Becoming An Advocate For Female

Empowerment Through Fiction

When I first began to write my novel Before The Lights Go Out, it was for

selfish reasons. I was living paycheck to paycheck, on public assistance, and only a

high school diploma. I was in the woods and I didn't realize how deep I'd allowed

myself to deviate from the vision I had for my life. Of course, I saw my writing as

a gateway to a better life for me and my family. I wanted the fame and the instant

glorification of being respected in an industry that I admired. Honestly, I still

would like to be famous and successful. However, my selfish attitude has shifted

and become diluted. My desire to become rich is more psychological than anything

else. So, I needed to re-exam the purpose behind my gift. It wasn't until I was able

to accept my reality that I realized my gift has a higher calling than just to become

financially stable. It's one thing to exist and it's another to actually live and thrive. I

want to live and thrive, more importantly I want my work to be a representation of

who I am and the I am becoming.

After being honest with myself and researching online about how to become an

author for years and years. I realized the message and brand that I want to convey

is female empowerment. It became clearer in the way I changed from wearing

weaves and perms to rocking my natural tresses. To gravitating to women in

different industries whom were making statements about self-love, self-worth, and

redefining life on your terms. I became empowered by the words and actions of

Nina Simone, verb age of Jill Scott, and the individualism of Janelle Monae. I

began to see my writing career as an opportunity to either reconstruct the way

society views beauty and women or buy into objectification and misogynistic way

women are portrayed on TV and media. To write books about women in pursuit of

materialistic things and flawless love is not real. Women are more than just

mindless body parts. We are the creators of life and the backbones of our

communities. But, it becomes almost impossible to find positive messages of

female empowerment today. Too often we are often depicted ad vapid, hell raising,

glorified sex goddesses, or more. I often wonder what messages are we sending our

young girls. Yes, it is okay to embrace your femininity, but you don't have to

exploit your body and sacrifice your integrity to get noticed.

It is my intention and my hope to convey through my novels, short stories, and

more real women. Real women whom struggle with self-worth, self-love, and

finding their place in this world. I want to create empowering and dynamic female

characters who are not victims of their circumstances. They are victorious leaders

of their lives and communities. If nothing else when a reader reads the last page of

my novel I want them to know that there is hope, there is a light at the end of the

tunnel, and that I am a champion of women. An advocate of female empowerment

and a proponent of change. It is my hope to inspire, motivate, and change as many

lives as possible. The fight of female empowerment doesn't end with me, but with

your help we can keep it going.