Urban Reviews: Tell us about Confessions of a Rookie Cheerleader
Erika J. Kendrick: Confessions of a Rookie Cheerleader is my debut dish and the abbreviated elevator speech that rides with it is… “It’s what happens when Sex & the City meets Girlfriends meets the LA Lakers Girls”, though in this case it’s the Chicago Diamond Dolls. This sinfully sweet story was organic for me, having been an NBA cheerleader for the Chicago Bulls and an indentured servant at J Records, Island Def Jam and the Apollo Theater during my entertainment industry tenure. Confessions of a Rookie Cheerleader lets you rock a VIP ALL ACCESS pass behind both the locker room doors of NBA cheerleading and the multi-platinum record label halls of the music industry. Rita Ewing said, “I loved CONFESSIONS OF A ROOKIE CHEERLEADER!! As an ex-wife of an NBA player, it gave me insight into the lives of the cheerleaders—the ‘other’ players on the team; as a woman, I appreciated the fantasy of true love with a smart, handsome talented and wealthy prince charming, and as co-owner of The Hue-Man Bookstore, I can count on a great read for my customers!!”

Here’s the Super Skinny: A savvy young music exec for Rockstar Records, Hannah Love has a glamorous apartment and a tight pack of equally fine friends. But luxury and loyalty can’t protect her from a broken heart, courtesy of her super-rich fiancé. To recover, Hannah accelerates her already high-octane life by pursuing a fantasy she’s had since childhood: to become an NBA cheerleader for the Chicago Diamonds. As she juggles promoting the hottest singer on the rise, dodges advances from Rockstar’s ultra-slick VP, and puts her body and her will to the test during cut-throat tryouts for a spot on the Diamond Dolls squad, she receives the full attention of the team’s star player, Max Knight. Though the Dolls are strictly forbidden to date players, the heat between Hannah and Max builds on the sidelines. But as catty cheerleaders plot against her, and her boss at the record company secretly negotiates a merger that could leave her jobless, Hannah discovers that it may take much more than the lust for a hot man to hold her steady. It may take his love.

Urban Reviews: What inspired you to create the storyline for this novel?
Erika J. Kendrick: I’d just wrapped production on an Indy developmental reality show pilot and was finally sitting down to flush out one of my favorite treatments for an exec at MTV starring “CHEERLEADING” in all it’s gory glory. Having been an NBA cheerleader, I knew it would be a juicy docu-reality show with tons of sideline sizzle. After working well into the next morning, I discovered that the one-page treatment had turned into a chapter of a sneak-peak read that’s never been written from this perspective before. It didn’t hurt that I could dispel a few mean unwarranted “dumb cheerleader” stereotypes in the process. Believe me, when people find out that I am an Ivy League, MBA, X-NBA Cheerleader with a multi-book deal, the reaction is Mastercard priceless. But the biggest inspiration/motivation for me is still the ever present threat of the cubicle. Common put it best when he said, “I write for my life cuz I’m scared of a day job!” ‘Nuff said.

Urban Reviews: How did you get into the business?
Erika J. Kendrick: Well, that depends on which particular side of “the business” you’re referring to. I got into entertainment as a whole as a mini-fab tike. Being creative has always been my lifeline. My childhood was one enormous production. I’d click my heels three times and instantly the imaginary curtain on my life would rise for Showtime. At three, I knew my best angles and my proof positive paparazzi poses. I could speak in whatever dialect the day demanded and morph into spectacular caricatures of characters. Life wasn’t worth living if I couldn’t be on stage – even if it was only in my own minstrel mind. It’s still the only way the world makes sense to me. Writing was just an extension of that schizophrenic headtrip.

Confessions of a Rookie Cheerleader was my first attempt at taking my act above ground, getting an agent and going through the anxiety-inducing process. I did all my “industry” research, penned and perfected the manuscript, and sent off my query letters to the powers that be. Within twelve hours I heard back from the visionary goddess that was to later become my agent, Stephany Evans, and the rest as they say, is literary contemporary fiction history.

Urban Reviews: Are you working on any upcoming projects?
Erika J. Kendrick: I’m working on APPETITE, the second read in the two-book deal I was lucky enough to ink with Random House. APPETITE is a spin-off from CONFESSIONS featuring one of the main characters, Kennedy Lee, who gets introduced to her shiny new life in the Big City with a double-knotted red bow and an unexpected acrobatic one night stand – though the “last call” tequila shooters seem to have stolen all traces of that particularly limber memory.

