The last couple of weeks have been interesting at best, and horrifying and stressful at worst. Between the virus, the murder of George Floyd, and the protests, it feels like the world is upside-down and backwards.

And here I am, launching a book.

Frankly, launching a book amid all this feels quite trite. It feels pointless. It feels a little ridiculous.

But I’m doing it anyway, because I know that my work has brought pleasure to quite a few people and is a form of escape. A few moments stolen here and there to read, relieve stress, and hopefully get a small emotional boost.

I also want you to know that I don’t write these books in isolation from what’s going on in the world. Quite the opposite, in fact. Many of the decisions I’ve made regarding the books have been with an eye on the future.

I’ve written a couple of posts about my process and efforts to become more anti-racist. You can read them here and here. But this work I’ve done on myself has not ended at the doors to my business. Quite the opposite—I would argue it started there.

When I began my anti-racist efforts, I wanted to make a difference but I had no idea how. And my first idea was simply to write books with diverse characters. I knew I couldn’t truly represent the experiences of Black people in our contemporary world, but why not envision a future or another world where things were different? Plus, if I ever managed to accomplish one of my far future goals of making TV show, then I knew I would be able to hire Black actors, directors, etc. and help put more money into the Black community. I started small, with Kaia and Quin in my first series, and have been working to expand ever since, not just with Black characters, but also with Asian, LGBTQ, Hispanic, and more.

I have a lot more to say on this topic, but this is supposed to be about my book launch, so I’ll just end with this: when I developed my core purpose and values, I went though a lot of steps (which you can read about here), and one thing never wavered. My focus was on respecting and honoring other people.

It came down to this:
My core purpose is to tell stories that reflect the wide range of human experience.

That means working to create not just white characters, but black, Hispanic, Asian, transgender, gay, lesbian, disabled, parents, kids, homeless, and any other number of characteristics you might think of. The human experience is wide. Very wide. Very, very wide.

I might not always get it right. But I will always do my best. And I’ll take it one story at a time.

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send me a message. I am happy to have a dialogue with you.

In the meantime, if you’re here for the new book, click here.

If you would like a free copy of the ebook, please make a donation and send me the receipt to either the Black Visions Collective, to George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery’s GoFundMe, or to your local bail organization.

Thank you. And stay safe, stay healthy, and #blacklivesmatter.