Valerie Rose

 

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Valerie Rose is a business owner, motivational speaker, and author of several books. Her debut novel, Cappuccino in the Winter - a romantic suspense is set in the Twin Cities, was chosen by Avid Press, to launch their new Kismet imprint. A recommended new title in Black Issues Book Review, Cappuccino in the Winter, although released in December 1999, is still doing well, selling out at both the 2001 and 2002 Romance Slam Jams. Her second release, a children's book entitled, The Family Reunion is Not A Real Vacation, is also doing well.

A guest author at the 2001 Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Valerie is also the owner of Roses Are READ Productions, which has produced a range of literary art including her newest nonfiction release, You Better Recognize! When asked about her new book, Valerie says, "It's a spiritual guide because life's a trip!" Her fourth book, Dream Your Dream: Getting Your Writing Out There! is scheduled for release in August 2002.

Valerie's writing credits have appeared in many local and national venues, including The View (from the Loft), Futures Magazine, Jive Magazine, The Black Data Processing Journal, The St. Paul Recorder and The Minneapolis Spokesman. And her many appearances run the gamut, including among others: Milwaukee Public Television's Black Nouveau (news magazine program), Write On! Radio, The Freddie Bell Morning Show, nationally syndicated ABC Radio Network, Twin Cities Women of Color Expo: The Gathering, The Jamaican Observer Tourist Times, and Shades of Romance, an online magazine.

As part of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's African American Heritage Lecture Series, she was one in the list of distinguished speakers that included, Wisconsin Senator: Gary George, Jazz Musician: Manty Ellis, and Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel Columnist: Eugene Kane.

Valerie lives in Minneapolis with her two children, where she is busy at work on her next project. To learn more about Valerie, see her web page at www.valerierose.com. Visit also: www.rosesareread.cc.

 

This playful little book draw smiles from kids and their parents..."
—Mary Ann Grossmann, Book Critic, St. Paul Pioneer and Press

"Cappuccino in the Winter steams with unquenchable passion and subterfuge. Take a sip and I promise you won't be able to put it down until the very last drop.
—Rick Malone, author of Violet of a Deeper Blue

"... The reader enters the cyber world of computers; the plot is littered with intrigue. This novel would set a movie screen ablaze with action, romance and drama."
—Rendezvous Magazine

 

"Valerie Rose is a versatile writer... You Better Recognize! is aimed at adults whom she urges to recognize so many things in life — that happiness is a state of mind, that you are the key to your dreams, that financial freedom is possible. ...Rose's advice ought to resonate particularly with young women of color."
—Mary Ann Grossmann, Book Critic, St. Paul Pioneer and Press

 

Pageonelit.com: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?

Valerie Rose: I was born, raised, and schooled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Reading was a part of my life, more so than writing. However, when I was in junior high school I did keep a journal. It was written on pieces of loose-leaf paper that I stuffed into dated envelopes that were labeled Letters to Myself. I still have them today. One day I plan to publish these adolescent meanderings and call it Diary of a Teenaged Bell Bottomed Black Girl or something or other.

When I was in high school and college, I received praise from some of my instructors on my writing skills. This did not, however, inspire me to become a writer. I was much too intent on earning a degree in another discipline.

My earliest influence was my mother. She taught me how to cook and how to be a lady. My earliest influence in the writing discipline was Sidney Sheldon. I always had a Sidney Sheldon book in my hand. I greatly admire his story telling skills. He is a true master.
I used to love to just escape to all the wonderfully exotic places that he would take me to in his stories.

 

Pageonelit.com: Tell us about your book YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE - A SPIRITUAL GUIDE. How did this book come about and how long did it take from beginning to publication?

Valerie Rose: I was always getting into these philosophical discussions with my nephew, Ramel. One day he said, "You know, we should write a book about this stuff." I said, "Yeah, we should."

That conversation stayed with me and was mulling around in my mind one day as I began my morning meditation. Then the words began to come to me... Recognize that you are a stunning work of art. Recognize that you are extraordinary. Recognize that your potential is unlimited....stuff like that. Then all of a sudden the thought came to me, You Better Recognize! (For your readers who may not know, "You better recognize!" is an African-American colloquialism that means, in essence, "You better give me the respect I'm due," "You better pay attention to me," or "You better acknowledge my presence.")

I told my nephew about the idea that I had, but he said that he had a different vision about what our collaboration would be. I asked him if he would mind if I took my idea to print. He said, "No." So I did.

The message to the reader is this: There's this light...this power within...but we don't recognize it. My intent in the writing of it was not to provide readers with the answers to life's many questions, but to guide them on a journey to search for and discover their own answers. My goal was to elevate the hearts and minds of those who seek the truth. Life is a wild ride. You Better Recognize! is a guidebook for this wild, crazy, and sometimes perplexing, spiritual journey.

