Cheryl A. Head's Blog, page 11
August 18, 2018
Aretha
Rest in the sweet Peace your music has given us.
You will always be the Queen of Soul
1942-2018
August 11, 2018
BookPeople’s Mystery Bookstore-within-a Bookstore in Austin, TX
I appreciate Scott Butki of Mystery People for this great interview. Thanks!
“Cheryl Head is a fresh voice whose mysteries include references to diversity and tolerance, in addition to humor and good plot twists. This is all on display in her new book, Wake Me When It’s Over, the second in her Charlie Mack Motown Mystery series..”
August 1, 2018
OutWrite and My Queery Q & A.
It’s been a while since I posted anything to the blog. I’ve been doing a whirlwind of interviews, planning for a book tour, and writing/editing.
I’ll be doing a reading, and a panel discussion at the OutWrite LGBTQ literary festival in Washington, DC on Saturday, August 4, 2018. But, last week I answered the Washington Blade’s QUEERY questions. Here’s a link to the online post.
And here’s the nice photo that accompanied the 20 Gay questions
Photo by Michael Key for the Washington Blade
June 23, 2018
The Times They are A’Changing
Wow. It has been a wild season of change which has kept me away from my blog.
I’ve been crazy busy. Mostly dealing with life. The ups and downs of it. The personal things that can drain your energy, and monopolize your time and attention.
Not necessarily listed in order of importance, but just as the events present themselves in my mind right now:
I’m helping my brothers and sister to find an Assisted Living Facility for my 90-year old
Mom and me in 2014
Mom. She is feisty, and extroverted, and opinionated, and a force of life to be reckoned with. It is only in the last 3 months that she has decided she doesn’t want to live independently. We all love her, and want what’s best for her. She will stay with my sister and her family, for now. It is a good, short-term solution.
I live in a home in Washington, DC that was built in 1850. The city Historical Homeowner’s Office wants me to rehabilitate the front facade of my Capitol Hill row house to its original look. 
It has been a one-year back-and-forth to apply and receive a grant to do this work which is now scheduled for this already disruptive summer.
I’ve had a change in my relationship status. That’s all I’ll say about that.
My ex-husband passed in May. He was a good man who helped everyone he could, whenever he could. He was full of jokes, laughter and fun. Our child, AJ, and I are still grieving his loss.
I had a new book released in late May. I have not had the time or space to be out and about with my latest Charlie Mack Motown Mystery, but she has received some positive reader reviews which I hope will continue. I’ll be out on the first phase of a book tour starting in July at the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) annual meeting in Vegas in July. I’m also happy to announce a mini-book reading/signing tour in Michigan in late August where I will appear at two Detroit Public Library branches for book club discussions, as well as a reading at Pages Bookshop in the Detroit neighborhood where I lived twenty-five years ago. I’m so excited to be promoting my book in the city that gave me my roots.
There will be more details on the Book Tour on my Events page. Please come out and see me if you can, and feel free to drop me a note, or comment, as the spirit moves you to do so.
Cheers
May 24, 2018
Motor City Mystery Thriller debut -May 22, 2018
What happens when Charlie Mack and her small team of private investigators are asked to stop a terrorist plot against the largest automobile show in the world?
There is the unraveling of a complex set of motives, the identification of the primary players, the murder of a team member, the clock ticking toward the cancellation of the show, and a final cat-and-mouse chase to find, and disarm, dozens of lethal bombs.
Oh, and there’s No Time for Sleep.
discounted eBook download available here (Bywater Books). Also available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever you purchase your books.
Check out the book trailer.
May 10, 2018
This Will Never Get Old!
Push, Push,
Light.
First Breath of Air
The Wail of Life
It’s A Book
By Cheryl A. Head
April 28, 2018
Three Exciting Writing Opportunities for Women of Color
There’s still time for Black women writers to join us. Applications accepted via @Submittable through 4/30. http://blacklesbianliterarycollective.org/retreat/
Sisters in Crime-Eleanor Taylor Bland Award Deadline 6/15/2018
Sisters in crime are accepting applications for their 2018 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award—an annual grant of $1,500 for an emerging writer of color! Deadline is 6/15/18. More details on their site: http://www.sistersincrime.org/etb
Golden Crown Literary Society-Bridge Builder Scholarship Deadline 6/1/2018
This scholarship, offered by the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) is offered to a woman writer of color who shows talent and drive in creating lesbian literature. The writer should be interested in working on a full-length novel or a collection of short stories.*
The chosen recipient will receive:
1) one, full tuition to the class of 2019 GCLS writing academy; and
2) individual one-on-one mentoring with a well-established writer in the genre of lesbian fiction.
