Chronicles of a Single Black Christian Female: Episode 2

Pastor says, “No Christian woman should be online dating.” But the only males in church are either married or teenagers.

Granddaddy says, “Do you expect Mr. Right to break into your house?”

Only undesirables, who follow you home and never leave, are available at the bar and club scene.

So I find myself at the Ruby Tuesday, planted in a booth next to the all-you-can-eat salad bar, trying not to look too desperate that I scare away potential suitors, but just lonely enough that a friendly stranger sits down, buys me a drink, and maybe asks for my phone number.

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It’s Day 3 of Bloganuary, and the prompt is: Write about the last time you left your comfort zone.

Short answer: I’ve taken myself on a date only twice. Both times were very awkward—people tend to stare at the person eating alone. But that could all be in my head…

Deep down: I first published Episode 1 of Chronicles of a Single Black Christian Female way back in 2018. It was supposed to be the first installment of a new serial story. But Episode 2 never came, until now, because of the long answer: I’m a Christian woman who writes romance fiction, sometimes about Christian people who sometimes have sex, sometimes outside of marriage. Because that’s life, that’s real. And too many protagonists in contemporary Christian fiction (that I’ve read) are “holier than thou” caricatures, and it doesn’t show the truth: that we’ve all fallen short, and that’s okay because there is forgiveness in Christ. And I know some people won’t like that, some will judge me, call me a sinner, that I’m not doing the work of God, blah, blah, blah. And maybe I am and maybe I’m not. And maybe that’s why I hesitate to hit publish for some posts on this topic, and maybe that’s why I go back and edit censor certain love scenes, and maybe that’s why I don’t tell people at church that I’m a writer. And maybe this is a conversation I should be having with God instead of blabbering online.

But at the end of the day, I just hope you can accept my work for what it is, fiction, and me for who I am, human, just out here trying, like everyone else.