the Super Bowl this year, Kenya said she'd pass on the trip. When I proposed to Lauryn, Kenya saw that shit and she still feels some kind of way about the big game. My father-in-law, my brother, James, and his wife Jade have come to California to cheer us on. I just miss my wife. Media day was fun, glad they kept the cameras on our QB, because I was FaceTiming with Kenya, who said she is not coming here to surprise me. I don't believe her. Because her dad already spilled the beans. Read about Maurice and Kenya's journey in Let's Get It On

Being a black woman, to society, seems to mean that we have to forgive all the atrocities that happen against us. Not only do we have to forgive, but we need to forget and let it go.  No more.  Forgiving is one thing, but when you forget what happens to you, you're giving permission for it to happen again. You're rewarding bad behavior and not teaching people a lesson on how they should treat you. If you've read comments on stories about black women who are victims of crimes, you'll see that the victim is blamed for what happened to her.  But let's be clear, there is a war on black women. And sadly, black men are participating in it.  There's a story circulating about a woman who was shot and killed because she told a man in a bar no.  Janese Talton-Jackson, 29, was shot and killed Friday morning in Homewood, Pittsburgh after leaving a bar, and the suspect is now in custody after being shot by police. This isn't the first time this ...

Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee are calling for a black out of the Oscars. If you're a Twitter user, you're familiar with the #Oscarssowhite hashtag. Once again, no people of color have been nominated for an Academy Award. Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith injected some new drama into next month's Academy Awards, announcing that they both would be boycotting the ceremony over the lack of diversity among the nominees. The "Chi-Raq" director took the occasion of Martin Luther King's birthday to slam the movie industry and reveal that he and his wife, Tonya, would not be attending on the most important night in the industry. "We Cannot Support It And Mean No Disrespect To My Friends, Host Chris Rock and Producer Reggie Hudlin, President Isaacs And The Academy," the Brooklyn-based director wrote on his Instagram page Monday, name-checking a pair of black industry insiders involved in the telecast. Pinkett Smith made a video that has bee...