{"id":3911,"date":"2008-02-01T12:01:15","date_gmt":"2008-02-01T17:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sistahsontheshelf.com\/blog\/?page_id=106"},"modified":"2020-06-05T01:22:34","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T05:22:34","slug":"skyy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/?page_id=3911","title":{"rendered":"Skyy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>IN SKYY\u2019S OWN WORDS\u2026<\/strong>I really suck at writing bio’s about myself. Skyy is a nerd. I’m a 25-year-old lesbian woman from Memphis, TN.\u00a0\u00a0I’m an old movie and musical lover.\u00a0 I’m single (just thought I would throw that out there).<\/p>\n

How long have you been writing, and how did you get started?
\n<\/strong>I have always written personal stores but never shared them.\u00a0 I started this professionally one day when I sat at my computer and just began to write.<\/p>\n

Give a brief synopsis of your debut novel, Choices<\/em>.<\/strong>
\nFour\u00a0college women encounter many choices involving love, lust and drama during a year at college. Lena is rich, beautiful and practically engaged to the school’s superstar basketball player Brandon. She unknowingly begins to develop feelings for her roommate, the star of the women’s basketball team.
\nAfter having her heart broken, Denise has decided to swear off women to focus on basketball, graduating and getting out of Memphis.\u00a0 Her plans quickly change when the perfect woman for her walks into her life. The problem is that the perfect woman is her straight roommate, Lena.
\nCooley believes in the love them and leave them way of life. When she finally decides to hang up her player robe, the women of her past refuse to go out without a fight.
\nCarmen has undergone a massive physical transformation.\u00a0 She quickly learns that surgery can only change the physical, not her self-esteem.<\/p>\n

How did the concept of Choices <\/em>come about?<\/strong>
\nI was heartbroken. I had been dumped and didn’t want to leave the house. The character of Denise popped in my head, a girl who just wants to get away from Memphis. I sat at my computer, turned on an mp3 playlist of songs and began to write. At the end of the weekend I had finished the first draft of choices.<\/p>\n

How has the reception of Choices<\/em> been?<\/strong>
\nI am so blessed to have received such great praises of the book. I love hearing from readers who love the book and are pressuring me to release the sequel.<\/p>\n

Best friends Denise, Carmen and Cooley were range true in their portrayal of young black lesbians. Where did you get the idea for the characters?
\n<\/strong>The characters were made up but I just think about the relationships that I have with my friends. We are all intelligent young women who are trying to make something of ourselves.\u00a0 At the same time our friendships are strong.\u00a0 I wanted to make Carmen out to show that studs and femmes can be friends and not be sleeping with each other.\u00a0 I wanted to show that even though Cooley is very whorish, she is a friend that anyone should be proud to have. I wanted to give a realistic look into the lives of black lesbian women my age.<\/p>\n

Which character, if any, do you think is most like you?<\/strong>
\nA little bit of all of them are like me.\u00a0 I just want to succeed like Denise. Like most women I have made bad mistakes when it comes to women like Carmen.\u00a0 I have been so blind before that I didn’t see what was right in front of me like Lena. I am very blunt like Cooley and I love my friends like they were my real family like all of the characters.<\/p>\n

Reading Choices<\/em> took me back to my undergrad days, and I enjoyed the experiences of the four characters at a HBCU (Historically Black College or University). What, if anything, did you draw from your own schooling to write Choices<\/em>?
\n<\/strong>Before I came out I had a friend who I had been my best friend since the 6th grade who pledged a sorority. One day while kicking it with her and some of her sorors, she and they both discussed how they would never in life let a lesbian in their organization. That hit me hard because I knew I was struggling with my sexuality and yet now I knew my own best friend and the sorority I had wanted to be in since I was a child wouldn’t accept me. I know of others who have had similar experiences, studs who were told they would have to change how they look in order to join a sorority. I used that while making the Chi Theta storyline.
\nI used the feeling of me seeing a group of lesbians hanging out, wanting to go over and talk but being too scared to do so.\u00a0 Even though it was a make-believe school, I wanted to give it a true feeling with the dorms and student union.<\/p>\n

