We’re excited to welcome Angelia Vernon Menchan and Dera R. Williams for our Black Book Chat today. They will be sharing more information about their recently released book Mother Wit: Stories of Mothers and Daughters, how they came up with the idea and more!
If you haven’t purchased a copy, be sure to do so via Amazon.com or via Smashwords.
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MOTHER WIT explores the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, stepmothers and stepdaughters and it encompasses the romantic and family relationships that bind, separate and bond them one to the other.
Angelia Vernon Menchan is a wife, mother, mentor, writer, publisher, and child of God; whose goal is to reach as many as she can through the written word and do what God has asked of her, Mentor by Writing. Angelia resides in Jacksonville, Florida with her love of 32 years; Maurice Menchan. Mother Wit is her 10th book published through her company MAmm Productions since 2006.
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Dera R. Williams lives, works and plays in the Oakland/Bay Area where she is employed at a local community college. Proud of her southern roots, she is the family historian and storyteller. As a writer she has contributed to several anthologies and journals, most recently, Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady. Dera had also done academic writing for reference manuals.
She is a book reviewer in print and online publications, and active in local literary events. She is the proud mother of a daughter and soon to be grandmother.
Today’s Black Book Chat is a bit later than we normally do them, but we’re glad you all were able to stop by and join us. Please start off by telling us what led you to collaborate on MOTHER WIT. I love the title and can not wait to read this, especially since I’ve been in groups with you both and have loved reading your reviews. So, share, share, share!
Everyone else…welcome!
-Tee
Thanks Tee. In 2009, Angelia had done a book with three younger writers. She said she had an idea for another book. In December she invited me to be apart of Mother Wit., a book dedicated to her mother. I’m sure she will tell you more on that. Submission were due May 31 and initially there were three of us.
Hey Dera,
believe it or not that Anthology was just in January. Yes, originally it was going to be Dera, Idrissah Uqdah and I, but Idrissah was unable to participate at this time, maybe later.
Really? The months just seem to roll into one another. Time waits on no one.
Doesn’t it, Dera? I hate to keep repeating myself, but I can’t wait to read it. I always enjoyed your reviews and our interactions when I was in APOOO’s book club. I’ll be sure to let you know once I’ve read it.
Can you give us your background as many of us know you through your reviewing. And, are you working on any solo projects? If so, when can we expect it?
-Tee
I mentioned earlier I have three unfinished manuscripts. I am not disciplined the way I should and want and need to be. Also, my stories are so involved and require loads of research and I get discouraged and then say, scrap it and then pick it up. I need to rejoin a writers group and or get a coach that will hold me accountable. I have so much going on, lots of other short writing projects, genealogy writing and now I have been approached about writing our church’s history. I need help! LOL
Thanks for having us. Dera and I were reviewers together and I decided to do an anthology with her focusing on Mothers and Daughters. The book was released on August 9th which would have been my mother’s 80th birthday. My stories are a cross section of contemporary stories, Stepmama is about a troubled teen who resents her new stepmother, who may become her saving grace. On My Own Two touches on teen pregnancy and Divana’s Mama is a switch when the daughter takes on a parenting role. Dera will explain her stories when she arrives, again thanks for having me.
angelia
What a wonderful idea and a great tribute to your mother. Sounds like this would be a great gift to mothers, daughters, expecting mothers, etc. Also, kudos to you for reaching out to other writers and assisting in getting their work out there. I love it!!
-Tee
My mom and I had a great relationship, though in the teen years it was fraught with her having a know it all daughter. Lord. The one constant though was that I always knew she adored me and supported anything I did. Her fearlessness and mother wisdom still sustains me. I feel blessed that I can do it. I try to live my motto, well one of my mottos; “A Hand Open in Giving is never empty.”
angelia
I think most of us went through our know-it-all stages as a teenager. It’s something mothers have to endure and being the mother of a daughter, it all came back on me as my mother said it would. LOL
Mama and I laughed about it all the time years later. She would seem not to remember how sassy I was…she always wished I had a daughter…:} I now have Princessa but she is convinced I can do no wrong. She is sitting on my lap now. Mench and I are going out of town tommorow so I drove by to pick her up. She will give her mama and run for her money, I am sure.:}
I know Princessa will just do that.
You know this is not my first mother/daughter project. I was a part of Reshonda Tate Billingsley’s anthology, “Help! I’ve Turned into My Mother.” My piece, My Mother, Myself is about my recognizing that I was telling my daughter some of the same things my mother told me. You know stuf like: Ladies do this, ladies don’t do that; Girls don’t call boys; Ladies don’t chew gum in public, Don’t wear white after Labor Day. ROTFLMBO.
