Urban Reviews: Tell us about My Husband's Girlfriend.
Cydney Rax: My Husband's Girlfriend is another taboo love triangle that involves a celibate married couple and the other woman. The setting is Houston, of course, and this is a very emotional novel that touches on issues such as love, commitment, sexual barriers, marriage, family, and more. I absolutely love MHG and I hope the readers will support me on this one.

Urban Reviews: Where did you come up with the unique idea for this novel?
Cydney Rax: The idea for this story initially came to me in 2000. I wanted to do a story about a married man that had two families. Actually this type of situation was happening in real life where you’d read about it in newspapers or it would be a movie-of-the-week. But the difference between these stories and my novel is I wanted the wife and the mistress to know about each other. I wanted to see how two women who love the same man interact with one another. Also, some people might think I’m trying to purposely come up with these “My blankety blank” titles to start a trend, but no, this title was my editor’s idea and I love it. It made me laugh when she first suggested it. Moreover, the title is catchy and it sells the book.

Urban Reviews: What made you transition from book reviewer to author?
Cydney Rax: Great question. Actually I kind of dabbled in reviewing since the mid-1990’s. But I wanted to be an author long before I did reviews. But because I love books and author promotion, to me the two went hand-in-hand. So in the early days, I’d study the publishing industry and take classes, work on my novels and do book reviews. Also, I believe that when you love to read lots of books, somehow it makes you think you can write. I wanted to leave a legacy of books and thankfully that’s what I’m in the process of doing.

Urban Reviews: What is the most important thing that you have learned about the book industry?
Cydney Rax: To be honest I’ve learned many important things and I’d love to share some of them: The industry is not predictable; you cannot control everything that happens; there’s more to life than being an author, so you still have to live and do other things and you shouldn’t let writing be the end-all, be all. You have to know that everyone won’t value or support what you do, but you must believe in yourself and love what you do so that you can stay focused and not let anyone stand in the way of your dreams. It is a blessing to be an author because although it is a fact that many folks are becoming published, there are so many others that are waiting for their writing dreams to become reality.

Urban Reviews: Can you give us a peek at your next novel?
Cydney Rax: Well, at this point, the only thing I can tell you is the title which is How to Be His Number One.

Urban Reviews: You also run your own literary website Book-Remarks.com. Tell us more about this.
Cydney Rax: Book-Remarks will enjoy its seventh year anniversary in March 2007. It was birthed from a fan appreciation website I did years ago that was dedicated to Eric Jerome Dickey. I loved promoting him and wanted to do a site that promotes all of the authors so that’s how Book-Remarks came into existence. I love posting information about upcoming novels, book news, literary events, etc. We also conduct monthly book giveaways. Due to time constraints, I am not able to review everyone’s book. We’re very selective when reviewing, but I can promote books in other ways. The website is just an extension of my love of authors and novels.

Urban Reviews: Who are some of your current favorite authors?
Cydney Rax: I enjoy all of Terry McMillan’s books. Other favs are Keith Lee Johnson, RM Johnson, Margaret Johnson-Hodge (hmm, I see a pattern here), Mister Mann Frisby, Noire, Fiona Zedde, Connie Briscoe, and dozens more. For the remainder of this year I hope to read Guilty Pleasures by Donna Hill, The Honeymoon is Over by Keith Lee Johnson, Mrs. Big by Maryann Reid, and The Fever by Dark.

Urban Reviews: How do you balance your writing career and everyday life?
Cydney Rax: Well, I only seriously write when I am under contract, so that means several weekday mornings and weekends are dedicated to working on novels. On top of that, I gotta check in at my 9 to 5 (I’m an administrative assistant), I maintain Book-Remarks, plus there’s the juggling of my personal life. I just try to do everything to the best of my ability and that means sacrificing sleep (I do not get 8 hours of sleep and don’t even know what that feels like).

Urban Reviews: What advice would you give to all of the aspiring authors out there?
Cydney Rax: Being an author is absolutely wonderful but you must learn to take the good with the bad. You learn how to deal with editors that play musical chairs because they must leave the company, you learn that the industry moves slow and nothing happens overnight so you must be patient. You learn that attending conferences and meeting authors and agents are critical to getting your much needed break. Learn from the successes as well as the mistakes of those that have gone before you. Stay true to your own writing voice and never try to totally emulate someone else. And make sure that you write because you simply love the creative process. I could go on and on with the advice but hopefully this is a good start.

Urban Reviews: Name one thing that the world doesn't know about Cydney Rax?
Cydney Rax: I can be a drama queen.