To Protect & Serve & Me

The cover of my latest book created by the talented Linda Deane.

My Dream & Me

In the last two months or so I’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on my two latest novellas: To Protect & Serve (published today!) and Fantasy Fulfilled (soon come!).
It’s been a trying time – what with balancing the day job(s), the joys of motherhood and everyday livity. But then, these are trying times, right?
As the time to upload my books to my Smashwords page approached, I found myself dragging my feet on a number of issues – final edits, cover design approval, marketing…. Those sorts of things…. I recognised the familiar empty nest symptoms I seem to acquire whenever I’m about to release a new book.
Each of my books is a dear part of me and I always feel a sense of loss as I send them out into the world… also, to be honest I feel a sense of fear: Will readers like my stories? Will they like them enough? Will I have to hurt someone for daring to call my “children” ugly? And while I know these insecurities border on the ridiculous in some instances, knowing that hardly mutes the nagging doubts.
Last year I celebrated my birthday with a sense of sadness. No, not because of my advancing age (I ceased adding years a few years ago when I became comfortable with becoming 45 and saw no need to count beyond that milestone!) but because as much as I enjoyed and appreciated the gifts and the presence of family and friends at the small gathering, the one thing I want more than anything (well not anything but badly enough that I feel the burn in my belly!) still eludes me: international success as a bestselling author.
There was a time when my dream was to be a writer. Done!
Then I longed to be a good writer. Done (with constant room for improvement, of course)!
Then I wished to be a published writer. Done!
Now I want to known as a good writer! Globally!
I want to write stories so entertaining that people want to talk about them in the lunchroom at work… you know, like they talk about the latest popular prime time dramas.
That’s how I want to make my mark as a writer. (And while I’m at it I’ll also make some “foolish money”, as one friend puts it.)
That’s my dream!
Perhaps To Protect & Serve (Drama) and Fantasy Fulfilled (Romance) will be the ones to propel me towards realisation of that vision. The Ones.
Time will tell.
Meanwhile I keep dreaming; I keep the faith….
I write….

Nailah is founder of Caribbean Passion, the Caribbean’s premier Romance series. She is the author of the Romance novellas To Star, With Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, Second Time Around, and Cruising to Love. She is also the author of the YA novellas Colourblind, available on Amazon and Smashwords, and Pick of the Crop. Her latest novella is To Protect & Serve.

More Erotica & Me

In November 2012 I featured an interview with Eve Seymour, a new Caribbean writer of Erotica. Her rambunctious tale, Broken Rules puts her firmly in line to become the foremost Caribbean writer of Erotica. (Those of you who’ve read the book, please correct me if I’m wrong!)

Now, please allow me to introduce you to the work of Robert E. Sandiford, whom I consider the foremost Caribbean writer of Erotica at this time.

Robert E. is no newcomer on the local, regional and international scenes. Journalist, essayist, biographer, short story writer, novelist, video producer and editor extraordinaire, he is one of Barbados’s top contemporary writers.

To date he’s written and had published short story collections, essays, his memoirs, and (my favourite!) a series of erotic graphic novels: Attractive Forces, Stray Moonbeams and Great Moves.

What I like best about these comic books is the writing; the way Robert uses ordinary language in extraordinary ways; the way the illustrations (which are fantastic!) and the script complement each other so perfectly.

This isn’t a formal review so I’m not going to go on and on. You want to know more? You’ll have to beg for, borrow (not mine! So don’t ask…) or buy them and discover for yourselves.

Click here: http://www.nbmpub.com/eurotica/esandiford/esandifordhome.html or go to Amazon or any of the other major online bookstores.

If you’re in Barbados, go to The Book Place on Probyn Street in Bridgetown and get your copy. I think I bought their last copy of Stray Moonbeams, but I’m sure they’ve restocked by now. Drop them a line via bookpl@caribsurf.com to find out.

And, by the way, Intimacy 101: Rooms & Suites, a collection of erotic prose from which many of the comics stories were adapted, is due out in April so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

Finally, I must add: Fans of erotic fiction, these books are a MUST-READ! (And yes, I’m shouting!)

Now, please return the favour…. What book(s) are you eager to shout about? Let me know soonest….

Nailah is founder of Caribbean Passion, the Caribbean’s premier Romance series. She is the author of the Romance novellas To Star, With Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, Second Time Around, and Cruising to Love. She is also the author of the YA novellas Colourblind, available on Amazon and Smashwords, and Pick of the Crop.

