Follow Your Dreams - 04.16.2025

Follow Your Dreams!

I’ve been wrestling with the idea of re-releasing my first book for some time. On the one hand, it would give me an opportunity to share it with so many new people. On the other hand, it might be off-putting to my current readers that I might be trying make them purchase the same book twice. And what if nobody cares either way? That was the scariest thought of them all, pouring your heart and soul into something that no one cares about in the end, but you.

The deciding factor turned out not to be the self-absorbed notion of feeling like a failure if nobody showed interest in my work. But rather, it was a desire to share a message that is just as important now as it was when I started the story in the early 2000’s. Even more so. When Ericka Woke Up is a reminder to us that we have complete agency over our lives and that our dreams don’t disappear along with the innocence of our childhoods. Even as the world seems to be spiraling into chaos around us and everything seem out of our control, we have control over ourselves and how we choose to show up every day.

Becoming an adult can prove to be a soul-crushing experience for us at times. As kids, we tell ourselves and each other, “I can’t wait until I get grown so I can do anything I want to do.” Then we dream and make all these plans, like what the fabulous career we will have. (I wanted to be a high school English teacher and a guidance counselor.) Who we’d marry and how many kids we’d have. (I wanted a tall, deep black husband with five kids, three boys and two girls.) And where you’d live. (I wanted a huge beachfront home with a large balcony off my bedroom where my husband and I could have coffee every morning before work.)

Then real life hits us hard in the face like a sucker punch from Mike Tyson and we are stunned because we weren’t ready. Nobody explained where the money would come from to pay those credit cards bills you ran up your freshmen year in college that now seem more pressing than finishing your degree. And you didn’t realize that Mr. Right Now, who was so great in the beginning is really an unmotivated jerk who isn’t that into you. That is until you find out you’re carrying his kid. And now, all your plans are up in smoke. So, you take up your cross as a martyr, quit school, get a job, and spend the next twenty years struggling to take care of a child, or just struggling to live by yourself. So much for being grown and doing what you want.

That’s exactly what happened to Ericka, the main character in my story. Her life was upended before she graduated high school with the murder of her high school sweetheart, causing her to alter her life’s plan and subsequently end up a single mom with no plans other than to raise her kid as best she can with the resources she has. Her negative experience with her daughter's father left her with lowered expectations of meeting a decent guy. So, she settles for Maurice, who’s decent enough, unless you consider the fact that he hardly comes around because he’s always busy and he failed to tell her he had a kid by another woman since beginning a relationship with Ericka. She’s bored, lonely, and unfulfilled. But she weighs the pros and cons and decides to stick it out. Besides, he’s good to her daughter and is the only father figure she’s ever known. She never saw this as her life. But what happens to a dream deferred?

In Ericka’s case, it is brought back to her mind during a birthday trip to the beach with a special friend, (not Maurice.) But the tug of dreams on the heart loses its grip as we age, and life goes back to normal for Ericka, as it has for many of us. Then one day, something happens that is a painful reminder that her life is short, and she may not have as much time as she thinks to circle back to her dreams.

My other dream was to become a bestselling author and have my books be made into popular chick flicks like Waiting to Exhale, that women watched over and over with their girlfriends. But I won’t get there if I give up on my story. So, I decided to do like Ericka and go after my dream. And in doing so, my hope is to inspire or to re-inspire my readers, old and new.

What about you? Are you living the life you envisioned as a young person? Or are you wondering how you ended up where you are? When Ericka Woke Up is the motivation you need to wake up and dream again. Even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, let your dreams of a better life beyond your now take you into a future beyond your wildest imagination.

When Ericka Woke Up is scheduled for release on April 29th. Click here to pre-order, read a sample chapter and more. Also, shop here for dream inspiring merch!