Cool, I never read that, got to get it. I have so much of my mom in me and I sound exactly like her and she was one for turning a phrase; on the ‘rare’ ocassion I have to really tell someone off, people always say, ‘Just like Ora Lee…” My mama loved, fed and took care of many, but she did not suffer fools…at all.
Hello ladies…!! I loved this book and highly recommend to all. The characters had me laughing, raised my eyebrow, some needed slapped upside the head, one or two needed a hug and the like. What a great paring of the two of you ! Excellent !
Thanks Linda,
I soooo appreciate that, I am a short story writer in my heart…and I loved doing these and working with Dera.
Wow, Linda thanks! I hadn’t realized you read it. Glad you enjoyed it. My first official “reviewer”. LOL
I already wanted to read the book, but the review made me want to read it even more. It’s coming y’all, it’s coming (the review.)
Sooooo, for those who haven’t read it already or heard about it, are there multiple stories from each of you?
There are three from me and two from Dera, I was only going to do one, but when Idrissah was unable to participate, I wrote a couple more…
angelia
I would have done a third when I realized Idrissa wasn’t going to be apart but there wasn’t enough time to do the story right that I had outlined.
I wrote Stepmama and On Her Own Two in a week…the ideas were in my head, had to get them on paper….
angelia
I might be able to do a quick write in a short time but I belabor a piece, keep going back, changing, revising, leaving it for a while, researching, have doubts. Scrap and start over. Rarely is it the way it started.
I write fast and hard: then I will leave it. Go back several times, rarely does it change…there is an internal thing that tells me when to take my hands off it…Most full novels take me about two months…the other time is spent working on it…
angelia
My first story, “Song for a Pretty Girl” is set in WWII era Chicago. Claudine is a self-willed woman who can’t seem to get her life together and her mother’s voice is always in her head.
“Searching for Mama” is about a young woman who was raised by a great aunt because of her mother’s addictions. Her older cousin was also raised by this aunt because her mother was sick. There is a lot of resentment and anger and it comes to a head on day of the aunt’s funeral.
Angelia and Dera, I enjoy both of your writing.
What advice would you have for other writers interested in doing joint projects?
Thanks Shelia,
I am not sure what advice I would offer. I simply love having other voices join mine in a collaboration. My goal is to try to do at least one per year, where other authors join me and we write complimentary stories. I have a couple things always working on the back burner. Both my sons are excellent writers and I plan to one day do somethng with them. I would say make sure that the writers are committed to the project and understand the terms.
angelia
Thanks Angelia. I’m sure your sons will be excited to write with you.
We will see:
angelia
Hi Shelia,
Glad you could make it.
I have had several nonfiction pieces published in anthologies were there were anywhere from 15 to 30 or more stories. So, you more or less follow the guidelines and get your story in by the deadline and wait to see what happens. Will they choose me or not? This is my first published fiction. I have files of short stories that were either rejected or just set in my computer.
This was my first co-authored book and I was nervous… but happy and that my name would would be on the cover. I appreciate the work ethic and professionalism of Angelia. I am learning a lot; she’s a pro with several books under her belt.
My advice in a publishing effort such as this would be to again follow the guidelines, including word count, etc. and to be in contact with the author/editor and voice concerns and be on the same page. If you don’t know, ask. Be respectful of deadlines and write the best story you can. Get feedback and have readers who will give you good feedback.
Writing short stories can be harder than most people think. Considering I have three unfinished novels (that’s another story for another day_, LOL, short stories have to bring the reader in and it has to have a quick ending. Now, the ending might not be what you want or think or it might not even be complete, but that is the nature of a short story.
Well said Dera, and it was easy working with you, I could feel your ‘jitters’ near the end. Writing is scary, it is much like walking around naked in public, you know folks are going to say something, but you are never sure what…I have learned to like being nekkid!
angelia
Well, as I said, this was my first fiction and I think, maybe I’m wrong, that people judge you more by your “storytelling.” I feel confident writing nonfiction because most of the pieces were personal, memoir type, or something I felt passionate about. In fiction you have to step outside of yourself and imagine a different world and characters.
Dera, thanks. I’ve wanted to submit to one of the Chicken Soup of the Souls but haven’t done so yet. I will keep what you’ve said in consideration.
