TwoMindsFull: What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

We hope you all are staying cool and having some hot fun this summertime. We’ve been under the radar for a bit, but definitely not idle.

Usually you write your, “How I Spent My Summer Vacation,” essay when you get back to school, but since neither of us is matriculating (and we haven’t for a LONG time), we thought we’d get a head start. The first half we spent writing, and we are ecstatic to announce we have finished our next novel. It’s called Uptown and we had a ball bringing back two characters that readers of Better Than I Know Myself have grown to know and hate—Dwight Dixon and his ‘take no prisoners’ daddy, King Dixon. Many of you wanted to know what happened to Dwight after Jewell left him at the altar. Well, he has joined the family real estate empire and he is developing luxury real estate in newly gentrifying Harlem. For those of you who haven’t been introduced, get ready because there is plenty of family intrigue to go around. Dwight’s cousin, Avery Lyons is back in New York after almost twenty years and her presence definitely stirs up the mix. Now, it’s always hard to judge a book when you finally write, “The End,” but our editor loved it so much she kissed the manuscript when she finished reading! We were too tickled when she told us.

We got the cover for Uptown even before we finished writing, and we have to tell you, we love it! We’ll share it with you soon, but we keep peeking at it and grinning. Uptown will be out in March 2010, so we’ll keep you posted. In the mean time, we are taking a chill—and working on the plot of our next book.

As most of you know, we lost a unique voice this summer with the passing of E. Lynn Harris. He was generous and open with fellow writers, and supportive of up and coming writers, like Celia Anderson, whose young adult novel, Love, Ocean he championed. We are reminded, and hope others are too, to cherish every moment, and to pay attention to our health. Maybe we can all get our blood pressure checked in his honor and if it’s high take steps to get it under control.

And just a reminder that our last book, What Doesn’t Kill You, is in the running to receive an Open Book Award for Best Fiction at the African American Literary Awards Show. Now, this is where you come in. This is reader’s choice and your votes will determine the winner. Voting is open until September 4^th, so we hope you will log on and give us a vote. There are lots of your favorites nominated, and many categories so we hope you have fun and let your voice be heard. And definitely pass the info on to other book lovers so they can join in too. You can cast vote at: AALAS Award Vote Here (http://www.literaryawardshow.com/voting.html)