I remember the first book that I ever read because I wanted to...and not because it was prescribed reading to fulfill my academic curriculum requirements. It was a novel written by the author Richard Wright. Every summer, my younger brother and I would travel to South Carolina to stay with my grandparents on their makeshift farm. On this particular journey, my aunt had accompanied us on the trip. She had brought the book, "Blackboy" with her presumably to read on the ride down. While we were at my grandparents home, I found the book lying around, and being a curious 12 year old, I picked it up and began reading. I was hooked. I think I read that book with perfect comprehension and understanding and enjoyed every word. Indeed, Richard Wright had me at the first paragraph.
It was around that time that I began my love affair with reading and writing. I did it for fun...the same way that boys would play touch football and girls with jump double-dutch. As I grew up and ventured out into the world, writing took a back seat as I started to learn about life...the easy and the difficult.
It wasn't until I got to be about 24 or 25 when I wrote a poem to someone that I was deeply in love with, and even took the time to explain the details of the piece. What I got back was, "That's nice...now write something that says that you love me" I put down the pen for a year or two after that. Now forward wind many years from then, and I realized that I could not only write, but maybe...and I do mean maybe, I could make this my career. You see, I couldn't get validated in corporate America, and it drove me crazy. I'm sure that some of you can understand me, however, I'll save the details for another time.
The story of "Bruthas" came about because I got frustrated with the traditional job structure. The biggest mistake that I made was going from entry level position to entry level position hoping that if I worked hard, I would get that promotion which would in turn foster that sense of loyalty for me to stay and work even harder. When I never received it, I pitched myself into something that I knew I was good at. I wanted to tell a story that would somehow better my community and at the same time, engage the audience. I wanted the end result to be..."Wow! That was a good story" And it didn't hurt if I made some money in the process.
I picked the characters of Jai, Ryan and Nate for a reason. I knew that I was writing for educated women between the ages of 26 - 52. Jai is the successful attorney that loves his woman, child and family. He leads when he has to lead and steps back when he has to do that but is always close enough to pick up the pieces in case someone that he loves crash lands. He's the man that most women would love to marry. Ryan is the buff, drop dead gorgeous gay male. What woman doesn't know a gay man? It's through his character that I address issues within the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. I knew that characters like Ryan have been demonized in the past. I wanted to put a face to this man that is reflective of many of my gay brothers. They simply want to give love and be loved...which doesn't translate to sex. Nate is the bad boy. He smolders on the pages. He's the guy that women are told to stay away from but attracts them all the same. He's tough, demanding and at times, downright ignorant. With all of that said, here is the first chapter of "Bruthas". Maybe you'll see something I didn't, or maybe you'll get it completely. Either way, here we go:
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