While there are hundreds of self-help books on the market, relatively few of them are written by African-American authors, and even fewer by African-American women. You Better Recognize! is distinctive not only in that it is written by an African-American woman, but also in that it delivers a unique, multi-dimensional approach in helping people to recognize their true potential.

 

Pageonelit.com: In YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE - A SPIRITUAL GUIDE - You say "Recognize that forgiveness is really a healing process for you." Please Explain.

Valerie Rose: Basically what I'm saying is this: You are always at a point of decision. You can choose to trip out about something or you can choose not to. If you choose the latter, the person who is hurt the most, ultimately, is you. You are the one carrying around all that anger. Anger is toxic, and enduring anger requires cultivation. If you expend your energy cultivating that anger, that is what will grow and reproduce. In the meantime, your opportunity to expend your energy on something positive is lost. And your life will reflect that.

I'm not saying that I never get angry. Anger, I think, is part of the human experience. But what I am saying is that I make a conscious effort to focus my attention elsewhere, once I recognize what's going on. What you think about, you reproduce in your life. The mind is deep....deeper than you think. I think a lot of people are not aware of the power that they have within themselves. I'm trying to get through this thing called Life, just like everyone else, so I try as much as possible to let things go so that I can expend my energy on positive things.

The other thing that helps is to try to remember that we are all in this together. We are all trying to get through this thing called life. It helps to consciously remember that everyone is just trying to get through it.

Pageonelit.com: Tell us about your fictional novel CAPPUCCINO IN THE WINTER. What's it like to switch from nonfiction to fiction as a writer? Is it easy, difficult or both? Please explain.

Valerie Rose: Cappuccino in the Winter is about a computer virus expert who hooks up with a former hacker to catch a cyberthief. In a chase that takes them across the Atlantic to Amsterdam, Holland, the two find themselves not only problematically in love, but also in the midst of a dangerous international plot. But Cappuccino in the Winter did not start off as a book. It was really a cathartic release of emotion that evolved into a book. I was going through a difficult time in my life, and I started to fantasize about different, better circumstances. Something prompted me to write some of that stuff down. Eventually, it evolved into a book. Avid Press liked the concept and the writing and picked it up.

No, it was not difficult to switch. I write what I am inspired to write. What comes out, comes out. I enjoy it all, but for different reasons. I like writing fiction that features African Americans as the protagonists because I have the opportunity to give the real deal. It's not about sticking in some African American character in a story line to add some color. It's about African Americans taking the lead role, just as we do in life. People of color should have the opportunity to read about themselves as real life characters, not just as pimps, hookers, drug addicts and sidekicks. Black people make love, lead projects, travel internationally, run businesses, acquire wealth, lie, cheat, steal, get jealous and fall in love. My people gamut and I don't think that what we've seen in the past on TV, on film and in books necessarily reflects a balanced picture, at least not until recently. So it's about showing the whole picture. It's about showing the human picture to people of color because as a people, we deserve that. And it's about showing the human picture to people in the mainstream community because as a people, we deserve that too.

I'm very proud of the work that I did with Cappuccino in the Winter. I intend on seeing on film one day.

 

Pageonelit.com: Who would you like to see play Alayna and Khavon in the film?

Valerie Rose: Sanaa Lathan ... she starred in Disappearing Acts and Brown Sugar and Wesley Snipes, Taye Diggs or Darrin Henson.

 

Pageonelit.com: THE FAMILY REUNION IS NOT A REAL VACATION is an interesting and wonderfully illustrated book for children -- Tell us about this book and where did the idea for the Triangleheads come from? I really could see the Triangleheads as a very successful animated show on television or videotape. Any plans in the making there?

Valerie Rose: Thanks, John. I think it's a great book too. Every time I pick it up, I have to smile. The premise came from my desire to write a book that had something to do with our family reunion. Every year, members on my mother's side gather together for a family reunion. Our reunion has been going on for 30+ years and rotates from city to city where family members reside and act as heads of states. But as a child, I did not understand the significance of our reunion. Now that I'm an adult I do, and I wanted to communicate this. So I had this generic idea, but no illustrator and no real problem for the protagonists.

But one year, I went to Jamaica and I found it so breathtakingly beautiful that I wanted to share the experience with my daughter. So the next year, I made summer plans to take her with me on a second visit. So one day we were driving and she asked me when we were going on our vacation. And the vacation that was coming up was for our family reunion, so I gave her the date for our family reunion. "You know, we go every year at the same time," I told her. "No, mommy. I mean our real vacation." She, of course, was talking about Jamaica. I tried to explain to her that the family reunion is a real vacation, and as I tried to convince her, I found that I'd just discovered a wonderful problem for the protagonists in my book.