I’m also working on my chilling and witty 3rd book, SUICIDE WATCH. SW is a manifestation, in women’s romance form, of some of the things I endlessly endured and the dark places I visited while discovering and coping with Bipolar Disorder in my twenties. Like CONFESSIONS, this book has never been done from this perspective before, and the funny, sexy and raw tone of this tale will be a shift from the topic’s norm.
In addition to being the president of the New York chapter of the National Association of Black Female Executives in Music and Entertainment (NABFEME.org), I also host/emcee monthly music showcases around New York City and am in talks to mic-jack red carpet celeb interviews for a major media outlet. I’m just grindin’ concrete hard and running from the cubicle!

Urban Reviews: How do you balance your writing career with your everyday life?
Erika J. Kendrick: Writing is a huge chocolate chunk of my schizophrenic life, but I’ll always be in infinite search of that ever-elusive BALANCE. I don’t have the husband and the 2.5 kids with the German lab, but I’m lucky because I’m allergic to dogs and because my D-list celeb career and every other unsexy stressor fade to black whenever I get a little crack-ish with my laptop. By the grace of Gucci, I write full time and I (ab)use it as my escape from the outside wicked world. My absolute fave thing about being a writer is that at any given time I can raise the curtain on any scene that is playing itself out in my mind. I can continuously alter my reality with minimal provocation and slip into the skin of any of my characters with or without their permission. So much sexier than balance! I can’t really think of a better way to ride the schizophrenia that is a writer’s gift and curse.

Urban Reviews: Have you've gotten any sound advice from other authors?
Erika J. Kendrick: Yes, thank Gucci! My favorite Glam Girl and Literary Diva, Tia Williams, stepped in and befriended this nutcase (that would be me) at a time when I was at my worst (read: humped over in the middle of Penn Station in the middle of New York in the middle of rush hour losing my effin’ mind). The literary/publishing game is nothing to dismiss at halftime, people! The scales have been tipped before you write your last line and signing a deal only puts you in line. So I stay in Hustle mode, surround myself with bad ass chicks who’ve adopted big pimpin’ dreams, and slip into my CLK repeating to myself “THIS IS NOT A DRESS REHEARSAL!”

Urban Reviews: Do you have any favorite authors or books?
Erika J. Kendrick: I wouldn’t be authentic if I didn’t have favorite authors and/or books! If you’re a writer, you can only be as good as your reading game. I believe in doing the work, so I read everything I get my sticky fingers on. Understanding the literary landscape is a necessity for survival over here. I try to remain aware of what’s saturating the marketplace and what’s missing so I can doubleback with quick turnaround and give readers what they need to fill the void. I like authors who do the same, but with raw wit and unbridled humor peppered with substance. Short List: Tia Williams, Emily Giffin, Jennifer Crusie, Benilde Little, Jennifer Weiner, and of course, Toni Morrison – classic hotness. My favorite quote: “I just LOVE an average joan who can twist the game on its side and spin it into galactical greatness, squeeze extra sharp cheddar outta the deal and get paid on the back end. They masterfully make it do what it do!” – Erika J. Kendrick

Urban Reviews: What is biggest thing that you've learned about the book industry so far?
Erika J. Kendrick: The biggest things I’ve learned about the book industry are the same things I learned in kindergarten: play nice with the other kids, color outside of the lines sometimes, naps are needed, recess is mandatory, reading in groups is more fun, working together is always better and gold stars are your friend!

Urban Reviews: Anything else you would like to add about yourself or your novel?
Erika J. Kendrick: Confessions of a Rookie Cheerleader is a tricked-out tale about “Triumph” – triumph in love, at the gig, and with interpersonal discovery! I HEART Hannah, the heroine, because even though she’s one of those dymes who sprinkles the world with couture sunshine, when she falls hard on her ass with her bare butt cheeks clapping into the stadium Jumbotron, she gets back up, adjusting her swagger and dusting off her poms! She single-handedly made me a believer. So as I rock out in the middle of Manhattan still striving to embrace my neurosis, massage my psychosis, and love on the layered lunacy that is me, I just hope that I’m able to bring you into the fold and make you a believer too.