POS: What is next for Eartha as an author?
EWH: I am putting together a revised edition of Love Changes, complete with a new cover design. I have a collection of poems, short stories, anecdotes, and reflections that I have been growing, as well as a couple of other titles. I am now also working on the sequel to Love Changes, which is tentatively entitled, Chocolate Love. Chocolate Love is written in first person from the Romell character’s perspective. Romell is a twenty-six year old, ambitious, ladies man, who is extremely flirtatious and has a preference for “exotic” women. This story takes place in the mid-nineties. My struggle has been writing in male voice, keeping him true to who he is, without my female self censoring and passing judgment. I, as the writer, have to allow him to be and grow through his mistakes. Whereas, me-the-woman and “black woman” would have told him about himself. My struggle has also been writing this story that takes place in 1995, maintaining a real sense of nostalgia while keeping it “fresh” but not dated or clichéd.
POS: If you had one suggestion for the writer to be, what would you say?
EWH: Learn the craft. Study and practice until you master it. But (and this is a BIG but) remember that a bestselling author is not necessarily a best writing author. Those of us who are artists, we do what we do for ourselves and our own creative vision. However the picture of the consummate artist does not looking like P. Diddy. Make no mistake in misunderstanding that P. Diddy is a marketing genius. If wish to earn a sustainable living from our craft, at some point, you will have to be about to identify who our target customer is and understand how to appeal to that reader.
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We would like to thank Eartha for taking the time to talk with us. To see footage from a recent reading by Eartha in Newark, click below.
Phenomenal!