Readers In Motion January 2013 Author Spotlight
Kimani Lauren
1. Tell us about yourself.
My name is Kimani Lauren Nelson. I was born in Syracuse, NY. I’m the 30 year old mother of 3 boys. I am a living contradiction: a misanthrope who loves and wants the best for human kind. Cooking, people watching, eating, reading, makeup artistry, shoe buying, yoga, spoiling children, and driving their dad crazy are among my hobbies. Writing is my life. I also enjoy finding insane things to watch on TV and A Different World reruns. Food, Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, and cartoons from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s are among my guilty pleasures. I love water and beaches. I’ve been in college forever and will probably be in college until the apocalypse, partially because I’m indecisive but mostly because I thirst for knowledge. Currently I reside in Memphis, TN.
2. When and why did you begin writing.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing, although I do remember having trouble learning how to write the letter K (go figure). After that, I was always writing something. I wrote my first poem when I was 9 years old after hearing a friend recite Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” When I was 11 I was sitting in the back room of my grandmother’s house, bored because I was the only girl in a sea of boy cousins and my brother, so I cracked open an unused notebook. It felt like there was a whole new world waiting for me to create it. I began shaping it with words. By the end of the summer I had a book written which my uncle published for me. Ever since then writing has been my life. It’s my therapy and my savior.
3. Is there a message in your novel(s) that you want readers to grasp?
My debut novel is the first installment in my series dedicated to bringing an end to teen suicide. Through this series I want to raise awareness about depression in teens. There are people in the world who actually believe that young people don’t get depressed. As a survivor of multiple suicide attempts during my teenage years I want people to understand that depression in teenagers is real and needs to be addressed.
The rest of my books have many other messages. There are a lot of feminist themes in them. I try to tackle issues that tend to be overlooked due to lack of media focus on them. Honestly, I’ve been trying to save the world through my writing for about two decades now, so you’ll always see something deep in my work.
4. If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
There are quite a few that I can go to whenever I have a question, like Keith Kareem Williams, and Kenya Mack, who has done more for me than anyone can ever imagine. In my head Mildred D. Taylor is guiding me. In real life Karen E. Quinones Miller has been humble enough to answer every single question I’ve asked her. She’s one of those people who really wants everyone else to do well. I love her for that.
5. What book are you reading now?
“The Sacred Place” by Daniel Black.
6. Who designed the covers? And why?
Kenya Mack did the cover for “Love, Najae.” She also did the editing. Her eye for detail is awesome. She was able to find a model who looked exactly how I pictured Najae in my mind, only a little younger. It was actually kind of eerie when she sent me the first draft of it. I really felt like I was looking at my character’s elementary school picture.
7. Do you see writing as a full-time career?
I would love for it to be. I’ve always wanted it to be. Maybe it will be after my children are grown. Right now I don’t have the time or money it would take to be successful.
8. Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Nique Roberson, Keith Kareem Williams, Aaron Bebo, C.M. Spence, Sankofa Rose, Ashara Giles-Golden, Kendall Grey, and R. W. Ridley especially. He writes fantasy/sci-fi, and he is incredible. I don’t particularly enjoy his genre, but he has me hooked on his series. I stalk his website every day hoping he’s going to announce a release date for his next book.
9. Do you have any advice for writers?
Yes. First and foremost, have realistic expectations going into the game. Your friends, family, middle school teachers, and whoever else may have loved your writing, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is going to. The literary game is a lot like the music industry in the fact that the popular people are the ones to have the biggest influence on sales. Also, don’t expect to be able to quit your day job as soon as your book comes out.
Second, don’t compare your book to others when you’re pitching it.
Next, create a budget. People expect these books to sell themselves and pay your bills, but they’re more expensive to put out and market than people really take the time to learn.
Last but not least, don’t get caught up in these cliques. Network as much as you need, but it’s best not to get too friendly with people. There’s not a lot of loyalty in the wonderful world of publishing.
10. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank you. I love all the love that I have received for my writing. You all truly confirm that writing is what I was created to do. Keep giving me feedback, please, because you make me better. I love interacting with you, and I love doing whatever is in my creative ability to make you all happy.
Kimani Lauren's novel Love, Najae could be found on Amazon Kindle for a great price of .99 cents. Start you 2013 with this great read.
It’s hard to see your true beauty when not even your own parents can admit that it exists. All Najae ever wanted was to be loved and to be seen as beautiful. Her parents were preoccupied loathing her existence and regretting the mistake that was her life to see that. She spent her life being her father’s secret, her stepmother’s enemy, and her mother’s lie. It took one terrible event to open everyone’s eyes to the real problem. With an ashamed father, a capitalistic whore of a stepmother, and an almost bipolar biological mother, who is she to trust for the solution?
After spending just one weekend as her father’s daughter rather than a skeleton in his closet things are changed forever. A few skeletons of her own began to seep out. They caused her to run into the arms of the only person who ever made her feel wanted. Could it be true love? Could the attention from one man compensate for fifteen years of abuse and mistreatment? Or could this road to heartbreak be the beginning of a beautiful ending?
