The Promise Behind the Lover Girl Press (And Why I Made It to Black Women First)

Behind the scenes, I’ve been curating promises that would require that I showed up in a certain way. These promises made me withstand a level of accountability like no other. In my mind, I knew things that I had set out to fulfill. And one of those things were building the Lover Girl Press.

Publicly…I never truly named it out loud. I didn’t want to look insane for desiring something that could have the potential to fail. I wrote out the yearly goals, the vision, and strategic plan, because I really needed to write out what I saw internally.

This was not just for me, the readers, or romance fiction fans. What I was building was for Black women who needed to see and feel a certain way in their real lives. That’s why…in this post, we will highlight the promise I made behind the Lover Girl Press, and why I made it solely for Black women first.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no cost to you.

The Moment Before the Brand Existed

I can recall the day, two years ago, when I sat down to write the first 30,000 words of my debut novel. This took place during a random NaNoWriMo. If you aren’t familiar with this time of the year, then I will you share more about it. NaNoWriMo used to be a huge writing challenge for writers & authors in the month November. October kicked off as a month of preparation.

At this particular point in my author journey, I had no idea what it took to write a romance novel. I know that was inspired by a few co-workers to write the story. During our lunch break one day, we are chatting it up about books that we loved and ones that we were on our TBR list. Many of my co-workers shared a love for romance fiction, like you and I. This conversation left me inspired to write a story about preschool teachers who fell head over heels in love, because I can’t recall ever reading a book with this career engrained into the story.

Since it was in the middle of the football season in Columbus, Ohio…I couldn’t help but to incorporate everything I was feeling in the community’s atmosphere. Close your eyes, and imagine the cool, crisp air of the fall season as you’re standing in the stands of an OSU football game chanting, ”O-H…I-O!”

What “The Lover Girl” Actually Means

I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the term, “Lover Girl”, all over social media. To many people it means different things.

But to me…”Lover Girl” defines a woman who is soft, assured, strong, independent, but open to receive support. This girl is also a woman who is learning who she is and will become. She will work her hardest to align herself in the places that will help her to become her best self. A “lover girl” isn’t just an aesthetic of an ideal woman.

This is a vision of a woman who moves in particular within the world that makes her stand out. She is someone who chooses to express herself through love, who believes she deserves to be loved, and who doesn’t apologize for wanting what she desires.

Do you see this type of woman within yourself? If not, you definitely should.

Why Black Women First, and What Making That Promise Means

In this practice, what does centering Black women actually look like?

To me…this means highlighting the AMAZING things that may characterize us. This includes all of the various character traits that make us unique and different from others. In my content, I will take the time to research the different type of Black women that one may encounter in their everyday from lives. From the cutie patootie, hippie earthy, sporty chic, or to the soft elegant Black woman, she’ll be written as a main character who possesses a love who adores her to the ends of the earth.

Outside of sharing the books that I write, I will continue to feature other Black women authors who enjoy writing stories featuring characters who look like me and you. You can think of this portion of content as your virtual book club. Also, I am excited to share various ways we could create a “lover girl” lifestyle and establish routines to produce the “soft life” we mentally desire.

My commitment to creating content requires that I, not only, become and example, but that I maintain an organized schedule. Life can get busy, but I can never use excuses to expectedly drop the ball on an important task.

With the blog establishing its presence on the internet, it is vital for me to share more about myself on a personal level and insight on my romance author journey. By the end of the year, you will get to know more about me and my desire to write romance fiction. These novels will always feature Black women as the main female character. But…the one thing that I struggle with is the main male character.

My heart won’t allow me to only write Black romance novels. Wait, wait, wait! Before you go off on tangent, I want to explain why I desire to feature a Black woman being loved by a man regardless of his ethnicity.

There are many women out there living life loving everything about themselves from their culture, their complexion, physique, and hair. But…finding the Black man of their dreams wasn’t aligned in the stars and they ultimately ended up falling in love with someone who was never their type. Because I LOVE being a Black woman, I don’t want to leave out this unique group of women from the stories that I write.

So…yes, you will encounter stories from me that are Black romance and interracial romance. The one pattern that you will always noticed is that I will constantly highlight a Black woman at the center of the love story.

Does this make me different from most? Maybe…but it doesn’t take away what I feel about I am and present as to the world. And the remains at the center of my identity as a romance author.

What’s Being Built and the Invitation

As you’ve learned earlier in this post, I have started writing my debut novel. It currently sits at 40,000 words. This novel will be published under my romance author brand that I am building to help encourage other Black women. On my blog, I will share my insight on what I will be publishing in the next year through The Lover Girl Press.

My author brand is set to fulfill a promise to ensure that Black women realize that they can be cherished, adored, and yearned for within the love story. And that they don’t have to search to long or very far to see themselves represented in a HEA story.

If you want to be here for the journey, then you can join the newsletter to get first dibs on all of the latest details. I would love to have you tag along on this crazy, intense, and unexpected journey as an indie romance author.

The inside scoop of everything that I share lives in my newsletter, which highlights what I’m building, when I’m building it, and what I want you to be there for.

I hope that you decide to join and tag along with me!