To read more please visit: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/nailah

New Year's Resolutions (or lack thereof!) & Me

Reblogged from caribbeanpassion:

As a child (encouraged by my parents), every New Year I'd make long lists of things I planned to do to improve myself during the year. For the most part, the list-making was an exercise in futility, for my resolve would last the first four days of the year at most (and that was in a good year!). I must not have taken the ritual too seriously, though, since my self-esteem seems to have survived the trauma of such concentrated failure at such a young age.

Read more… 734 more words

Am reposting this because, really, the same goes for 2013! Having said that... this year I also wish for the endurance to complete the rollercoaster ride the next 12 months promise to be; I wish that I make it through in one (spiritual, emotional, mental and physical!) piece. 2013 is already looking like a time for many (life-changing) changes.... I'm looking forward to the ride! Are you?

The Concorde Experience & Me

 

Heads…

 

Every morning at 10 am or so the screams, shouts and laughter of about three hundred children enjoying morning break in the playground of George Palmer Junior School in Reading, England, were silenced momentarily by an ear-splitting bang issued forth from the heavens.

All play ceased as we stood, heads back, all eyes focused upwards, watching the miniature, beautifully distinctive shape of the supersonic jet – The Concorde – speed across the sky. Instinctively, we trained our eyes ahead of the noise, knowing that The Concorde travelled faster than the speed of sound.

If my friends and I were given a dollar for every time we pronounced, “When I grow up, I’m going to fly on The Concorde!” we’d probably have been able to afford to travel on it by the time we reached voting age!

These memories came rushing back to me again recently as I toured The Barbados Concorde Experience and realised that I’m probably the only one of our group of four close friends (The Fabulous Four, we called ourselves. Angela Walmsley, Susan Howell, Vicki (whose last name I can’t remember now for the life of me!), where are you now?) who has actually fulfilled that dream/promise.

 

Me about to enter the plane. (‘Plane’ seems such an ordinary name for such an extraordinary example of technology…)

 

Not that I’ve actually flown on The Concorde, but at least I’ve sat in the plush leather seats, viewed the menus and wine lists, flight logs and other knickknacks and imagined(!) what it was like to fly on it in its heyday.

 

 

Here I am walking down the aisle…

 

 

The Concorde has not flown now for almost a decade, but anyone interested in experiencing what must be, arguably, one of the greatest innovations of commercial aviation in the 20th century, can tour one of the planes, which is now at rest in the huge hangar next to the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados.

 

This is not the first time that I’ve visited BCE, but what made this experience extra special this time was that I was accompanied by my brother, (whom I’ve not seen in almost ten years) who is visiting from England, and I got to hear his similar experiences as a teen growing up in England. Like me, he remembers seeing and, of course, hearing The Concorde in full flight on its way to New York or Barbados or whatever “exotic” locale it was destined for at the time.

Me & my big brother Roger after the ‘flight’…

 

 

Up close, it really is a wondrous piece of technology to behold.

I don’t want to give away too much about what I’ve learned on the tours, because you should go experience it for yourself. Suffice it to say that the encounter must be well worth the admission fee since this is my fourth time at the BCE and I’ll go again, without hesitation, when next the opportunity arises.

 

… tails!

For me, visiting the retirement home of this great, white, beautiful bird isn’t just about seeing and learning more about the plane and its technology, it’s about the memories it evokes each and every time I see it. It’s about the memories of the sense of wonder I felt seeing it as a child. It’s about the memories of dreams and the seemingly endless possibilities that the plane represented then, in my childish innocence, and continues to represent for me now as a grown woman with a child of my own. It’s about coming to the realisation that anything is possible!

Even (as Sir Richard Branson is about to prove) a commercial flight to space….

Anything is possible!

Even (as I would like to prove some day soon) a little-known (outside of Barbados!) Barbadian writer becoming an internationally bestselling author….

What about you? Are you working to fulfill your dreams?

Nailah is founder of Caribbean Passion, the Caribbean’s premier Romance series. She is the author of the Romance novellas To Star, With Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, Second Time Around, and Cruising to Love. She is also the author of the YA novellas Colourblind, available on Amazon and Smashwords, and Pick of the Crop.

To read more please visit: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/nailah

 

Eve Seymour & Me

One of the books I mentioned last month was Broken Rules & other island variations by Eve Seymour. For many reasons it captured my interest and imagination and made me want to find out more about Ms. Seymour. In the e-interview she granted me, I found her to be quite enigmatic, which, of course, makes me want to know even more! See for yourselves….

