“I am a witness to my own experience and my writing is my testimonial.”
BOOKS
In 2023 I published my first book, The Constant Sweetness Within. That year, I became a writer.
I have been writing for most of my life. For the last 26 years, I have been a college English professor teaching first-year college students to write essays and tell their stories. But, today, I am focused on writing and telling my own. I prefer to express in the essay form. As an English professor this makes sense to me. But I prefer the personal essay.
“It places the first-person subjective voice at the center of inquiry. The “I” is front and center stage. The “I” is valued as a credible point of view with rich experiences from which to draw conclusions and develop analyses.”
Order your print copy.
The Constant Sweetness Within is a collection of personal essays, poetry and photographs; it is a multi-layered artistic project that captures my journey and evolution as a human on this planet; but, more specifically, it explores my journey as a Black woman navigating the intersection of race, gender, politics, marital status, and spirituality. It challenges all of us to be vulnerable, to share our stories—those stories that make us human and connect us to others.
The book can be purchased in hardback with color images, in paperback with black and white images, and as an e-book through Amazon!
Audiobook Available
I narrate my stories over the course of three days at Embody Costa Rica with DTO, sound engineer and producer.
Listen to a sample chapter in the audiobook. Be transported into the experience of my first visit to Costa Rica!
New Book Project!
The Hello fifty! book project was inspired by the responses to my first book, The Constant Sweetness Within. When I initially composed the first collection of essays, the project and process was about creating a space for me to express my experience and share my story, which, ultimately, was a process of healing and catharsis. The responses from women (and men) were more powerful and meaningful to me than my processing. It revealed to me a truth in storytelling: storytelling is an invitation to the reader or listener. It is an invitation for them to, first, empathize—creating a moment of connection and shared experience. Secondly, empathizing brings the reader’s or listener’s experience to the forefront and inspires reciprocation. In this reciprocity, the storyteller and the listener begin to see the human beneath the story. And, if only for a moment, we begin to see ourselves in another.
The decision to openly share my story was inevitably a decision to firmly plant myself in a position to create and hold space for other women to process the complicated messiness of their lives. This calling was first expressed in the creation of The Women Gather Retreats, a signature offering by la experiencia—a space for women to step out of their lives and tell the truth…without the masks. Then, as I neared my fiftieth birthday, the concept of a book, a collection of new essays, about women in middle-age was born.
But this time, I felt deeply compelled to create space for other women to write and share their own stories. What a gift, I thought, to read the powerful stories of women who have gained wisdom and knowledge through life experience yet, are deemed irrelevant in many ways in the larger society. This space is also an invitation to women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s to be in conversation and to be supported and loved throughout the process. Ultimately, this project is a gift to myself. I get to do all the things I love: write, create a space, and be in the company of women.
I am no longer accepting contributors for this project. Book in process. Expected to be available in Spring 2027.
