More new wearable art!

I made some more new wearable art pieces just in time for my open studio tonight. 

Come see for yourself! I'm open from 7 to 9 p.m.

The Fine Arts Building 

410 S. Michigan Avenue 

Studio 632F

Downtown Chicago 

What to the Anti-fascist is the 250th Fourth of July?

America, Anathema  |  miniatures and scrapbooking stickers  |  2026

As the country where I live creates its retrospectives on its 250th anniversary, I would like to share a retrospective of my own. Here are some posts I've written about America over the years.

'Murica! Land of the Free, and America, Anathema - 2026

"The status quo that so many hope to return to was built upon a well-concealed moral rot. Now it seeps out for everyone to see, but as a Black woman with a knowledge of American history, none of it shocks me."

100 Days of Hell - 2025

"I am disgusted but not surprised or afraid. Because I have always assumed the worst of everyone in the administration, nothing they do shocks me. I wouldn’t put anything past them. Nothing is too senselessly depraved for them to try."

The Inevitable Was Bound to Happen - 2021

"I'm not a patriot. I don't feel a sense of ownership or belonging when it comes to my citizenship in the United States. I've always felt like an outcast. I've always felt disregarded, disrespected and dismissed by the powers that be. I've never let myself get emotionally attached....I just live here."

Reflections on a Month of Rebellion and Reckoning - 2020

"But what can you expect from a society that exalts its police and soldiers above the rest of its citizens? What can you expect from a country so infatuated with violence?"

We Need New Monuments - 2017

"Every day there has been a new insult to injury. Every day there are insipid op-eds and social media posts by people who either lack the critical thinking skills, the awareness, the fortitude, or the moral courage to stand for anything calling for everybody to just get along with their oppressors, dealing in mindless false equivalencies, saying that it's not that bad, telling us we complain too much about 'identity politics' and need to 'get over it,' talking about how shocked they are, interviewing the fools who voted for Trump to try to force the rest of us to empathize with them, or saying that we shouldn't punch Nazis."

And I feel like no Fourth of July observance is complete without this powerful speech that Fredrick Douglass gave in 1852:

Reflections on my first solo trade show exhibition

As I mentioned last week, this year I finally had the chance to sell my books to librarians at the American Library Association's annual conference at McCormick Place. This has been a dream of mine since I decided to publish A Bitter Pill to Swallow in 2016. The problem was finding a way to afford it. In the meantime, I found more budget-friendly shows to participate in. I started by partnering with the Foreword booth in the May 2016 Book Expo of America trade show at McCormick Place. They're a journal that promotes work by independent authors and publishers, and they offered a place on their shelf and a ticket to the show for a very reasonable price. Since then, I also participated in the very first Chi Teen Lit Fest, the Printers Row Lit Fest, the Soulful Chicago Book Fair, The Chicago Young Adult Book Fest, and The Children's Book Fair, among others. I even had a prior experience selling books at McCormick Place during the Black Women's Expo for a few hours. This was the first year that I didn't need to use my tax refund money for anything else, and with the ALA conference back in Chicago again (it rotates between different cities every year), things were finally aligning. 

As details emerged about the literary celebrities who would be in attendance, I felt like I would make a lot of good connections. At the end of the first night, I even happened to see former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden at the Library of Congress booth when I was on my way out. Unfortunately the foot traffic didn't flow smoothly between the prominent booths in the front of the exhibition hall and the Indie Authors Pavilion. It was yet another reminder of the second-class status bestowed upon those of us who choose to self-publish. I was grateful that at least Lyrasis hosted a very nice reception for independent authors. Their Indie Author Project has helped me get the ebook edition of my novel into more libraries.

What frustrates me most about going the indie route is the amount of money you have to spend to market yourself. That's why it took me a whole decade to get a booth at ALA. Even though I live here and don't need to stay in a hotel (not that it kept spammers from offering to book one for me), this was an expensive enterprise. I was able to save money by taking public transportation to McCormick Place most of the days that I was there, but I still needed to drive when I brought the bulk of my items, and when I took them away. Plus there was the cost of badges for my booth staff, additional business and postcards, and don't get me started on the books! I was advised to bring 100 to 150 copies. Even with Blurb's volume printing discount, that was still a lot of money for me. I was tapped out and couldn't afford to pay to advertise on site. The table would have to be enough.

