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Your first novel is "Easier Said Than Done."
What led you on the road to write a novel?
Nikki Woods-You
know it's kind of like a weird trip, I never thought
I would publish a book. I've always written from the
time that I could actually write. I've always been into
creative writing and short stories and all that kinda
stuff. I've always written and been into the area of
communication. I have a journalism degree. One day I
was working on this short story and I started e-mailing
it to my mom and to another friend of mine and they
kept e-mailing me like "I'm ready for the next
part." I was like, "It's over," and they were like
"No, it can't be over." It catches on and one day my
mom was like "You need to make this into a book."
Writing a novel takes a lot of time and a lot of focus.
It takes a lot of focus to stay on that one theme and
I was like, "Ehh.... I don't know." I got about halfway
through it, I got married, I had two kids, I kind of
put it on the back burner. Then one of the friends that
had been encouraging me to finish it died. I said just
for her if not for anything else I need to finish it
because life is to short. So I finished it.
The book has ties to Jamaica. How did that come
along is that a place you have visited and enjoyed?
Nikki Woods-My moms
Jamaican. I spent a lot of time there. My grandmother
is still there in Kingston. So my husband and I got
married there. I go about 3 or 4 times a year. Since
I was small I spent summers there, I taught school there
for a little bit because I used to be a school teacher
before I went into radio. Very strong ties, it's a place
that is my second home. A lot of my writing has Jamaica
strewn throughout it in one way or another.
You mentioned radio, how long have you been in radio?
Nikki Woods-I've
been in radio close to 10 years now.
Wow that's exciting.
Nikki Woods-I guess.
It's really a fun career. If you are passionate about
anything that you do and you get paid for it makes it
a really great job. I'm part of a morning show and I
think that adds another element into it because there's
more than just me. We laugh, we talk, it's just a great
time so yeah it's a fun career.
Now you mentioned getting married, having two kids
and working in radio. When do you find time to write?
Nikki Woods-When
I ship them babies off to daycare. When I wrote Easier
Said Than Done I had to find time to write. When
I got a minute to write I would. A lot of authors still
have full time jobs and families and they structure
their writing to find two hours after past bedtime or
if they have to get up two hours earlier to write they
do. That's what I had to do with the second book. I
really had to structure my time. So when I get home
from work which is about 11 in the morning I leave my
kids in daycare until about 2 or 3 and I write during
that time because once they get home it's done. It's
over. I've become really structured and that is my time.
That is my time to write and I do.
A lot of people say peoples first books are the
most personal. Is this book personal to you in any way?
Nikki Woods-It's
the most personal because I not only look at it as a
tribute to my friend that passed, I have two friends
that read the book that died before I finished it. I
owed it to my family. This really is a tribute to my
grandmother. She lives in Kingston and if anyone has
ever been to Kingston it's absolutely not one of my
favorite places to go. It's hot, its cramped its terrible
but I go because my grandmother is there. This last
visit I went, she's 92 now and I was there in June,
she has this clarity about her and she was telling me
all these things about when she used to spend the summers
with us and all of these things that I used to do when
I was little and growing up and she was telling me about
how proud of me she is now that I have grown into a
woman and have my own kids and all that kind of stuff.
I was like "Ya know, I love coming to Kingston
because my grandmother is there."So it's really
a tribute to my grandmother and to her tradition and
to my family. It's a really special book, it's a really
personal book but it isn't an autobiography and that's
where people get confused.
Once people write a book often it's "How am I going
to get this book out." What was your road to getting
the book published? How did you go about finding a publisher?
Nikki Woods- Well
I always was into reading. I read a lot so I had become
involved with this book club here in Chicago and that
was years ago before I even started writing the book.
Recently I started e-mailing one of the other members.
She would send me things and she wanted me to announce
on the radio so one day I was like let me get a professional
opinion, so I sent her my manuscript she was like "Who
is this?"
I didn't tell her it was me because I didn't want
her to be biased. She said, "I want to publish
them." I didn't really want to self publish because
I didn't think I had enough knowledge to do it on my
own and I signed a deal with Ebony Energy in Chicago
and we are going to print, actually we should have a
book tomorrow.
Wow, have you started planning your tour dates?
I read you are going to the Raw Sistaz Event.
Nikki Woods-We really
are just trying to make sure that everything lines up.
My first book signing is in Bermuda of all places. So
I will be in Bermuda at the end of the month and I will
be at the Raw Sistaz in Atlanta in September. We are
hitting Chicago hard because this is really where my
best base is. A lot of activities in Chicago and the
Midwest. I know I will be in New York in October and
I'm doing a book signing in Jamaica in December.
I noticed you have a blog on your website, how did
you get involved with blogging?
Nikki Woods-It's
really funny and its become really fun. I had no idea
what a blog was until I started seeing it in a lot of
the online groups I was in. I started it mainly for
the book, for people to have a different view because
I think by nature people tend to be kind of curious
about what people do when they read their books or hear
them on the radio or see them on television, I think
its an interesting way to look at someone's thoughts.
I read blogs of people I don't even know because their
interesting. They are kind of fun and I tend to focus
on my family and goofy things that have happened to
me. It's really fun to be yourself.
 Interview
copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be
My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned
Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She
is the founder of Thabiz.com
and Imissthe80s.com
and writes for the Rap,
Teen, and
1980s section
at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer
and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising
inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights,
paying
entertainment jobs, or general comments.
Visit Dorrie on the web at www.sparkledoll.com
or e-mail her at webmaster@thabiz.com.
May not be reprinted, copied or distributed.
Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com
August 2005
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