Procrastination isn’t going anywhere, so why not make it comfortable? After quitting my corporate recruiting job last year to focus on writing full time, I decided to take stock of my ability to keep a schedule, produce consistently, and put in daily work toward my writing goals. To get ahead…

Eat your heart out, oysters. An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Typically, when we hear the term, we think about oysters, alcohol, horny goat weed, or…ecstasy. Most “aphrodisiacal” substances, like the ones listed above, are mired in the dubiousness of mythology, danger…

Which is saying a lot since life is hard incarnate. If you’re like me, you learned much of what you know about love from popular culture. You watched The Little Mermaid where you discovered that people don’t even need to be able to communicate effectively to fall in love. You…

Thriving in the face of shade-based prejudice. Colorism is a silent but deadly practice that lurks just behind its louder big brother, racism. Colorism is the idea that a person of a darker shade is somehow inferior, ugly, or unworthy of respect. As a dark-skinned black woman growing up in…

And I hope to keep it that way. My writing is a very personal act — one that I am not comfortable sharing with either of my extremely conservative parents for fear that they will discover the depths of my depravity. I can admit that I’m envious of my friends…

At the risk of sounding like a “loose woman” I must admit that I’ve dated A LOT. I wasn’t allowed to date in junior high or high school and once I was on my own, I definitely made up for lost time. Also, having not developed any concept of the…

Are you fresh off a string of relationships that never quite got off the ground? Did they get off the ground only to disintegrate around the x-month/year mark for no apparent reason? Are you at your wits end about how to cultivate a lasting relationship? …

The better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them. Truer words have never been spoken. Familiarity breeds contempt. As a person who’s had her share of long term relationships, I know all too well how true these words are. Relationships get stale, they go…

Dating success with a particular person — especially early on — is gauged based on assumption. Until you’ve developed the type of relationship with someone that allows for direct, clear communication, you’re essentially guessing about their intentions. Having done my share of dating — and assuming interest levels from my…