Many of the attendees who did manage to find me in the hinterland of the back of the exhibit hall arrived overstimulated and exhausted from all the crowds, activity, and long lines at the front of the show. I think that in future shows, something needs to be done to balance out the too much versus not enough disparity.

One of the best things about my experience was the support I received from the Black librarians in attendance.

I am so excited that soon my book will be in libraries in other cities. At the time of writing this, it is currently available in 32 libraries around the world, so there is plenty of room for growth.

I met librarians who worked all over the country in all sorts of libraries, from public libraries to school libraries and even prison libraries. And after the long journey to my latest cover design, it was very validating to receive a positive response from people who stopped by my table. 

selling books I made while wearing nail polish and a bracelet I made

my last 3 bookmarks, a gift with purchase

I stayed at my table the same way I stay at my desk at work. I didn't want to miss a single sale. As I do at work, I had someone come to relieve me so I could take a lunch break. My cousin assisted with that. Since I don't have one of those $300 handheld Square terminals, I spent less than a dollar for a 4"x6" print from Walgreen's that I put in my trusty little IKEA picture frame so that people could pay via QR code in my absence, without having to leave my phone behind.

While I was away from my table, I only had time for a cursory glance at the work my fellow exhibitors were selling, but here are a few that intrigued me:

Fela: Music is the Weapon by Jibola Fagbamiye and Conor McCreery

Stella's Stellar Hair by Yesenia Moises

Sky View Farm books by Angelina Natale

Quick The Clockwork Knight comics by Thane Benson

The show gave me an opportunity to wear some fun summer outfits that I hadn't worn in a while.

wearing a skirt I made while selling a book I made

Out of all the crowded indoor events I have attended this year, it looks like librarians are more diligent about masking than artists and designers. Maybe they read the same books and articles that I did. I felt at home with them.

In addition to the famous writers at the bigger booths, there were also other celebrities who came to address the attendees, including First Lady Jill Biden, Kimberlé Crenshaw, LeVar Burton, Billy Porter, and Rachel Maddow. The crowds thinned out whenever the keynote speeches happened at the same that the marketplace was open.

Books get heavy, so I can understand why I didn't sell more. Even though the show had its own temporary Post Office and there was a FedEx store downstairs, I'm sure it must be expensive to have to ship all those books back home, not to mention the physical strain of carrying them all day. Still, I considered the possibility that I might sell more on the last day to people who didn't want to be weighed down with books the first 3 days of the conference. 

My last day got off to a rough start because I scraped my car on the parking garage wall in an effort to avoid hitting a car that had parked on the ramp. And when I say parked, I mean this car was at a complete standstill because the driver had exited the vehicle! It was only after my mishap that I saw him return to his car and get out of the way! And I had only driven to McCormick Place because I had so many books to bring back. If I had been successful, I wouldn't have needed to drive! This is the kind of thing that makes me crazy. This is what makes me cry.

After I got myself together, I was at my table until they started rolling the carpet away. Then I got my folding laundry cart from my car so I could roll 67.6 pounds of unsold books away from McCormick Place. And I picked up a pizza from Connie's (the one on Archer, not the one at McCormick Place!) that I got at a great discount because of their Monday pizza deal.

When I got home, I decided that I should make sure the Bitter Pill website was up to date. Then I looked at the Zazzle store for it and realized that I hadn't made any products for sale with the newest cover design. The next morning, a shower thought occurred to me that I wish I had come up with earlier: I could have given away tote bags! Some of the money that I spent on books that I didn't even sell could have gone towards that instead. And as someone who spends most of my vacation days attending trade shows, I know how important tote bags are at events. I can't even tell you how many times a pretty tote bag has lured me into some showroom or booth that I wasn't even planning on visiting initially. So that's my free advice to any indie authors participating in an event like this. Bring lots of tote bags. Make sure you have a really good design on them. They will speak for you while you are on the other side of the exhibition hall. People will see someone with a cool tote bag, ask where they got it, and seek you out. I really wish I had just brought 25 copies of my books and 25 tote bags to give away as a gift with purchase. Then I never would have needed to drive to McCormick Place in the first place! I could have rolled up with my rolling suitcase. Oh well. Learn from my mistakes. Having a table wasn't enough.

the tote bag I should have brought

I know there is still the possibility that the librarians who took my postcards (or took pictures of them) will place orders for my books and the event will ultimately pay for itself when my royalties come in, but that will probably take a while to come to fruition. I know I am supposed to be patient, but after the year I've had so far, I don't feel like it anymore.