NFI: Thank you for granting me this interview, Eve. I understand you don’t generally give interviews. Why is that?

Seymour: I’m a very private person. For obvious reasons.

NFI: Obvious reasons?

Seymour: Well, in my line of work, I have to be.

NFI: And what is your line of work?

Seymour: At the moment writer. Other than that I’d rather not say.

NFI: What would you be if you weren’t a writer and whatever else you are?

Seymour: Probably a shock jock.

NFI: Interesting! Tell us more about Eve Seymour.

Seymour: What else would you like to know?

NFI: Who is Eve Seymour?

Seymour: I can be whomever you want me to be.

NFI: Well, tell us about Eve Seymour the writer. Why writing? Why this book, Broken Rules?

Seymour: Writing is a hobby for me, really. Actually I write for a living, but it’s all very cut and dried, legal stuff. To relax, I create these crazy fantasy worlds and the people who inhabit them. Why Broken Rules? Because it’s a woman’s story that yearned to be told.

NFI: How would you describe Broken Rules?

Seymour: If I had to do it in one word, I’d say ‘hot’. Three words: ‘hotter than hot’. A sentence? It’s a story about an unusual woman who chooses to define herself and her sexuality according to her own ideals, rather than society’s. Broken Rules tells the story of her quest for the ultimate sexual experience which she knows she’ll only find with her sexual soulmate – a man willing to break every rule.

FI: Sounds deep.

Seymour: Not really. There’s plenty of x-rated action along the way. Nothing too highbrow. I guess my intentions only sound lofty.

NFI: What inspired this book? Is it in any way autobiographical?

Seymour: Actually, my husband inspired the book. It started out as a series of short stories, in the style of those letters you’d see in Penthouse Variations. He loved those but then both of us actually wanted to know more about the characters and their lives outside of these steamy, anonymous fucks…. And so, Broken Rules and other Island Variations was born.

As for the book being autobiographical…. I’ll never tell! No, seriously, I think all novels, stories, poems, songs are autobiographical to a certain degree. I think all writers tap into personal experiences when writing creatively. However, for the most part, Broken Rules is a work of fiction…. As far as I know….

NFI: What do you say to those who compare your book, unfavourably or otherwise, to the Fifty Shades Trilogy?

Seymour: First, I’m actually flattered by the comparisons – unfavourable or otherwise – and, frankly, I’m hoping such discussions will boost my sales! I’d love to sell a hundred million copies of Broken Rules!

Second, I’m not sure I see the connections apart from the fact that there’s BDSM in Broken Rules as well. But then there’s BDSM in a kazillion books available right now. And there’s also a lot more and different kinds of taboo sex in Broken Rules. I didn’t name it that for nothing!

Third, I loved the story of Fifty Shades. I really connected with it. But I didn’t think it was told in the best way. I can see where EL James will get better, though. She’s got potential as a writer. I’m still new to this game of writing and publishing fiction, but I’m an avid reader so I know what I’m talking about. Broken Rules is my first novel. I’ve been told I’m a good writer, but I like my readers to judge for themselves.

NFI: I know you’ve some very interesting views on the literary significance of the Fifty series. Will you share them?

Seymour: That’s a whole other interview. You’ll have to invite me back.   

NFI: I understand that you finished Broken Rules back in 1998. Why have you waited so long to publish it?

Seymour: I honestly didn’t think the world, the mainstream reading public, was ready for this book. More importantly, I wasn’t ready for them to experience this book. I’ve made a lot of changes to it because of that. Also, I had to figure out how to publish it without causing any collateral damage to my day job and my main source of income. It’s not that I’m ashamed of Broken Rules, but that if my clients were to discover my interests in this hobby, it might be difficult for them to take me seriously in the ‘real’ world.

And also, my close friends, three of them writers, read the book and kept urging me to publish it. When Fifty Shades became so popular, they started haranguing me again and so…. Here we are….

NFI: The book contains some truly memorable characters….

Seymour: Thank you.

NFI: You’re welcome. Any plans for sequels to Broken Rules?

Seymour: Actually, I’m working on the next book. It’s about Whorehouse Will, (one of the characters in Broken Rules) how he rose from poverty to prominence and the many trysts he enjoyed along the way. It’s called Where There’s a Whorehouse…. At least that’s the working title.

NFI: I, and I’m sure many others, am truly looking forward to reading that!

