After an unpleasant publishing experience, BL decided to take control of her own fate and that of her books. She became a self-published writer two weeks before All Hollow's Eve of this year.

She enjoys writing. She loves using it to release her inner bitch through the characters she creates. Her novels and short stories allowed her to examine who she is, in black, white and various shades of gray.

She can work out her 'stuff' through her characters. She finds it very liberating to do so. She vows to keep writing until she can't.

LINK to her Goodreads Author Profile for book purchases

LINK to her Amazon Author Profile for book purchases

(1) Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

In my most recent novel, SINKHOLES, I wanted to create a tight-knit family full of women. I wanted to introduce some stressors into the female-centered family and see what happened, so I created the Harris family. Isabella Harris is the supposedly straight head of a household full of daughters…five of them, to be exact. Four of Isabella’s five daughters resemble her in that they are full figured, of average stature, and medium brown-skinned to deep chocolate complexion with dark brown eyes.

Then there’s the fifth and eldest daughter, Marilyn, nicknamed Lenny, who doesn’t resemble her mother or her sisters at all. She’s taller and leaner than her mother or her sisters. She has a toffee complexion and hazel eyes. She’s an introvert while her sisters and her mother are extroverts. However, it’s Lenny’s biological history that makes the story interesting, especially when I reveal a secret lesbian relationship between Isabella and a former college roommate. Did I mention quirky Isabella gave all of her children names beginning with M because Marilyn was such a great kid?


(2) How do you get inspired to write?

I’m one of those writers who doesn’t use outlines to help me write. What I do use is my dreams. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but most of my books are a result of something I dreamed about first, then I started to write about it. Sometimes, my writing begins as a scene in my dream or a conversation I remember from the dream and ends as a novel. Needless to say, I keep a notepad, a flashlight, and several pens at my bedside. I also drive or walk around the neighborhood in which I live as well as the neighborhoods I work in or visit my doctors’ offices. I see folks doing everyday things and I think, Wouldn’t that be a great story if…X or Y happened.


(3) What are you currently working on?

I’m working with my editor on five novellas and one full-grown novel of a series I like to think of as Unfinished Business. I usually don’t write novellas. However, I wanted to look at the unfinished business of bad relationships, so I wanted to write something short and sweet. I chose the novella as my format. I’m examining how women handle romantic relationships that end badly. Do the ex-lovers still think about each other? Would they want a do-over? What would they do differently if given the opportunity for a fresh start? Each of my novellas examines what women do when given another chance to make things better for the ones they profess to love…even when that chance comes ten or fifteen years after the breakup.


(4) What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

My advice would be to keep reading and writing about things you love. Join writers’ groups for the honest feedback they’ll give you and that your writing needs. Don’t take yourself too seriously and learn from your mistakes so you won’t keep making them. Above all, before you publish anything online or in print, find a great editor. You’ll never regret it.


(5) What’s the best thing about being a writer?

I truly enjoy seeing a dream of mine that nobody knows about being written down on paper or inputted into a laptop. Then the dream becomes a manuscript. The manuscript goes through draft upon draft. A book cover is created, then the draft becomes a proof or a galley. Finally, a printed copy of my book arrives. I’m doing cartwheels when I hold my dream in my hands and start to read it.


(6) How do you deal with writer’s block?

I’ve been fortunate in that area. I haven’t had to deal with being blocked. If anything, I have too much to write about. I always find something to explore or discover, think about, and then write about here in the Big Apple. That’s why I love living here so much. There are millions of people with tales to be told here in the city. I’ve only scratched the surface.

HER MOST RECENT BOOK RELEASES



BELLY FIRES: EVEN DEATH CAN'T KILL THE FLAMES OF PASSION

When Lieutenant Governor Charlene Ford loses everything in a deadly car crash, nothing feels the same. One minute, she is at the top of her game as the first African American lesbian lieutenant governor of New York State. The next minute, she is trying to keep a stiff upper lip as she watches the gravediggers bury the two walnut coffins containing her son JJ and her life partner, Regina. Her family is gone. Her world is gone. All she wants is to go away and disappear for a while; to just get lost until the pain in her heart stops. She sneaks away from her security escorts and borrows her chief of staff’s ancient jeep. She and Rusty, her loyal Akita, climb into the old jeep and head for parts unknown. Is it because she’s too tired drive or is it the unfamiliar road’s sharp curves that cause her accident? As she crashes through the guardrail, she struggles to put on the brakes. They don’t work and she stops fighting fate. “Reggie honey, I’ll be with you soon,” are Charlene’s last conscious thoughts as her car floats in mid-air for a long moment, then tumbles down the mountainside.



TIGER EYES: CAN A WOMAN CHANGE HER STRIPES?

B.L.’s seventh novel, Tiger Eyes, can a woman change her stripes?, explores the contentious relationship between a famous doctor, Bedford Riddle, and his estranged police sergeant daughter, Elaine. Sergeant Elaine Riddle becomes the victim of a holiday DWI. Luckily, Dr. Sandra Moxely, an ER trauma surgeon, witnesses the fatal car crash. She provides medical assistance at the scene and then performs the surgery to repair Elaine’s broken wrist. The two women act on their attraction for each other and begin filling nights and weekends with each other at the Double R Ranch. Tensions explode when Elaine discovers her father confided a terrible secret to Sandra instead of to her. In a fit of jealous anger, Elaine banishes Sandra from the ranch and her life. Thus begins Elaine’s journey of self-discovery. Should she let go of an old family rift that occurred between her and her father before it is too late? Should she allow herself to let her guard down and admit the love she has for beautiful Sandra and take the next logical step? Can a woman who thinks she has life figured out change her stripes?