But in spite of everything, I'm still glad I finally took advantage of this opportunity. I appreciate everyone who took the time to stop by and buy a book, take a postcard, or share opportunities with me.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with 83 unsold books! 

New video interview

My latest podcast interview is now on YouTube. I had the opportunity to speak with Melanie Stewart on her Hues in Business Podcast about my work. You can watch it at this link or here on my blog.

Meet me at McCormick Place this weekend!

I am excited to announce that I will be a vendor at this year's American Library Association Conference & Exposition at McCormick Place! This is something I've been wanting to do since I published my novel 10 years ago, and this year things finally aligned. I'm still trying to get A Bitter Pill to Swallow into more libraries around the country, so if you know a librarian who's attending, tell them to stop by Booth 2152 in the Indie Authors Pavilion. And if you're a fellow author, stop by and say hello!

Alma Thomas at the Smart Museum

The Alma Thomas show at the Smart Museum of Art was like sunshine on a cloudy day, to quote the Temptations. Today is the first day of my staycation and I decided that it would be a good time to enjoy an indoor activity, so I decided to check out this show before it ends.

The Eclipse

I appreciate the way that the wall text put her work in the context of her interest in space exploration as well as in nature.

White Roses Sing and Sing

Her interest in music was also highlighted.

In fact, a few of her favorite albums were hung on the wall above an interactive mid-century modern vignette that invites viewers to make compositions of their own with Magna-Tiles.

And, of course, I really like her use of color.

Delightful Song by Red Dahlia

Celestial Fantasy

Elysian Fields

As a Black abstract painter who also created colorful acrylic paintings, Alma Thomas's work is particulary inspiring to me. If you want to see her work in person, go to the Smart Museum by July 5th. It's free!

Here are a couple things I saw in the Smart Museum's other galleries that I also liked:

Rose B. Simpson, Heights I

Theaster Gates, African Still Life #3: A Tribute to Patric McCoy and Marva Jolly

Finally, I can't mention the Smart Museum without also mentioning that I used to work there as a museum guard when I was in college. It was really cool to see that in the Beyond Boundaries retrospective, an exhibition that I guarded back when I first started working there in 1999 was mentioned. I hadn't realized the significance of Transience then, but it was pivotal for exhibiting experimental, contemporary Chinese art in the United States. Going back is always nostalgic because it was one of my favorite places to work, and it was crucial for my development as an artist. It's a hidden gem that I think more people should know about, and as I mentioned before, it's free!

The newest addition to my wearable art line: hair sticks

When I was in my early 20s, I worked in the accessories department at Nordstrom. Among the many items we sold in my department were hair sticks. They were very trendy in the early 2000s, and ours were refined, sophisticated, and made with semi-precious stones in muted colors. I had thought about making my own version, which would be colorful, whimsical, and fun. I bought some supplies and thought about how I would display and package them, made a trial pair for myself, but never got around to making any for other people. As was the case with my safety pin bracelets, the supplies languished in storage for years. I'm glad I kept them, because the phrase "they don't make them like that anymore" definitely applies to craft supplies. Since I've had some success with my jewelry, and since I keep seeing people on social media saying that they want more whimsy in their lives, this feels like the right time to introduce the latest addition to my Mixed Media wearable art collection.

Each pair is unique and is made with a combination of vintage, new, and handmade elements composed of glass, wood, silicone, and plastic.

Now that the weather is heating up, it feels good to put your hair up. What's great about hair sticks is that they work with many types of hair textures and styles, whether your hair is straight, curly, braided, or loc'd.

Here a hairstyle you can create with them:

Something I came up with when working at Nordstrom was pulling the hair back with an elastic hairpiece that goes on like a scrunchie, and then accentuating the style with hair sticks.

Not only did I double my sales with this concept, which was very important to my livelihood as a sales associate who got paid on commission, but it also made for a fun but sophisticated chignon. In fact, I am looking forward to wearing this style again myself!

The hair sticks in the photos above are the first seven pairs that I am offering for sale. They will be available for purchase exclusively at my open studio tonight. After that, I plan to add them to my Etsy shop as well. I have other designs in mind for the future, so stay tuned!