Seymour: Thank you. To you and all the many people who are reading Broken Rules and enjoying it enough to spread the word. I don’t take any of you for granted. All of the positive feedback I’ve been getting is absolutely inspiring. I really just hope I can live up to your expectations.

NFI: I’ve no doubt you will.

Seymour: And to you, Nailah, thank you for all of your encouragement, advice and other general support.

NFI: You’re most welcome, Eve. I look forward to the day when the world wants to know even more about you and I can say: ‘I knew her when…’   

Interested in finding out more about Broken Rules? Click here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/210195

 

 

Nailah is founder of Caribbean Passion, the Caribbean’s premier Romance series. She is the author of the Romance novellas To Star, With Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, Second Time Around, and Cruising to Love. She is also the author of the YA novellas Colourblind, available on Amazon and Smashwords, and Pick of the Crop.

 

To read more please visit: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/nailah

More Great Reads & Me

This month I’m chatting about some of the books I’ve read in the last few months.

I must say, my Kindle has done a lot to increase my reading rate (and it’s got nothing to do with the technology!). I finish books a whole lot faster now that I can take my rather “questionable” reading material and read it in public without fear of anyone pointing at the cover in open-mouthed shock. But enough on that for now….

In no particular order of preference, I present my views on:

•The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James
This was the reading assignment for an on-line book club I facilitate. I tried to read TBJ many moons ago (read: about 20 years!) but never finished it for various reasons. This time around I couldn’t put it down! Never before have I read a history book that portrayed Caribbean (more specifically Haitian) history, so vividly.

This book made me conjure horrific, though gloriously technicoloured dreams for a couple of nights! This book made me want to become (at least for a week!) a revolutionary in the fight against racism, slavery & human trafficking. Made me declare that when I become Queen of Barbados it will be obligatory for every adult to read this book! http://amzn.com/B002RI9LAI

•The Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy by E. L. James
Let me start off by saying that I am a 50SoG fan. Yes, yes, I know it’s not the best written book out there, but the story… the characters… I found them compelling. Compelling enough to disregard the repetitive writing. Compelling enough to suspend disbelief at Anastasia’s incredible naiveté. Compelling enough for me to speed read some of the sex scenes just so I could get on with reading the story!!!!!! The naysayers can say what they will; 50 million readers of erotica can’t all be wrong! http://amzn.com/B008BM9L72

•Broken Rules & other island variations by Eve Seymour
And speaking of 50SoG…. Reminds me of Broken Rules. Not a book for the faint-hearted reader of erotica! There are some shockingly hot scenes in this book, so be warned!
What I loved about it were the Bajan references (It’s not often one reads the word ‘unocep’ in a novel!); the counterpoint between the first and third person narratives and, naturally, its… um…. “naughtiness”. Broken rules indeed! http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/210195

•Impish by Derrick Hibbard
I don’t usually read books of this genre (paranormal comedy?), but thoroughly enjoyed reading this one which tells the story of Travis who, in hopes of improving his lot in life, sells his soul to the devil, and then engages in the fight of his life (literally and figuratively) to get it back. Hibbard writes vividly and it’s very easy to picture this on the big screen, complete with glorious special effects, especially during the final battle between good (albeit, flawed good) and evil! Well worth the read! http://amzn.com/B007L11HXA

•How to Write a Fiction Novel in 30 days or less by Nicholas Black
I very much identified with this writer’s experiences as a novice writer. And I enjoyed his telling of it (despite a fair number of typos. Sorry! The teacher/editor in me just can’t resist pointing that out!). While I’m past that stage of trying to figure out how to get started when writing a book, I’m not so far past it that I don’t remember it.

The technique outlined – using your favourite authors (and their books) as “mentors” during your journey – really works! I know because it’s the method I “discovered” for myself years ago.

If I’d had this book, back then, life as a novella-ist would have been much easier!

Having said that, writing a book in 30 days (or less!) still reduces to one thing… sitting down and writing! http://amzn.com/B00964S76A

Nailah is founder of Caribbean Passion, the Caribbean’s premier Romance series. She is the author of the Romance novellas To Star, With Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, Second Time Around, and Cruising to Love. She is also the author of the YA novellas Colourblind, available on Amazon and Smashwords, and Pick of the Crop.

To read more please visit: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/nailah

Doing Me

A wonderful mural created by children participating in Bim Lit Fest 2012 (Photo credit: June Stoute)

I’ve not posted here for a few months. Too busy ‘doing me’. You know what I’m talking about… living life to my fullest potential; recognizing that said potential changes and expands every time a new goal is met.