Shelia, my first publication was in 2002 for the Cup of Comfort series, in this case, A Cup of Comfort for Women. They are more or less like the Chicken Soup series. I remember getting rejected for Chicken Soup and there used to be online workshops on how to get into Chicken Soup. And now A Cup of Comfort is just as competitive and hard to get in and also holding podcasts for the same thing. They had the nerve to reject something of mine and I’m a veteran. LOL. If you go to their website, they are always asking for submissions.
The thing with anthologies though is the waiting game. A Cup of Comfort pretty much held to their timelines. Submit by this date. You will hear one way or anothr by this date. We will publish this date, Send your bio, etc. Here’s your check. I got spoiled but it wasn’t like that for most of the others. You wouldn’t hear anything for weeks and months. I no longer follow those guidelines about submitting to one publisher. If that was the case, your piece will be held up for a year or more. I say submit and whomever wants it, gets it and the others, oh well.
I really saw the egos of editors and flakes who just talked the talk, didn’t take care of business. The writer’s time is just as precious and valuable as the publisher.
Hey Angelia and Dera…..thank you for joining the chat. Ok ladies although I’ve never met either of you in person I’ve always enjoy your posts in the groups we’re into together….so it’s only fitting I can’t wait to read your collaboration.
Thanks Sharon, much appreciated…
angelia
Hey Sharon. Thanks so much for dropping by and your comments.
Y’all, I’m at work and I am three hours behind most of you so it is the busy part of the day, so I have to tend to business every once in a while. LOL
No worries, Dera. The post will remain open all day, so you’ll have time to peek in and out as necessary. And, for those who can’t make it today, it’ll remain up for at least a week; it might even be set to 14 days.
Thanks again for joining us.
We need to do this as a book discussion, huh?
It is interesting discussing short stories. My local book club seemed to enjoy discussing on of J. California Cooper’s short story collections but they seemed frustrated discussing Edward P. Jones’ first collection, Lost in the City. There were a few of us who really got into it and were able to break it down and then they were more receptive.
Yes ma’am…#grinning#
Congrats Angelia and Dera! I haven’t read the book as yet, but I do I have it. We (writers) come up with our ideas in a different way. How did each of you come up with the ideas for the stories you contributed to the collection?
Thanks Jennifer, I am not sure I come up with, usually they occur to me, in life experiences, dreams, conversations, music…
Hey Jennifer,
Just getting back to the chat. Yesterday afternoon and evening was busy and this morning at work, unusually busy for a Friday but this is the first week of classes.
I love telling how I got the idea for Song for a Pretty Girl. My mother’s first cousin, Pauline, died. My aunt and cousin came up from Los Angeles and we all went over to the funeral in San Francisco. Cousin Pauline was almost 90 years and as a kid she was always the glamorous aunt who had had several husbands and suitors and was always taking trips. She left Arkansas as young woman and moved to Chicago. During the funeral, several of her great nieces and nephews, my cousins, were talking about her and it was mentioned how she was a dancer and was in the night life. One of them said she told them stories about barely making it and that she had to jump out of window more than once to get away from a rooming house where she couldn’t pay the rent. I was so enthralled with that story, that I used that as the first scene and I named the character Claudine.
Searching for Mama came to me because of conversations I have had over the years in talking about our mothers with different women. I remember at a church I attended I had some friends who were sister-in-laws. Both of their mothers were confined to sanitoriums for tuberculosis in Louisiana during their childhood. One’s mother was for a fairly short time because she came home and finished raising her kids, but the other woman’s mother hardly raised her. Her aunt did it from the age of 2 years all the way through. When her mother did come home as a teenager, it was agreed that she would stay with that aunt. Another young lady I knew, her mother died when she was four years old. Both of these women had resentment towards their mother. It sounds crazy, one was sick and the other died through no fault of their own. That was always bewildering to me and I wanted to touch on it. How not having your mother shapes you.
Hey Mama Deep and Dera!
I read Mother Wit this past Saturday and LOVED it! I’m all about reading (to use Mama D’s words) fictionalized truth and that’s exactly what you delivered. Congrats!
Thanks G-NIce and I LOVE and thank you for that!
Hey Darnetta,
Thank you sooo much. Glad you enjoyed and you are so right about fictionalized truth. My stories came from real life inspirations. It is amazing how much our environment informs our stories.
So, what’s up with you? Are you writing?
Hey Dera
You’re welcome! Of course I’m writing….and of course not as much as I should….LOL