Q&A With Author Connie Briscoe

Sometimes, I get lucky enough to *get review copies of books (which are always donated back to my school) to read and this month I have had two of them that held my attention for the past week. The first one, “Money Can’t Buy Love”, by Connie Briscoe was a nice bedtime book for me as I was winding down my day. I’m a weird reader. There are times when I can get so lost in the reading that nothing else seems to be going on around me. But I have books at my bedside, on my desk in the den, on my living room coffee table that I’ll pick up during the day, on my desk at my office when I can steal a few minutes, in my purse, in my car. Books are literally everywhere in my house. What I choose for my bedside table book has to be something that I can put down once I get drowsy enough to sleep and the short chapters of Briscoe’s book were just enough for me. There were times when I didn’t want to wait so I stayed up later, but luckily I didn’t have to wake too early this last week as I was reading it. I will be reviewing another book entitled Salvage the Bones at a later date.

Book Summary: Lenora Stone used to say if she didn’t have bad luck, she wouldn’t have any luck at all. At age thirty-eight, instead of socializing with Baltimore’s A-list, she photographs them for Baltimore Scene, a glossy magazine filled with beautiful people who, unlike Lenora, never have to worry about car trouble and overdue bills. As much as she’d love to slam the door on her overbearing boss, quitting isn’t an option. She’s barely making her mortgage payments and, though her condo might not be a palace, it’s hers. Lately even things with her boyfriend Gerald haven’t been right. They’ve been together for three years yet he can’t seem to ask the one question she’s been waiting for.

But what Lenora doesn’t know is that her luck is about to change…

Just when she thinks things can’t get worse, Lenora wins the jackpot in the Maryland lottery. In a heartbeat, all her dreams become possible. She quits her job and indulges her every desire—starting with a shiny, silver BMW and a million-dollar mansion. Gerald is finally ready to put a ring on her finger, and the city’s most exclusive women’s group is dying for her to join, officially moving Lenora from behind the lens, into the limelight. But in Lenora’s lavish new world, all that glitters definitely isn’t gold. Her old friend’s are concerned about her sudden changes, and Ray, a sexy, young landscaper Lenora covered for the magazine is looking for more than a purely professional relationship.

As her life starts to come together, the things Lenora holds dear begin to fall apart. Has her world really changed for the better, or does fortune come with a heavy price?

Book: Money Can’t Buy Love

Author: Connie Broscoe

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

ISBN: 978-0446534840

Pages/Price: 304/$24.99

Category: Fiction/African-American

Connie maintains her own blog at Writer Revealed and her Twitter account is here.

photo credit: Chris Hartlove

Connie Briscoe is the author of seven novels, one novella, and one nonfiction book.  Her third novel, A Long Way From Home, the story of her ancestors, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Her work has appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, USA Today, andPublishers Weekly.

Her nonfiction title, a photo-essay book featuring luminaries such as actress Ruby Dee and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, was coauthored with celebrated photographer Michael Cunningham. The collection of novellas was coauthored with Lolita Files and Anita Bunkley.

She currently lives in Maryland with her family.

Next up, I’d love to read her latest book co-authored with Michael Cunningham and contributed by Nikki Giovanni entitled Jewels: 50 Phenomenal Black Women Over 50. It looks amazing and the cover features the incomparable Ruby Dee which just about promises to get me to purchase it.

I was fortunate enough to be able to communicate with Connie (and become Facebook friends with her! See, Internet? I love you sometimes!) and ask her some questions about writing, her life, and her book.

1. What’s your background in writing and when did you begin?

My first novel was published in 1994. Before that I was an editor for many years.

2. When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When my first novel Sisters and Lovers was published in 1994 and I could quit the day job.

3. Tell me your latest news.

My seventh novel, Money Can’t Buy Love, was published on June 27, 2011.

4. Do you have a specific writing style? What writers do you like to read?

I read a variety of fiction genres, whatever strikes me: romance, mysteries, thrillers, chick lit, even the occasional classic. Yep, I’m all over the place.

5. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Everything about writing from plotting to character development to timing and proofing is a challenge to me. But that’s what keeps me growing as an author and motivated to write yet another novel.

6. Reading up on your biography, I learned that your family is very close-knit. How do they support you in your career? In your life?

They support me in many ways including encouraging me to keep going when I need that. Probably the most helpful thing they do is to allow me to have my time and space when I need it to write. Then again, there’s probably nothing much worse than living with a crabby author who can’t find a moment to write, so maybe that’s their motivation. Whatever, I’m grateful that they usually know when to disappear.

7. Your character, Lenora Stone, seems to be very relatable but she makes some obvious mistakes. How do you write your characters? Do you like your characters? Do you even have to as an author?

Yes, I like all my characters and for some reason I generally really like the difficult ones. I welcome the challenge of working with them, of bringing them to life and to full circle. They bring excitement and drama, and I crave that as long as it’s someone else’s drama.

I especially like Lenora in Money Can’t Buy Love. She’s not a glamour girl. She’s overweight, dresses plainly and lacks self confidence. She has money and man troubles. So when she lucks out financially and meets the man of her dreams she doesn’t always behave wisely. Like a lot of people.

8. Lenora struggles with figuring out what is important to her in life. Have you gone through that? What did you learn on the other side?

I think you’re always learning what’s important in life. And I think it changes and evolves with time and experience. I don’t think I would have been as wise about managing money when I was in my thirties, as Lenora is in Money Can’t Buy Love, as I would be now that I’m older. I also probably would have acted stupidly if I’d met a man like Raymond, someone who is very appealing but also very much unavailable. I’d be much smarter about meeting someone like that now that I’m older. At least I think I would.

9. Your book is about a woman who wins the lottery and hopes that it will fix all her problems. What’s the flaw in that thinking?

True happiness only comes from within. If your life is a mess before you come into a lot of money (or a desirable man), it will still be a mess afterwards.

10. Do you see yourself as a survivor considering the hearing difficulties you’ve gone through? How does that shape your world?

Most of hearing has since been restored but it definitely shaped and molded me in subtle ways. The hearing loss was what drove and motivated me to succeed early on. I had to prove that my hearing loss wouldn’t get in my way.

11. I saw an interview with you (and Bebe Moore Campbell, etc…) where you were asked about being black, a woman, and partially deaf. Does it bother you to be defined in that way or do you even see it as an option to not consider these things?

Goodness, you really do your homework! That was a long time ago and I cherish the memory of sitting on a panel with Bebe, if that’s what you’re referring to.

People are going to define you one way or the other whenever you gain any kind of recognition. The labels don’t have anything to do with who I really am at the core or how I feel. So no, it doesn’t bother me.

Thank you, Connie! I loved your answers and hearing more about you!

CONTEST! Did you see this one coming? Yes? Well, TLC is giving away a copy of her book Money Can’t Buy Love to one of my readers. It’s open to US and Canada residents. Contest ends Friday, July 29 at midnight. Winner announced Sunday evening. Just leave a comment on any of the following:

1. Do you have a question for Connie that you’d like to have answered? Ask away!

2. If you won the lottery, what would be important for you to maintain and cherish OR what would you do with the money?

*Disclosure: I was granted a copy of the book by Grand Central Publishing. A great big thanks to TLC Book Tours for including me in the tour.