When I began this journey 12 months ago, inspired by a number of events which converged at that time to inspire me to live my life more fully (read Rihanna & Me to ‘discover’ what one of the major events was), I had no idea of the wondrous adventure that awaited me.

 

Pretty COLAs all in a row… This is me (centre), former Cultural Officer Literary Arts, with current Cultural Officer Literary Arts Ayesha Gibson-Gill (left) and another former COLA DeCarla Applewhaite enjoying each others’ company at one event of the inaugural Bim Lit Fest – May 2012, Queen’s Park, Bridgetown, Barbados. (Photo credit: Michelle Springer)

 

Along the way I’ve ‘met’ some fantastic friends via the internet; published five ebooks (you can check those out here) and inspired and assisted other writers in achieving their writing and publishing dreams. I’ve performed at numerous shows, facilitated workshops, read some fantastic books (more on that in an upcoming post!) and written first drafts for three more novellas which I’m aiming to share with you soon.

Me on the Mic as MC at Green Readings 2012 (GR12), Hastings, Christ Church, Barbados – June 2012. (Photo credit: June Stoute)

Whew! And all this while holding down my regular 8 to 8 ‘gig’ as a teacher and my 24/7 ‘gigs’ as mother and life partner! I’m actually amazed I’m still standing! (It’s amazing what a good multivitamin can do for you!) Heck! I’m not standing, I’m dancing! And singing! And giving thanks for every step of this journey thus far.

Here I am performing Birthwrite, a story written specially for the event Crop Over Read In, during Barbados’s premier festival Crop Over. I feel so blessed to have been apart of this event. Remembering the night still gives me shivers! Powerful work performed by all… July 2012 (Photo credit: BarbadosCropOverFestival.com)

 

Multi-talented rising Bajan star Rebel Glam & I got to share some quality time at this year’s I-Queen Royal Sunday event. August 12 in Bridgetown, Barbados (Photo credit: Rachelle Gray)

 

And, while I’ve not reached a place where I can say I’m living the life of my dreams (let alone one beyond my dreams), I’m incredibly happy doing and being me…. Wait a minute! I…am…incredibly…happy! I AM living the life of my dreams after all…..

Are YOU doing YOU? Leave a comment and let me know. You know I love to hear from you!

Peace, Love & 1 Love, my friends……

Nailah is founder of Caribbean Passion, the Caribbean’s premier Romance series. She is the author of the Romance novellas To Star, With Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, Second Time Around, and Cruising to Love. She is also the author of the YA novellas Colourblind, available on Amazon and Smashwords, and Pick of the Crop.

To read more please visit: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/nailah

On Writing & Me

It began when I was about 7 or 8 years old. Summer Holidays. England. Mid-70s. Heat wave! It was the heat wave (English summers typically total 3 days of warmth!) that gave us the opportunity to engage in lots of outdoor activities and summertime adventures: picnics by the River Thames; road trips through the countryside to quaint towns; a coach trip or two to the seaside -Blackpool.Brighton.

My mother (ever the schoolteacher!) made keeping a journal a must for me and my school-aged siblings. And I’m journaling still – forty years later.

Back then I kept writing because it helped me sort my thoughts. My diary was a safe place for me to vent pent up emotions. My diary wouldn’t send me to my room for backchatting, or run and tell my mother that I’d called it an idiot, or blab my ‘secret’ crush of the week to the entire school!

As time passed, journal writing (as well as my love of reading!) propelled me into the world of creative writing. I would write plays, poems and stories based on some of my journal entries and, like many teenagers going through pubertal, hormonal flux, my work was often dark, inspired by and/or inspiring some personal crisis, sometimes (kinda!) vulgar (or as I liked to say back then, “Real!” as in “keeping it…”) and, sometimes, appealing with a few scattered gems embedded, but, usually, actually not all that good.

Things had improved by the time I hit my mid-twenties. Praise Jah!

These days I write because I recognise that on a spiritual level, writing brings me closer to Jah. When the Bible says He made us in his image, it cannot be referring to our physical form. Jah is spirit; He has no (inherent) physical form. He is also Supreme Creator. Made in His image, we are creators too. I create people and worlds in my writing. I breathe life into characters and guide them until they can fend for themselves and make their own decisions (and invade my dreams bearing arguments for why they wouldn’t ever, ever, do the things or say the things I’m making them say in my story!), and eventually live relatively happily ever after.

