Because I love Texas, I had to have the settings of my books there. The challenge of exactly where in Texas came while I was penning Casting Down Imaginations. I didn’t want to have the characters live in Huntsville, because I didn’t want anyone to think I was trying to tell their story in some way. I didn’t want to have it set in Houston, either. Even though it’s not that far away from where I grew up, I never spent a lot of time there and didn’t know much about it. I spent several childhood vacations in the Galveston area visiting family, but other than my grandmother’s house across from the railroad tracks, I was pretty much a foreigner. My only option was to use my imagination and make up an entire city.

Those who know me know that I am pretty horrible with names. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. Someone’s name could be Peter and I’d call them David in a minute, not even realizing that I’d made a mistake. It’s not on purpose. I’ve been that way my entire life, so coming up with a name for a fictional town was tough.

After trying for several hours to come up with something, I took the desperate approach of pounding my keyboard. (Doesn’t it seem that we always hurt the ones we love? I apologized to it later. J) To my surprise, an internet search page pulled up openings for Bay City Apartments in Michigan. Seeing it as God’s answer to my prayer, I changed the “City” to town and combined it with the first word of the apartment building. But there was already a city in Texas named Baytown, so I closed my eyes and pressed a random key on my keyboard. It was a D. So my Baytown became Daytown by the forgiveness of my keyboard, and three books later, it exists in the hearts of my faithful readers.

It seems to be a nice place to live, as well. It has a college, which Anaya and Karen attended in my first book, Casting Down Imaginations. Kamilah attended one if its high schools and also worked at a coffee shop there, while Summer lived in is luxurious Lincoln Estates in Sweeter Than The Honey. Daytown also has a great interior decorator in Dana, who lives there as well in my latest novel, The Dorkiss Way. It even has a black entertainment channel.

I wonder what’s in store for Daytown next…

1.)    “You’re missing the point entirely. It’s not about deprivation. It’s about preservation. Keeping yourself sexually pure is about honoring God with your body, as well as your future spouse. Your body is a pleasure that only he is supposed to experience.” ~Kelly Dorkiss explaining the principles of The Dorkiss Way. 

2.)    “Without God, there is no marriage. Just two people moving around, praying not to kill each other in the process. The stage before marriage is the easy part. After you say those vows is the hard part. Trust me. If it takes God to get you together, please believe that it will take God to keep you together.” ~ Kelly Dorkiss

3.)    “What? Oh my God, are you serious?” I asked, rightfully offended. “Why does a person have to be high to be happy? Can I smile? Can I have Jesus? Goodness! If I frown, everything is fine, but if I smile, all of a sudden I’m an addict?!” ~Dana on her sister’s assumption that she was on drugs. 

4.)    “This is the man that God is preparing you to marry, right? And he already had a son before you even met him. So if God is preparing you to be this man’s wife, don’t you think He’s also preparing you to be a mother as well?” ~Leah talking some sense into Dana

5.)    That’s why NeTesha’s little rug rat had to go stay with his grandma. That little horror wasn’t about to break anything else in my house. My sister’s kids were the only ones that I fooled with, and that was because I loved them. All others could go play with that freaky looking purple dinosaur and kick rocks. ~Dana on her dislike for children

6.)    “Your ears are not that holy, and you are not blind,” she insisted. ~Leah’s rebuttal to Dana’s denial of her attraction to Gavin

7.)    Oh my God… I need professional help! ~Dana realizing she’s never had a successful relationship

8.)    “I’m not trying to be your boyfriend,” he told me. “I’m trying to be your man.” ~Gavin’s response to Dana telling him that she wasn’t interested in having a boyfriend.

Most of you know by now that my latest book, The Dorkiss Way, is about to be released. I got a proof in the mail a few days ago, and I promise you, I have not been the same since. When I opened the package and saw the book staring back at me, I screamed and immediately began to dance. The rush of joy that came over me still lingers today. As I flipped through its pages, one thought repeatedly went through my mind: It was all worth it!

Let me explain.

For those of you who don’t know, Writing books is EXTREMELY HARD!!! It’s no cake walk, and independently publishing, promoting, and selling books is EVEN HARDER!!! There is a lot of work that goes into producing a book, and of the three that I have been blessed to produce thus far, The Dorkiss Way was by far the most challenging. I have never labored to make something happen so hard before in my life (and I did four years in the military!)

There were days when I thought about giving up. After all, by the grace of God I’ve already published two books, and I havn’t even turned thirty years old yet. That's enough to be proud of. (Hey, I can be honest. It’s my blog!) But I knew God had more work for me to do. I couldn’t give up, no matter what was happening. 

To describe what I was going through as a setback would be the epic understatement of the decade. Initially, The Dorkiss Way was supposed to be released in 2011, but multiple unforeseen rewrites delayed its publication. Not only that, but I also started another job, which often left me too drained to write. It appeared as if I was going to have to push the May 28^th release date back even further. Things just were not happening the way that they were supposed to, and honestly, my faith was wavering. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to write this book. Everyone wanted a sequel to Sweeter Than The Honey, anyway. Maybe I should just toss The Dorkiss Way into the recycle bin and move on.

Even though I felt like quitting, I knew that I couldn’t. My writing isn’t about me or what I want to do. It’s about helping people. It’s about showing people that God loves them, no matter what situation they find themselves in. It’s about taking real life situations that people are going through today and showing biblical life application so that the love of Christ can be shown. I thought about myself and the struggles I went through when I was single and living for Christ. I thought about the countless other single women I’d met in the past year who were longing for a book like The Dorkiss Way. I thought about my call to write for God and how I couldn’t put it on the shelf simply because I was having a hard time. So, through my tiredness, I continued to write. Through headaches, my husband’s concern when he woke up one morning and discovered that I’d never went to bed the night before, and frustration, I wrote.

