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  Date / Time: 11/6/2008 7:56 PM UTC

  Meet authors Linda Leigh Hargrove and Elizabeth Atkins
  

  "I believe colorblind love is the best recipe for achieving America’s ever-elusive melting pot.  My own parents had a wonderful marriage for 24 years until my father died.  And through them, families, friends and coworkers have journeyed across the color line to find lasting relationships.  And what more beautiful symbol of racial unity could there be than a child born to bridge two cultures?" - Elizabeth Atkins (author, Dark Secret) see whole story at www.ElizabethAtkins.com
  
  Meet Linda Leigh Hargrove

  Linda, describe yourself for our visitors.

  I’m originally from a small town in northeastern North Carolina (much like the town in my ‘Isaac Hunt’ novels). I went to NCSU (Go Pack!) and earned two degrees in engineering. I enjoy reading and writing (of course) but I also like designing things. I paint, draw, knit, crochet, and create Web sites.

  I’ve been married over 17 years and we have three boys. I’m not the chatty sort but I think I’m friendly enough. If you email me I’ll email back. Linda@LLHargrove.com

  Since I’m also an adoptive mom, adoption is really important to me. And having been a racial reconciliation group leader and speaker for a number of years, the topic of biblical racial reconciliation is big with me too. I blog at 17Seeds.com, where I write a lot about racial healing and a little about adoption, especially in November, National Adoption Month. Stop by and leave a comment.

   

  How do you find time to connect with God?
  As you can imagine with three young boys, it’s hard to squeeze in time for yourself. Most mornings I try to rise before they do. So it’s become my habit to have my time with God first thing, bright and early, before I get into work and hopefully before the boys get up. On school mornings that means getting up around 5 am.

  When I do the mom-taxi thing (to football or martial arts practice) I usually have a book. Gotta maximize the time. I’m reading a couple nonfiction books now—one on prayer and one on racial reconciliation, of course.

  Who are your favorite authors? Favorite books?

  I enjoy most any kind of fiction, except horror, erotica and paranormal. Although I like reading a lot of contemporary American fiction (Christian and secular) I’d say my writing style and tastes come mainly from reading Ngaio Marsh (known for her Inspector Alleyn mysteries), Sigmund Brouwer (my favorite ones are his Samuel Keaton series), and Walter Mosley (love that Socrates Fortlow).

  Books I’ve especially enjoyed over the years (in no particular order) include For Whom the Bells Toll (Hemingway), Evening Star (Sigmund Brouwer), A Bride Most Begrudging (Deeanne Gist), Pride and Prejudice (Austen), and Curious George Goes to the Hospital (H. A. Rey).

  Tell us about your journey to publication.

  It took ten years for me to see my first book, the first installment in the Isaac Hunt series, in print. I started The Making of Isaac Hunt while co-leading racial reconciliation discussion groups with churches in the Raleigh, NC area. I wanted the book to be a easy-reading discussion tool on race in America.

  So from about 1996 to 2000, I wrote and rewrote the book, learning more about craft and the business of getting published along the way. Then from 2001 to 2005 I searched for a publisher (with and without an agent). I landed the deal with Moody through my second agent, Les Stobbe.

  Tell us about your current book?

  My second book is Loving Cee Cee Johnson. It’s a sequel to “The Making.” Although Isaac Hunt plays a key role in the book, my new character Cee Cee Johnson is front and center. She’s a TV reporter that reluctantly returns to her hometown to cover a story.

  Memories of her late father’s abuse are still fresh in her mind. And it doesn’t help matters that the news story she’s covering involves a former leader of a racial hate group and a white playwright, both determined to bring her father’s bizarre story to the stage.

  Cee Cee’s own sins and lies catch up with her. But eventually, she discovers the true meaning of forgiveness. And she’s surprised by love in more ways than one.

  How did you come up with ideas for this book?

  I knew I wanted to peel back a few more layers on reconciliation. And what better way to explore forgiveness and love in America than to bury more lies. Up comes Cee Cee Johnson, a celebrated TV woman who appears to have stellar upbringing. But what you don’t know could kill you or bring you closer to God. Right?

  I love suspense and mystery. So of course the book had to have that. Admittedly, it doesn’t have as much as my first book, but I think I make up for that in the interracial romance and introspection that Cee Cee gets swept up in.

  What’s next for you?
  I’m working on the third book in the series. The working title is Saving Tate Michaels.

  Where can visitors find you online?
  You can find me at www.LLHargrove.com and www.17Seeds.com.