How realistic do you think your characters are as related to the black college experience?<\/strong>
\nI believe I was very on point with the black college experience. I attend basketball games and a local HBCU in town and I see more lesbians than other people. We are now able to be out and proud and not have to hide who we are just because we are on campus. But at the same time there are still issues with the Divine Nine organizations acceptance of the GLBT community and how some may view us.\u00a0 Many could end up with a roommate that doesn\u2019t like gay people like Carmen did.<\/p>\n

Denise and her roommate Lena seem like a perfect match. Will they or won\u2019t they?<\/strong>
\nAhh, that\u2019s the question everyone asks me.\u00a0 I have been cursed out and threatened about Dee and Lena.\u00a0 Everyone wants them to hook up; they are perfect for each other. But you will have to wait till the sequel to find out.<\/p>\n

Bed-hopping Cooley is a trip. What has been the reaction to her stud-like character?<\/strong>
\nCooley is by far the stand-out character. I have had so many studs to think that I was writing about them. I had a few to say that they are Cooley or they used to be Cooley.\u00a0 I find it funny.<\/p>\n

Why do you think Carmen struggled so much with love and her self-image?<\/strong>
\nI think Carmen is like a lot of women.\u00a0 We always want to say things like, \u201cI\u2019m too fat\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t like my butt,\u201d but many don\u2019t take the time to think about all the wonderful things about us.\u00a0 This is for straight and gay women alike. Sometimes we don\u2019t love ourselves so we let others treat us like crap. We mistake love a lot for lust or just the longing for love. Some women want it so bad they are willing to take abuse, both physically and mentally, just because someone tells them that they love them.<\/p>\n

Choices<\/em> is a refreshing change from the typical storylines we see in black lesbian books. Was that what you wanted to accomplish?<\/strong>
\nYes it was. I wanted to not only be different from most lesbian books but from most AA\u00a0(African American)\u00a0books in general.\u00a0 I wanted to give a unique but very realistic look into the life that I am apart of.\u00a0 So many always focus on the negative aspects of the community, I wanted to show that yes some are negative (Cooley, Tameka), but what about the positive (Denise, Nic). I also wanted to give a realistic look into the world of aggressive\/stud women.<\/p>\n

What are you working on next?<\/strong>
\nI have finished the sequel to Choices<\/em> and I\u2019m now working on a book of short stories.<\/p>\n

What’s a typical day like for you?<\/strong>
\nI wake up, turn on my TV to watch Ellen<\/em>. I then get online and began to check my various emails and pages like MySpace, Downelink, ourchart.\u00a0 Then I promote the book for a while. Talk to my friends, write, and that\u2019s about it.\u00a0 I have no life.<\/p>\n

What do you do for fun?<\/strong>
\nI really like being at home. I love to watch movies so I do that a lot. I try to see any Broadway musicals that come to town. I go out with my friends and that\u2019s about it. I\u2019m truly square.<\/p>\n

What are your favorite books? Favorite authors?
\n<\/strong>I love, love, love Michael Baisden. His book, God’s Gift to Women<\/em> was the first book I read that I could not put down. That\u2019s how I wanted Choices<\/em> to be.\u00a0 I also love E. Lynn Harris, Eric Jerome Dickey, and I must say I am a Harry Potter fanatic.<\/p>\n

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
\n<\/strong>Hopefully writing full time and producing movies or a series based on Choices<\/em>. I would love to see my book become a movie or series like The L Word<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What motivates you to write?<\/strong>
\nJust my emotions, I\u2019m a cancer and I\u2019m very emotional. So when I\u2019m going through something or witness something it can bring it out of me.<\/p>\n

What piece of advice can you share with aspiring writers?<\/strong>
\nThis may sound corny but don\u2019t give up. Polish your work to your best abilities. Have someone you love and trust to read your work, someone who will be brutally honest with you.\u00a0 Network and make sure to read over your contracts. Oh, and protect your work.<\/p>\n

Why do you feel it\u2019s important for black lesbians to share their own stories, as you did with Choices<\/em>?<\/strong>
\nI think that black lesbians to share their stories however they can as long as they share it. It could be with poetry, writing books, music, blogging I don\u2019t care just do it.<\/p>\n

Interviewed February 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Skyy’s Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n