Now, my most stubborn child is here. The one who caused me so much grief, so much pain, and dare I write it, so much torture, is finally here!!! I can honestly say it was by no goodness or strength or talent of my own. It’s all by the grace of God, and I am truly thankful.

 Yep. It was all worth it.

This past week was Spring Break for several students across the nation, which gave my husband and me a chance to spend some time with our nieces and nephew. We love spending time with them. The older they get, the more their little personalities shine through. I continue to be blown away how each of them are so different from one another, but they each resemble my sister collectively in their characteristics, which makes me love them even more. After all, my sister has always been my best friend. Her children are hilarious. Ten minutes with them is sure to brighten even the grumpiest person’s day. 

Early in the week, while eating breakfast, one of the children made a disturbing comment about race. Realizing that they are all young, I squelched my offense with a loving response, concluding that the statement was birthed out of ignorance. I did, however, take the incidence as an opportunity to teach the children racial tolerance and a little bit of African American history.

To the credit of the public school system, the children did know some things. When asked what they knew about slavery, the youngest quickly informed me, “The slaves went north to freedom!” They also knew that Rosa Parks was tired and did not want to give up her seat on the bus, and someone shot Martin Luther King, Jr. When asked for further information, though, they could not produce much. It could have been the distraction of eating their Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which I understand. (Try to come between me and a bowl of Fruit Loops if you want to!) But I couldn’t let the comment go uncorrected, nor could I let the ignorance continue. I called their mother and asked her if I could teach the children a little more of their history, as well as let them watch the movie Queen. She encouraged it one hundred percent. 

Throughout the week I gave them little pieces of black history, and they absorbed it like sponges. By the end of the week they knew about slavery, the Underground Railroad, and the Emancipation Proclamation, (although one of them has a lisp and pronounces it a little differently.)

Finally, the day before they left, we all sat down and watched the movie Queen. As soon as the movie came on, it had their undivided attention. They had several questions, and thankfully, I was able to answer most of them. Of course, I had them cover their eyes and turn away at some parts, especially since my nephew thought Jasmine Guy was especially beautiful, and skipped the parts that were too graphic for them to view. They learned a lot from the movie, though, and talked about it for the remainder of the day. They were so upset when I told them that Queen was no longer alive. They wanted to meet her and were hoping that their grandfather knew her. I got a good laugh out of that one. These are the same children who consider my husband old because he turned thirty this week.  

I myself was moved by the movie as well, as I am every time I watch it. It always makes me cry. But what stuck with me was that I realized I was around the children’s age when I first saw it. I watched it on television with my mother when it debuted on television in 1993. Nearly twenty years later, the movie still has a profound impact.

“That’s some good writing,” I said aloud hours later, still thinking about the movie. I could not take my mind off the characters or the story line. I had compassion in my heart for even the meanest of them all.

“I wanna write like that, Jesus!” I prayed. “Please!”

In faith, I believe that He heard my heart’s desire, and will bless me accordingly. Will The Dorkiss Way be the book that people remember twenty years from now? I’m not sure. But if it’s not, I know that one day one book that I write will be. When it does happen, I will be sure to give God all the glory.

A nice portion of Cynthia's review of the book is below. You can read the full review on my Amazon.com page.

Casting Down Imaginations is a "niche" book on the surface. The author is young, black, and fairly traditional in her views. That didn't slow me down much - I'm a big fan of Amy Tan, and I'm not Chinese-American. Good women writers sail across ethnic borders without ever slowing down. Behind the conflict between Tan's traditional Chinese mothers and their modern American daughters is the same loving wrangling of my own experience, as a daughter and a mother. And the struggles of the main characters in Casting Down Imaginations were startlingly familiar to my 19-year-old self, who's still here somewhere, even after nearly 40 years.

Both girls are headed for college. Karen, still dealing with the painful aftermath of her adolescent rebellion, is determined to do well, stick to her principles, and come out on top. Anaya doesn't yet have the wildness out of her system - she can't wait to get away and do as she pleases without limits. (Been there, done that, wore out the T-shirt!)

Ultimately, both women find paths to success, but "success" isn't what either of them initially envisioned. Family drama, internal and interpersonal conflict, and crises of faith test them both; growing up isn't easy for these young women. LaShanda makes their stories real. The dialogue flows so naturally the reader can hear it - a couple of phrases have started to creep into my own middle-aged-white-woman vocabulary. (Insert blushing smiley face here. I sometimes feel a tad silly when I open my mouth and a 20-year-old pops out.) The girls and their families are all beautifully imperfect people; an old boyfriend is an endearing jerk; the right thing to do is sometimes clear as mud, and at other times quite obvious and apparently unattainable. It's life as we know it...

You can follow Cynthia on her blog, Pedal On Regardless, and on LinkedIn.  

            This book is by far the most challenging piece I have ever written to date. The storyline alone was enough to keep me up at night writing and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. The characters are more honest than any I’ve ever been given the privilege to present.

            The main character is a woman in her late twenties who has had horrible luck with men. She, like a lot of women, dreams of getting married, and feels the pressure to do so quickly now that she is close to turning thirty years old. Without giving away too much of the juicy plot, (and trust me, it is juicy!), she meets a Christian relationship coach who introduces her to Christ and the ways of the Lord, which includes celibacy until marriage. The new way of life proves to be adventerous as she is forced to deal with her past in order to embrace her future.

            I’m sure you understand my excitement now. The Dorkiss Way will be out only in a few short months. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted!

Love and Blessings,

LaShanda Michelle