After landing a job in the aerospace industry as a software developer, Eric Jerome Dickey’s artistic talents surfaced, inspiring him to become an actor and a stand-up comedian. However, it turned out that writing was what Eric Jerome Dickey liked, even if it might not have been something he had ever considered seriously when first starting out. Yet Eric quickly found out that writing was something he could do and do well. He had stumbled upon his talent back in a college English class since, as he points out, “The first assignment, I was the only one who did it right.” From creative writing classes to avidly consuming the works of his favorite authors, Eric Jerome Dickey began to shape a writing career of his own. Having written several comedy scripts for his personal comedy act, he started writing poetry and short stories. “The film work gave me insight into character development, the acting classes helped me understand motivation…All of it goes hand in hand,” Eric explains. He joined the IBWA (International Black Writers and Artists), participated in their development workshops, and became a recipient of the IBWA SEED Scholarship to attend UCLA’s Creative Writing classes. In 1994 his first published short story, “Thirteen,” appeared in the IBWA’s River Crossing: Voices of the Diaspora-An Anthology of the International Black Experience. A second short story, “Days Gone By,” was published in the magazine A Place to Enter.

With those successes behind him, Eric Jerome Dickey decided to fine-tune some of his earlier work and developed a screenplay called “Cappuccino.” “Cappuccino” was directed and produced by Craig Ross, Jr. and appeared in coffee houses around the Los Angeles area. In February 1998, “Cappuccino” made its local debut during the Pan African Film Festival at the Magic Johnson Theater in Los Angeles.

Short stories, though, didn’t seem to fulfill Eric Jerome Dickey’s creative yearnings. Eric says, “I’d set out to do a ten-page story and it would go on for three hundred pages.” So Eric kept writing and reading and sending out query letters for his novels for almost three years until he finally got an agent. “Then a door opened,” Eric says. “And I put my foot in before they could close it.” And that door has remained opened, as Eric Jerome Dickey’s novels have placed him on the map as one of the best writers of contemporary urban fiction.

Q: You are an eleven-time New York Times bestseller, and this is your fifteenth novel! Tell us about your road to success.
Hard work. Sacrifice. Perseverance. Criticism. Racism. Sexism. And that was the first day. Since then, lots or writing classes, lots of studying the craft, lots of reading, lots of rewriting, lots of business trips to promote books, lots of planes, lots of middle seats on planes, lots of trains, lots of automobiles, more classes, more studying, more writing, more rewriting.

Q: What made you decide to write? Was there a specific moment when you knew that this was how you would make a living?
I was between my 3rd and 4th novels (which means I had been at it close to eight years) when I was able to stop working full time and begin writing full time. And I do mean writing full time. Woke up at the crack of dawn like I did with my regular job and put my butt in the chair and did what I could do to make it happen. I’m still trying to make a living at it! I’m a long way from having chips stacked so I can retire to the West Indies and kick back watching the sun rise and set over lush mountainsides!

Q: Do you re-read your past books? Was there any particular book that was more difficult than others to write?
Never re-read any of my books. Like some actors don’t look at themselves on the big screen, I don’t sit down and re-read my own books. (Wouldn’t that be kinda….vain?) Besides, I already know how they end. LOL. Every book has its own challenges. Which was more difficult? I’d have to flip a fifteen-sided coin on that one.

Q: Your protagonist in Pleasure, Nia Bijou, is driven by desire and lust—how did you come up with/develop the character? Pleasure is your first erotic novel—what made you decide to try this genre?
All of my characters are fictional characters. I love creating fictional characters and tapping into different types of stories. Reading, doing research, traveling, all of that comes into play when developing a character. I sit in a place and think, what if…walked through here…what kind of scene could pop off here? (in Antigua at the moment, upstairs at the restaurant connected to the Antigua Yacht Club, looking out at a dozen or so super yachts… hills covered with palm trees… thinking…what if?)

Character development takes a minute; each character probably goes through a dozen “personality” changes before I get what I need to make the story work.

Q: Book publishing is a hard industry to break into for African American writers, and it’s even harder to stay on top-what do you attribute your success to? Any advice for aspiring writers?
Well, this is a job. Writing is work. All I can say is I get up and go to work every day. I put my butt in the chair and turn on the laptop, try to make a little progress before the brain goes numb. Not all has to do with creating a story. There is a lot of other biz stuff that has to be taken care of as well. Flowcharting, researching, walking around and people think you’re just looking at trees and being lazy, but your mind is working at warp speed. But when it comes to the writing, it’s about quality more than quantity. I’d rather have a solid couple of pages than ten pages of crap, just to say I typed in a lot of words on that day. In between doing my laundry and doing the regular things that regular people do, I try to read as much as I can. Most of the time, it’s books and magazines relating to whatever I’m working on. Most of the time. Not always. Watch movies, studying scenes and movement and dialogue. Study books on storytelling. Still take classes and seminars when I can. Each book is like starting over. That keeps me on my toes. Some days the writing flows; some days the ideas are coming; but most days it feels like I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing. People think it’s about writing, but it’s more about rewriting. It’s about playing What If? And sticking with it, no matter how tough it gets.

Q: What books are you currently reading?
At the moment I’m reading books by Lawrence Block. Loving the Hitman series. About to check out his other works.