And the Trianglehead characters came about simply because at the time, I couldn't find an illustrator and geometric shapes were the only things that I could draw on my computer. I came up with a prototype for the book that I produced off my computer and sold. Because the idea was a good one, I subsequently, decided to take the concept further. I took my idea to a work for hire illustrator who expanded on my concept. I went through a formal production process that resulted in the children's book, The Family Reunion Is Not A Real Vacation.

Yes. I could see all of my characters as a successful animated show on television or videotape too. Yes. I have submitted a proposal to Milwaukee Public Television. At some point I will submit a proposal to Nick Jr. and other venues for children's programming. I would love to see these characters come to life on film because not only does the concept reach out to a diverse audience, but it educates kids on geometric shapes, colors, numbers, geography, culture, family and productive problem resolution.

Yes, I would love to see something happen with it. In fact, I'm counting on it because at this point and time, due to the relative expense of reproducing color, I am not planning on doing another print run.

 

Pageonelit.com: You write under multiple genres. That's unusual for an author isn't it? Typically, authors tend to stay in one genre.

Valerie Rose: Yes, this is true. But I have go where my inspiration leads me. It may be unusual, but what's important to me is communicating a meaningful message. So in that respect, I think it's a good thing because I can communicate my message on lots of different levels to lots of different people. But it's kind of strange. I have lots of readers who ask me about the next novel or a sequel to Cappuccino in the Winter. I appreciate the fact that people enjoy my work and would like to see more of it, but it would be wonderful if people also recognized the fact that I have authored three other titles since Cappuccino in the Winter. They've been in different genres, but they are part of my family of books, as well.

 

Pageonelit.com: What has been your feedback from readers? What do they say to you about their interpretations of your books? What do they like about the book? Some people might consider your work controversial on a number of different levels. How do you respond to that?

Valerie Rose: I generally get a good response from my readers. As I said, I have readers waiting for my next novel. What people like about my books, I'm told, is that I tell it like it is. My books feature characters that look and act like them. They feature characters that have problems just like them. And they convey a realistic image to other people who don't happen to be African-American. And from people who are not African-American, they respond to the characters, their emotions and their problems, just like any other book. But for many of them, it's an education too. But I invite people to read what people are saying for themselves. I posted a page on my website entitled: What People Are Saying About Books by Valerie Rose. (http://www.rosesareread.cc/page9.html)

As far as the controversy goes, yes I do get some of that too. Sometimes the truth is hard to hear. But I can't be responsible for people's response to my work. I can't be responsible for that. All I can do is write what I am inspired to write. People can embrace it or not. Like I said, it's all about choice and I choose to write what I am inspired to write.

 

Pageonelit.com: Tell us about your mission for Roses Are READ Productions.

Valerie Rose: Roses Are READ is a literary production company based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Our mission is multi-dimensional. We wish to promote reading through the production of high quality books of all types. It is also our mission to feature people of color as the primary characters in these books, as it is our goal to give communities of color the opportunity to see themselves in print, as well as to reflect a true and realistic image to the rest of the reading public. But this is but one aspect of a plan that encompasses a scope that is much more far-reaching, and has a much higher purpose. The ultimate goal is to impart knowledge, bring joy...and thereby make the world a better place to live.

 

Pageonelit.com: Are you working on a follow up? Or something totally different?

Valerie Rose: I'm working on a new novel, but I tend to keep the details under wraps until I get closer to completion.

 

Pageonelit.com: What was the last book you read?

Valerie Rose: The last fiction book I read was The Winner by David Baldacci and before that I think it was Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon. I started a couple of others since then, but did not complete them.

I spend most of my free reading time on self-help and spirituality books like the Conversations with God series, There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, The Four Agreements and How to Know God from Neale Donald Walsch, Wayne Dyer, Don Miguel Ruiz and Deepak Chopra, respectively.

 

Pageonelit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?

Valerie Rose: This is a funny question. I had to sit down and think about it. Then I realized that I have to admit the truth. I don't have any hobbies. I don't, except for maybe travel. I like to travel. But I am a single mom raising two young children and trying to run a business. My life consists of taking care of my children, writing and promoting my books, and taking care of my spirit by meditating, reading and taking nature walks when I can. That's it. I tried to ride my bike once this summer, but it either had a low tire or a flat. I didn't bother to try to have it fixed.

 

Pageonelit.com: Where can people find your books?

Valerie Rose: People can order my books from my website at www.valerierose.com, www.midwestbookhouse.com or www.amazon.com or they can call 1-877-430-0044 to order by phone or they can ask for them at their local bookstores.