Tina McElroy Ansa expresses gratitude & shares a little about her writing process

This is the fifth guest blog in my 2010 holiday series. It's from Tina McElroy Ansa, author of one of my favorite books of all time UGLY WAYS (a very quirky mother-daughter story), and the sequel TAKING AFTER MUDEAR. Leave Tina a comment and you'll be entered to win a signed copy of TAKING AFTER MUDEAR. And...she says she'll add "a little holiday gift from my garden, my heart and my hands."


What book-related/writing-related things I'm grateful for


Thanksgiving has come and gone. However, I try to remember to be thankful every day the Good Lord gives me.

In my writing life, I have one big thank you. And in my publishing life, I have another..

So, I am thankful this year that I discovered how easy it was to install the Voice Recognition program on my computer.

I followed the instructions, I had a mic and I had a story, so I was ready to go.

I not only am able to get ideas -- that come in the middle of whatever -- down on the computer for use later. I’m also able to dictate the notes, quotes, descriptions, conversations, edits, etc. that are so easily lost to us writers because we say, “Oh, that’s so wonderful, I’ll surely remember that!”…Never happens.

I also find that if I dictate first drafts, I can:

1. Hear how the prose and dialogue sound in the air as well as on the page. Writing, especially dialogue, that is not just right lands like a horse shoe in the middle of a funeral when spoken. The same is true for descriptions, even beautifully written descriptions that go on too long for the context. (I know that’s one of my challenges.)

2. When reading it on the screen again for typos and such, I have another chance to edit each word and the work as a whole. A real opportunity I gratefully take.


In my role as publisher at DownSouth Press, I am thankful for Carolina Knight, who has entrusted me with her first novel THE BOOK OF EPHESUS, which we will publish in 2011.

Black Authors ♥ Readers

Next month marks the third annual celebration of National Buy a Book By a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month. The purpose of NBABBABAAGITSNBM is to spread the word about all the great books by black authors that your friends, coworkers and neighbors may not know about. For the last 2 years, I've listed books that I planned to give for holiday presents. This year, I wanted to do something bigger and better.

I want to say thank you. Thank you to all the readers here who have given this blog experiment a chance. Thanks to all of you who've left comments and sent emails. Most important: thanks to all of you who've bought a book that you learned about here.

Other writers want to say thank you for your support, as well. So between now and December 20, we'll have guest bloggers talking about their favorite holiday gift books or some other related topic AND giving away an autographed copy of their book. Writers who've agreed to participate so far include:

Tara Betts
Martha Southgate
Bernice McFadden
Heidi Durrow
Lori Tharps
Keith Andrew Perry
Trisha R. Thomas
Ernessa T. Carter
Denene Millner

To kick us off, I'm giving away a copy of Children of the Waters to a commenter on this post. The person will be chosen at random. Deadline to comment is Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 5 pm MST.

Please spread the word to buy black books this holiday season! And, if you like quirky reads like I do, join the Quirky Brown Reading Challenge 2011.

Warm fuzzies

Go over to the sweet Shalema's blog Authors In Color and see the nice shout out she gives black authors. And, ahem, take note of her message:

I wanted to let authors know that I appreciate you and will support you by purchasing your books and sharing the good news with all I encounter.

Seriously, this brought tears to my eyes. Thanks Shalema!