In return, the candidate will:
Create a brief (one page) monthly report on that month’s lessons, their own work in progress, or GCLS promotions within their community.
Attend online classes and participate in the assignments to the best of their ability.
The candidate must be willing to show how they can help promote and support lesbian literature in general, and the writing academy specifically within their own communities.
Application deadline:
The candidate will submit a ten-page sample of their best work, along with an application by June 1, 2018. Candidates will be chosen by June 30th, 2018. Classes start in September of 2018, however, there will be a summer reading list assignment.
April 27, 2018
A Mystery Writer to Know: The indefatigable VM Burns
What I do In Between Writing Deadlines or Shameless Book Promotion
I met VM at Malice Domestic, the annual mystery confab attended by mystery writers and fans of cozy mysteries. If you like cozies, she is an author to know…and her books are ones to purchase. In this blog I
particularly like her appeal to readers to ask libraries to purchase our books so they will be available widely to all audiences.
April 17, 2018
Books, Broads, Beach
I had so much fun at the Rehoboth Beach 2018 Women’s Fest, an event sponsored by Camp Rehoboth. 
My writer/friends Stephanie Deoul, and Fay Jacobs (and fabulous broads) were on hand to promote their books which were recently honored by the Delaware Press Association. Fay is also a Camp Rehoboth Board member.
They, like me, are Bywater Books authors. We were joined by fellow authors, Marianne K. Martin, Ann McMan and Lisa Gitlin as well as our publishers, Salem West and Kelly Smith.
All the authors did readings (I read from my upcoming book), sponsored by GCLS, the premier supporter of lesbian-themed literature. We met readers and signed books, and I made it to the beach. Yaaaayyyy!!!
Wake Me When It’s Over will be available May 15, 2008 and can be purchased as an ebook at Bywater Books. Thanks for purchasing, reading, and reviewing my books.
April 4, 2018
…and He Couldn’t Be Killed
Long Live the King
(Detroit, 1968)
She saw it on television. The King was dead, and mama was crying. “He was a good man,” she told me. She held onto me so tight I could hardly breathe.
I got to eat breakfast in my pajamas the next day, and watch cartoons, because school was cancelled. Wile E. Coyote was trying to eat the Road Runner, but he couldn’t catch him. Coyote fell off a cliff and got smashed flat as a pancake. Daddy was home, so he watched TV with me for a while. I laughed every time Road Runner said “beep-beep” and took off down the road, but daddy didn’t laugh. When he changed the channel, we saw a whole lot of buildings on fire. There was a lot of smoke, and people were throwing rocks, and running back and forth, just like the coyote. Daddy took a handkerchief from his back pocket and blew his nose.
Unca Butch came to our house, and he brought a refrigerator, and a bunch of meat. Mama told him to get the refrigerator out of her house, but daddy said we was keeping the meat. Mama sat down at the kitchen table and folded her arms. “Sam, you know that meat is looted. It doesn’t belong to us. I’m not going to cook it or eat it.”
The vein on daddy’s neck jumped like it did when he paid bills. Me and Unca Butch watched to see what was going to happen next. “Woman, we are not going to turn down good food,” daddy yelled. “Money don’t grow on trees.”
Daddy said that a lot. About trees. But, he was right. All last summer, me and Kenny shot marbles under that big oak in his yard, and we didn’t see even one penny.
Daddy got mama’s biggest pot out of the cupboard and poured water in it. He put a ham in the pot and turned the fire on the stove way up. He told Unca Butch he would make him a ham sandwich. Unca Butch and I played catch, watched The Three Stooges, and then he gave me a piggy-back ride. Daddy said the ham was almost ready, but Unca Butch said he couldn’t wait anymore, and carried the refrigerator to his truck.
Mama made spaghetti for dinner. She made our plates, but daddy said he was going to eat a ham sandwich. He offered me a piece, and I took it. “How is it, Casey?” mama asked me. She gave daddy the evil eye.
I didn’t tell her it tasted like a rubber band, but it did. I know, because one time me and Kenny ate a rubber band. Daddy chewed and chewed. Finally, he swallowed hard, and took a drink of water.
“You’re too stubborn to eat crow,” mama said, and shook her head. Daddy took another big bite of his sandwich and chewed some more. I never ate crow, but I think it must taste better than looted ham.
At night time, we sat on the sofa and saw a TV show about the King. Mama started crying again, and daddy put his arms around both of us. “They shot him, but they can never kill him,” he told mama.
When I said my prayers, mama got on her knees next to me, 
and then she tucked me into bed. When I was falling asleep, I was thinking about how the King must be a lot like Road Runner, because he couldn’t be killed either.
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