Intimate Conversation with Nikki Coe
Join me in welcoming author Nikkie Coe. Nikki Coe began writing as a hobby. Employed by the USPS for nearly twenty years in several different capacities and locations, Nikki Coe is an expert on the postal experience. An avid reader, Nikki is familiar with the types of literary works that appeal most to women and she writes to that appeal.
Nikki has created characters that people talk about; characters that endear and emotionally involve the reader. Her characters experience common problems that are solved in unorthodox ways. Visit her website at: http://www.nikkicoe.com/.
Please read the interview below and consider giving this book as a gift this holiday season. Are you a bookclub, think about making this a book-of-the-month!
BPM: Introduce us to your latest book Rain, Snow, Sleet or Hail.
What's really going on at the Post Office? The main characters in Postal Blues meet at a safety briefing and form an unlikely friendship that working together night after night reinforces. Bailey Jenkins, Lisa Johnson, Tonya Elson and Jackson Andies, take the reader on an amusing trip thru the United States Postal Service as they deal with irritating co-workers, inept management and postal violence. In their private lives, newly found love, single parenting, an adoption gone wrong and broken hearts keeps the reader turning the pages.
There are no secrets in the post office. Yes there is, and Lisa, Tonya and Jackson guard Bailey's at all cost. The sequel to POSTAL BLUES, RAIN, SNOW, SLEET OR HAIL takes over where Postal Blues leaves off while remaining a stand-alone book in its own right.
RAIN, depicts a more mature Lisa as she becomes a full-time student while still working hard at the post office. Her first day in class she's shocked to find out that her 'harrrd' law professor is no stranger.
Love and Jackson have changed Bailey but their relationship is everything but smooth because his ex refuses to let them live happily ever after. A now expectant Tonya will soon be the mother of two but her adopted three year old is not feeling her...at all.
Tonya wants to send her back but she is the apple of Michael's eye and he's having no part of it. And yes, the irritating co-workers have pushed it up a notch and are more irritating.
BPM: What specific issue or crisis in society prompted you to write Rain, Snow, Sleet or Hail?
Two things prompted me to start writing. I was growing tired of reading books that left me disappointed at their completion. Tired of hearing me complain about the books I'd read, my husband urged me to "write something better" so I began taking writing classes. The first thing that you learn in writing classes is to write what you know. Being a postal employee, (a stressed out one) I began writing what I knew. That solved two problems; one, what to write about and two, it released a lot of work related stress.
BPM: Who are your favorite characters in your books?
It's unusual but my favorite character in both books, POSTAL BLUES and RAIN, SNOW, SLEET or HAIL is actually a side-bar character whose name is Carla. She has been on every diet known to mankind yet she continues to gain weight and she doesn't know why. Carla can always be found with a muffin or a fast food bag in her hand. Sweet as the donuts that she can't resist, she takes the constant ribbing about her diets with a smile. I like her because she doesn't take herself too seriously and because she represents the inner struggle that a lot of us have with will power.
BPM: Are your characters derived from real people?
No. I've developed my characters around events rather than actual people.
BPM: How much of what you write reflects your outlook on life?
A lot. There is plenty of humor in my books. I hear all the time that, "this had me cracking up" or "I couldn't stop laughing when I read that." There isn't too much life that I can't find humor in. My writing reflects that.
BPM: What do you think of the increasingly gratuitous sex in African American literature?
I think it takes away from the talent of the author. Not only is there too much gratuitous sex, but the over abundant number of sexual book covers depress me. When I see those covers on book shelves it makes me realize that some of my people are still falling in line with the perception that other races have of us. It makes me wonder if the author is aware of the impact that their cover may have on us as a race. But sex sells and this is a hard business to break into so I understand the method behind the madness, I don't agree, but I do understand which leads me to my next answer.
BPM: What was the most powerful chapter in the book for you to write?
Difficult not powerful ... In POSTAL BLUES one of the main characters goes through a "transformation" in the bedroom to make her husband think that she's having an affair. In order to accomplish that, I had to write some pretty graphic sex scenes. It was difficult for me. I had to pump myself up, lock my office door and forget that my brother may someday read what I had written. Even after having three children I didn't want him to know that I knew how to have sex.
In RAIN, SNOW, SLEET or HAIL I didn't put myself thru that torture; I wrote about making love without actually writing a 'How to' manual on it.
BPM: Ultimately what do you want readers to gain from Rain, Snow, Sleet or Hail?
People read fiction for entertainment. Does my book have any life changing revelations? No. If my writing prompts readers to consider a new way to handle a common problem, great, but I write to entertain. When someone finishes POSTAL BLUES or RAIN, SNOW, SLEET or HAIL I want them to think, "Wow, that was entertaining, or "Wow, that's a book I wouldn't mind rereading..."
Postal Blues by Nikki Coe
GENRE: Fiction
ISBN: 9781934248591
Rain, Snow, Sleet or Hail by Nikki Coe
GENRE: Fiction
ISBN: 9780578040219
Purchase: https://nikkicoe.com/products.php
