Tell us about Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box.

Lifting As We Climb is a middle grade, nonfiction book about the Black women—from slavery until now—who have fought to secure unimpeded voting rights for Black people in the United States. Typically, when we think about the suffrage movement in the United States, the dominant timeline tends to run from the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention through the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, but this book operates both before the Seneca Falls Convention and long after the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Lifting As We Climb begins in the mid-1800s with Black women we know, like Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, and some Black women who aren’t as popular in our cultural imagination, like Hetty Reckless and Sarah Mapps Douglass, goes through the Civil Rights Movement and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and it ends in the present day, with some information about the work Stacey Abrams is doing to end voter suppression. As we approach the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Lifting As We Climb feels particularly pertinent because it asks children and adults alike to think about how history is told and who is intentionally excluded from it in order to valorize specific figures.

Do you have a bird story or favorite feathered friend?

I love birds. My family and I have had two feathered pets: Sunshine, a parakeet whom we were gifted in 2003 and who died in 2006, and Mikey, a parakeet whom we were also gifted in 2003 and who is still alive and kicking. Mikey is twenty-two, and outside of cataracts, the veterinarian says she’s in perfect health. She’s a big-time talker: She can recite her name. She says “come here” and “pretty bird,” and she knows our entire family by name. She can also say “hey baby” and “hey buddy,” and when she really wants some attention, she has learned how to project her voice in a way that gets our attention. Our Yorkie, Pebbles, has inherited that latter trait from Mikey, so they both scream whenever they get ready.

What is your most memorable reading experience?

Reading has always been an integral part of my life, so it’s difficult to pick a most memorable moment. I’ll share a couple, if that’s okay: When I was three, I saw a commercial for Hooked on Phonics, and though my father told me not to call the number, I did it anyway. It was the first time I realized the phone dial included both numbers and letters. Thankfully, my father was kind enough to order Hooked on Phonics for me, and that was actually how I learned to read. I could read very well by the time I got to kindergarten, so my elementary school teachers would let me read to the class in the afternoons. I loved that, and I’m pretty sure it gave me the teaching bug early on. Lastly, the library was one of my favorite places to be as a child; our local librarians were like mother hens. We could be in the library all day, without parental supervision, and our parents would know we were safe because the librarians kept an eye on us. I first learned how to use the internet and participate in chat rooms in that very same library. Anyway, I used to check out dozens of books at a time because I loved to read at least two books at once; that’s a habit that has carried over. I still couple a fiction and nonfiction book together. It got to the point that I checked out one hundred books, so the librarians called my parents and let them know I was hoarding books. None of them were ever overdue though.

What makes you most excited about Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box?

I am most excited about the fact that Black girls and other girls of color are going to be able to read this book and know that they’re a part of a lineage of Black women who’ve always fought for something bigger than their individual selves. I wish I’d known that in fifth or sixth grade; everything would be different if I had. I am also excited about the possibility of children learning real, unfiltered history, rather than having to embark on a journey of unlearning, as I’ve spent much of my adulthood doing.

To tweet or not to tweet?

That’s a tough question. I enjoy being on Twitter because it allows me to connect with other writers and editors without needing to be in a media city, like Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York City. Twitter has also been a place for me to promote my own work and other people’s work that I’ve enjoyed. Over time though, I’ve become really disenchanted with Twitter for a number of reasons, including the unchecked harassment and a creeping feeling that people have expectations of me because I have a larger social following. In recent months, I’ve changed the way I engage with Twitter. I only tweet when I have absolutely nothing else to do, and I only engage with people I follow. So to answer the question, tweet to form connections and withdraw when you’re being harassed..

What books do you have in your bag right now?

I am knee-deep in Alyssa Cole’s forthcoming thriller, When No One is Watching. It’s a one-of-a-kind book about gentrification that will definitely keep you up at night. I’m also reading Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste and Morgan Jerkins’s Wandering in Strange Lands. Yes, I really carry around this many books. I still don’t know why.

Can you tell us your favorite rejection story?

After I left the teaching profession in 2015, I decided to ease my way back into freelance writing. In the process of juggling two weekend editor jobs, I submitted an application to a TV network, and they called me in for an interview. I was so broke at the time. I could barely cover rent, so my parents purchased me a new outfit, and they paid for me to fly to New York and fly home. I was so sure I nailed that interview. I just knew it. I completed an editing test, and then I never heard back from that hiring manager again. I was so sad. I felt devastated. I thought that was going to be my last opportunity to break into the industry. The team I would’ve joined no longer exists because the company has restructured several times. I ended up getting a senior editor job six months later that paid me $20,000 more and brought me back to New York—my native home and my favorite place on Earth.

What literary journals do you love?

I’m unsure if The Believer is a literary journal, but it’s by far my favorite literary-esque publication to read. I’m also fond of the writing published in The Oxford American, especially from Black Southern writers like Zandria Robinson and Kiese Laymon. Their work moves mountains and reshapes perspective; that’s the work that sticks with me.

What shakes your tail feathers?

Beyoncé! I’m a big Beyoncé fan. I’m also a huge fan of R&B music, hip hop, and soul in general. Right now, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” is the song that’s making me shake my tail feathers the most right now—literally.

What advice do you have for fledgling writers?

Don’t fall into a pit of despair. Success takes time. You just need to end up on the right person’s radar at the right time, but that can’t happen if you’re not writing. Practice your craft when you can. It’s a privilege to be a full-time writer, so even your favorite writer is likely balancing the literal writing with different responsibilities. There’s nothing wrong about squeezing in writing when and where you can. It’s important to stay focused on your own journey; don’t become a victim to the comparison game. You’re only seeing a person’s wins on social media, so you have no idea how much someone has struggled to accomplish what you’re publicly seeing. Lastly, it’s important to build some semblance of a writing community with people at the same phase of the process as you. You’re going to need the support to survive the publishing business.

What other eggs do you have in your basket right now?

I’m always working on one hundred different things at the same time, none of which can be properly announced yet. There are some book projects and other cool things that I’m spending my time on right now.