I spent the last week at the National Association of Black...

I spent the last week at the National Association of Black Journalists/National Association of Hispanic Journalists historic joint convention in Washington, D.C. Soaring on the subway and walking around iconic buildings made me feel like an East Coast big city girl again. While I learned to become a better journalist, I also had the chance to meet an author I admire as well as snatch notebooks ideal for creative writing. 

Though I’m a business journalist, I’d rather write chick lit, fiction and young adult for women. One author I admire for skillfully writing mainstream chick lit with black characters is Tia Williams. I read her first novel, “The Accidental Diva,” several years ago and couldn’t believe a book like it existed. I read other chick lit novels by black authors with black characters meant for a mainstream audience, but the storylines fell flat. 

While venturing around the convention, I noticed Tia in a peach floral jumpsuit from her social media as she advertised her latest novel, “The Perfect Find.” I had previewed a chapter months ago and soon bought it on Amazon.com, but with trying to read books related to my current writing material, I hadn’t read it yet.

I went up to her and talked about how I loved her first novel, how I’m planning to read her last one, and how as a journalist I get flak for writing fiction for women. It turns out she even gets flak though she bases her characters around her real-life involvement in the beauty and fashion media realm. It was wonderful to hear how she became a writer.

So while I tried to improve my journalistic skill, I still got a drop of inspiration for my creative writing career.