I have to admit that I also write as self medication. If I don’t I become irritable in short order. If I didn’t (as in ever!), I’d probably go insane. Take away my writing implements and I’d be like the Marquis de Sade – writing on the walls in my own blood.

I write, too, because I have something (actually many somethings) to say. Different perspectives to offer. Different worlds to create and share. Different ways to educate and entertain.

And so I write because I want to be read.

I write because I love writing. I live to write and write to live. And I love the idea/possibility/potential/reality of making a living doing what I love.

I write because I want to live forever in this realm.

While acknowledging that spirit never dies, I overstand that when I’m gone from this physical plane, my writing – these many, varied pieces of I – will remain here; my words, scattered far and wide across the globe….

Now, I pray my departure doesn’t occur anytime soon. Despite life’s challenges (and there are many these days!), I’m enjoying this livity too much to want it to end so soon! There are just so many blessings….

And so…

I write….

What about you? How do you express the Creator in you? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Nailah is founder of Caribbean Passion, the Caribbean’s premier Romance series. She is the author of the Romance novellas To Star, With Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, Second Time Around, and Cruising to Love. She is also the author of the YA novellas Colourblind, available on Amazon and Smashwords, and Pick of the Crop.

To read more please visit: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/nailah

Whitney & Me

This is my 7th post and I’ve only just realised that these posts are all one story. Each post segues into the next. Case in point….

Last month one of the things I wrote about was my feelings about the death of Whitney Houston.

A friend (Thanks, GaleW!) sent me a link to the 2009 Oprah interview of Whitney. Now, I’m not a big Oprah fan. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the woman immensely and recognise the fantastic contribution she’s made in many arenas (One of the things I do love about her is the obvious joy she gets from giving. Don’t believe me? Find one of her giveaway shows on-line and watch how excited and happy she looks when the audience shows its appreciation for whatever super-expensive trinket she’s managed to stuff under their seats!), but I dislike how her interviews always disintegrate into her declaring, “Me, too!”

Anyhow, I digress…. The Oprah-Whitney interview – a two-parter – was one of the best interviews I’ve seen Oprah conduct (except when she got to the “Me too!” part at the end of Part One!).

Whitney was clearly in denial about some things, but it was a candid interview and I gained a new appreciation for her as a person. I felt compassion for her and for the first time saw her as somebody other than just a superstar who foolishly threw away her life. What she had to say about her experiences as a mother particularly touched me.

In part two of the show, Whitney performed live; a song called I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.

I was shocked and amazed.

Whitney’s voice had changed so much from those “I wanna dance with somebody, saving all my love, I will always love you” days that had I hardly recognised it. (I’m only a little embarrassed to admit that I was hearing this 2009 hit for the first time! But, to tell the truth, once Whitney married Bobby and started acting “weird”, she’d dropped entirely off my musical radar.)

What I heard was a voice matured and enriched by time and experience.  If she had lost her voice, as her detractors claim, she’d found a vocal instrument just as powerful with which to replace it! She still had range and still sounded great but now her voice spoke to me and resonated in a way that it never had thirty years ago

Thirty years ago, while Whitney was looking for somebody to dance with, I was happy to be single and rocking to Queen and The Police or skanking to the king himself – Bob Marley (you thought I was gonna say Michael Jackson, didn’t you? Admit it!).

Whitney’s performance on Oprah, led me to YouTube where I watched videos for I Look to You and Million Dollar Bill. The former brought tears to my eyes; the latter put a smile to my face (plus had me bouncing in my chair!).

Then I checked out the video of her performing I Didn’t Know My Own Strength at an awards show. It’s from that show that the now iconic photograph of her taking a bow, silhouetted by a halo of light, was taken.

Since then I’ve listened to every song on that final album I Look to You and find that her voice – that voice! The Voice! –  and the lyrics have moved me enough to buy the album. My favourite tracks? Million Dollar Bill, Call You, I Look to You, Like I Never Left, A Song for You, I Didn’t Know My Own Strength, Worth It and Salute.

I apologise to my friend Heidi who was so embarrassed that she hid her identity in headscarf and shades as she made the purchase for me! However, I’m not embarrassed to admit that I’ve got a Whitney album! I still won’t sing or dance to any ABBA song in public, but Whitney?

I’m just sorry there won’t be another….

To read more of my work please visit: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/nailah