For more information on Eric Jerome Dickey please visit www.ericjeromedickey.com. To purchase his latest book Pleasure please visit www.amazon.com

[Photo Credit: Curtis Wilson Photography]

• On the Line
  Donna Hill
• Here I Stand
  Paul Robeson
• Sellout
  Randall Kennedy
• Quiet Strength : The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life
  Tony Dungy
• Play The Game
  Doug Dixson
• Killing Johnny Fry : A Sexistential Novel
  Walter Mosley
• On Becoming Fearless : …in Love, Work, and Life
  Arianna Huffington
• The Souls of Black Folk
  W. E. B. Du Bois, Henry Louis Gates
• I’m Your Girl
  J. J. Murray
• Date like a Man: What Men Know about Dating and Are Afraid You’ll Find Out
  Myreah Moore, Jodie Gould,

A Bound Man
Shelby Steele

• Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
  Elizabeth Gilbert
• Waking with Enemies
  Eric Jerome Dickey
• The Secret Life of Bees
  Sue Monk Kidd
• The First Part Last
  Angela Johnson
• Kid’s Choice— Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes
  David Roessel (Editor) , Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad (Editor) , David E. Roessel (Editor) , Benny Andrews (Illustrator)

Clutch: You appear on several BET J shows, a new book, and you make Indie films. How do you define yourself?
Abiola: First of all, I don’t define myself by what I do, I define myself by who I am. So, to take it back to basics, I am a first generation Caribbean American woman who loves help other people claim their personal power. Sometimes that means by hosting The Best Shorts and giving other filmmakers a chance, or appearing as an opinionated community panelist on My Two Cents. Sometimes that means by directing art films and always by writing. No matter what changes happen in technology, I believe that writing will always be important. And if a people want to define themselves they do that by leaving libraries behind for future generations. I guess that in addition to being an artist and performer, I am your typical Clutch girl. I love life and I have something to say, and one of the ways I do that is in my new book Dare. I also lead workshops where I swoop in like Super Nanny for adults with all kinds of goodies in my pink satin doctor bag to give them a healthy kick in the self esteem. We all need that from time to time.

Clutch: Congrats on the new book. The cover is gorgeous. What is Dare about?
Abiola: I am so excited about this book! Dare is about a sociologist who goes undercover as a rapper and realizes that she prefers her new life to her old one. Basically, the story follows Maya, a good girl who has to go a little bad to find herself. Many of us have been there! We grow up being what everybody else wants us to be and we lose sight of ourselves. The story is a lot of fun—a really wild adventure with two best friends and some handsome men journeying the world of entertainment and self-esteem. I created an interactive site called www.daretogetalife.com that has the motivational worksheets and affirmations that Maya uses in the book to try to get a grip on her fun, crazy, partying adventure. Book clubs are loving it.

Clutch: You also shoot art films. What kind of films do you make?
Abiola:My films range form comedies to dramas. Stuff about mental illness to erotica. My films all reflect a passion for love and life. Viewers can watch clips of everything on my site www.abiolaabrams.com, but it has been my pleasure to reflect women of color in all aspects of our lives with the goal of empowering us—culturally, politically, emotionally and sexually.

Clutch: If there were a reality television show about your life what would viewers see in your typical day?
Abiola: It’s funny that you say that. In addition to The Best Shorts, I am launching Planet Abiola, a daily online show in association with Blackplanet. Tracey Cooper over there is incredibly supportive. The show combines the best of The View, Tyra, Best Week Ever, etc into a fun, crazy, sexy, mélange that will also have reality elements. If my life was a reality show during the day you would see me working really hard as a writer, TV personality, art filmmaker and at night you’d probably see me hanging with my friends or on a date. Yes, I am still a sassy single, as a friend of mine puts it (laughs). There is even going to be a boyfriend competition on Planet Abiola. It should be tons of fun. And of course, the reality show would also have to include my kitty Princess Anabelle.

Clutch: What sort of advice would you offer to a young woman starting out in the business today?
Abiola: This comes back to the main lesson in my novel Dare. More than anything that the best advice is to always remain true to yourself, because at the end of the day, it’s just you and your maker. The Goddess Factory is my motivational blog, and people can find that at www.thegoddessfactory.blogspot.com. It’s advice and tidbits about love, life, beauty, drama and scandalosity. Yum!

Clutch: We believe that you can tell a lot about a person by what’s in her purse. What do you keep in your clutch?
Abiola: Ooh. Good question! First of all, as an artist, I think that we should always have the ways to promote ourselves with us at all times. That means if you are an actress, you should have a headshot, if you are a singer, you should have a CD, a filmmaker, a copy of your film. I’m a girl who mixes the best of high and low culture. So, in my gorgeous Nancy Gonzalez crocodile tote right now I have a copy of my novel Dare, because I never know if I’ll run into Steven Spielberg in a café and need to hand him my book. I also have business cards—a must. Altoids are critical for a girl on the go. A small bottle of water to keep myself hydrated—a goddess gets thirsty. And of course the cell phone, bank card and cash. Most important though is a small notebook to keep track of new ideas, thoughts, writing that pops into my head. Ooh—and I also have little cards with my favorite affirmations: All things are possible, I am a magnificent and divine creation, and I have more blessings than I ever thought possible!

[Photo Credits: T'rah Veal]