  
  Posted from Faithwebbin.net 
  
  

  Elizabeth Atkins Elizabeth Atkins teaches her popular Elizabeth Atkins Write it Right! workshops at Wayne State University in Detroit and Wayne County Community College District, and is writing screenplays based on her best-selling novels: White Chocolate, Dark Secret, and Twilight (co-authored with Billy Dee Williams), the provocative and pioneering love stories about mixed-race characters whose lives challenge conventional attitudes about color and culture. Her newest book, Other People’s Skin, deals with “colorism” and black women, and the favoritism/discrimination based on light or dark skin, hair texture, and eye color. Atkins has shared her message of colorblind love as author and expert on The Montel Williams Show, focusing on her experience as the biracial daughter of a white Catholic priest who sparked a scandal in the turbulent 60s by marrying a much younger African American woman who is now a judge. Her life-calling, to pioneer new ground in contemporary literature and film by bringing biracial voices to life, is rooted in the racial conflict she endured as a teenager. At the same time, she became enchanted with the written word as a reporter and editor at the campus newspaper, while earning an undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Her expertise on biracial issues is bolstered by national research she did for her Masters thesis at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. A portion of that work was published in The New York Times, which led to appearances on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, Good Morning America Sunday, and BET. The former television newswriter for Detroit’s Fox 2 News has also talked about the subject on The Ananda Lewis Show, The Rob Nelson Show, Chicago’s WGN Morning, and Detroit’s Fox, NBC, and ABC affiliate news stations. As a reporter for The Detroit News, Atkins’ articles on race relations were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written for Essence, Ms. , BET.com, Black Issues Book Review, HOUR Detroit, and The San Diego Tribune. Former President of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Detroit Chapter, Atkins creates workshops that weave together an inspirational, high energy, and motivational message, leaving audience members enthusiastic about life and writing. As a speaker at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, she has explored “What is Race?” in the context of US Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. She recently joined a debate on the BET program Meet the Faith and has written her second novel, Dark Secret, a thriller about a biracial woman who’s “passing” for white even though her black mother dies as a result. Atkins also co-wrote Click! , with networking phenom George Fraser, about building extraordinary relationships. Atkins was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show for her other passion, fitness, where she detailed how running, eating healthy, and lifting weights whittled away more than 100 pounds! She has run the Detroit Free Press Marathon and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. She also cycles, swims, and weight trains.    Her latest book:      Dark Secret is like a modern-day version of the “tragic mulatto” you may have seen in the 1959 movie,  Imitation of Life.  In it, a beautiful young Sarah Jane loathes being biracial so much... she flees her brown-skinned mother and tries to pass for white.  But a boyfriend discovers her lie and beats her up.  Then the film comes to a tear-jerking end when a sobbing Sarah Jane finally comes home... for her mother’s funeral.      For Book #3, I joined movie legend and icon of romance, Billy Dee Williams.  Our book, Twilight is a s-----l, mystical story about finding one’s soul mate, one’s purpose in life, and happiness.  Our collaboration began when our mutual literary agent connected us in a meeting in Los Angeles.      Our one-hour lunch evolved into a four-hour brainstorm.  The goal?  To create a provocative love story that will inspire a new way of looking at and talking about race.      And so, just as Taylor James in White Chocolate embraces and celebrates her dual heritage, and Camille Morgan keeps her black blood a Dark Secret,  Simone Thompson in Twilight does not know the ingredients of her ethnic mix.  The Los Angeles judge has sworn off committing herself to a man until she knows who and what she is.  And she has to find her father to solve the mystery of her butterscotch skin and sandy-wavy hair.      But when she meets s---, suave movie star Sonny Whittaker on a tropical island in Brazil, she is torn between her pledge to find the truth about herself, and the undeniable L-st and love stirring her very soul.  Not to mention, news that when she gets back to L.A., she may have to oversee his high-profile divorce trial, which would prohibit any contact with him, especially romance.      Sonny Whittaker, however, has no idea who this mysterious and beautiful woman is.  But the reformed PN+B does know, the moment he sees her approaching on a sun-splashed yacht, she is The One.      An e--- but anonymous interlude on the beach follows.      And when they return to California, Sonny is stunned to see her take the bench in a black robe, to rule over the fate of his life and his family, in his trial.      S, scandal and suspense follow.  All woven together with themes exploring the dizzying euphoria of love... the longing and loneliness of forbidden passion... and the meaning of one’s racial identity.       The title, Twilight symbolizes the blending of day and night into a spectacular spectrum in the sky, just as the mixing of color and culture creates a beautiful kaleidoscope of humanity.       Next, we are going to make Twilight into a movie, to bring this message to the silver screen, premiering at Detroit’s fabulous Fox Theatre.      If I needed any more affirmation that I am indeed following a life calling, it is coming in the form of this collaboration with Billy Dee Williams.  I remain humbled and awed that a man of his stature endorses the ideals that I so passionately believe in, and is joining me to give voice to the millions of mixed-race people who may still feel uncomfortable and alone.       We are also wiping away stereotypes to stop hostility toward interracial couples.       I believe colorblind love is the best recipe for achieving America’s ever-elusive melting pot.  My own parents had a wonderful marriage for 24 years until my father died.  And through them, families, friends and coworkers have journeyed across the color line to find lasting relationships.  And what more beautiful symbol of racial unity could there be than a child born to bridge two cultures?      That is the gift bestowed on me by God, through my parents’ legacy.  Thank you for the honor and privilege of unwrapping this gift in the pages of provocative love stories, to share this present with you.

  
  
  • Tags:
  • bi racial
  • racial reconciliatio
  • the making of isaac
  • white chocolate
  • elizabeth atkins
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