Character Spotlight: Tracey Ann Simmons

My first novel, Dimes, Profiles, and Wives opens showing you the life of Tracey Ann Simmons. I developed this character arc based on my past life as well as the lives of close friends and acquaintances. She is the dime piece in the story.

What is a dime piece you say? She’s that "it" girl, the girl every man wants on their arm. Tracey's a vixen who knows how to use her beauty to conquer men. The problem with this type of woman is she’s just for play. No man really wants the “it” girl as a wife unless he’s willing to deal with all the other men chasing her as well as her whorish ways.

A dime piece type of woman is riddled with self esteem issues and likened to Gomer from the book of Hosea in the Bible. She thinks the only way to get and keep a man is by using her body. Sex is a weapon and she knows how to use it well. She’ll even prostitute herself out to get whatever she wants.

In the book Tracey has a good man on the hook, Charles “Chucky” Alexander Pryor Jr. Still though, she can’t have just one man, especially one as boring as an accountant. Throughout the story and series, you’ll find out what it takes for her to become a Proverbs 31 good wife. Will she finally grow into a woman of virtue or remain a piece of change?

Check out the book here:
Dimes, Profiles, and Wives

Dimes, Profiles, and Wives: An Inside Look

     You may be wondering what is the meaning behind the title Dimes, Profiles and Wives? A dime, or dime piece, sounds simple enough right. Hip hop artists always want one in their stable and most women with perfect hourglass bodies fit the bill. But who is this woman really?  She’s the kind of girl that pretty much can get any type of man she wants with little or no effort. Shoot, all she needs to do is walk out of the house and somebody, somewhere is gonna take notice.  She’s that it girl, the girl everyone wants to get with. A man could spend a lifetime dating these types of women only to realize she is never gonna just be with him alone.  She may have him, Charlie and Tim wide open and none of them is the guy she really wants. When she finally does decide to settle down though, her man will always be satisfied.
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           So when was I a dime? I’d have to say during my late teens early twenties.  Shoot, I had so many men chasing after me I had to hide from them.  I remember a few times while I was a student at OSU having two dates in one night.  How I got through those nights was a wonder, but I did it effortlessly it seemed.  That was until they both showed up at my dorm one night.  I had to get some help from my girlfriends, but I got out of that dilemma pretty much intact. Still though, I wouldn’t recommend that to anybody, male or female, young or old.
           The second type of woman is the profile chick or the trophy.   You know her, she keeps a list of what she wants from a man and sticks to it. She will not date anyone who does not fill her application for love.  This is the girl that men love and hate.  She is the woman always telling a man they will never measure up to the type of man she deserves, even though  she’s staring her Boaz right in the face. This girl is a trip and a half because she wears a thick mask that nobody has been able to remove.  But she got her stuff together, on paper.  She’s that independent woman who most times finds herself alone because no one can satisfy her long list of superficial desires.
           I found out that I could be this mess of woman too.  In my late twenties, to early thirties I had a list nobody could meet.  One came close though and we still remain friends to this day, from a distance.  Back then he was the only man to come close to meeting my every inclination, yet we did not end up together.  Meeting the criteria and being the one you are supposed to marry is not the same thing.  I found this out the hard way. However, it was a lovely relationship, so close and yet so far away.
       
​      Then there is the wife.  She is the ideal Proverbs 31:10-31 woman of virtue from the Bible that all men should want to make his own.  This woman is the kind of woman men want to bring home to meet their mother and keep for a mate.  She is not a dime or profile. She is not easy, fake or a door mat.  No, she is the woman who has been preparing herself to be the wife a man needs to get through life with as a help meet.  She knows God, follows after His heart and shows true wisdom.  She is full grown, healed and whole.
        
        I prayed, prepared and changed the broken woman that I was to become a Proverbs 31 good wife for years. Now I can say I am married to a Godly man who I waited for patiently and actively. We have been together for over three years and our love continues to grow daily. Becoming a good wife was a hard path to follow, but I continue to walk on it daily. I want to share the lives of three young women who live the their lives as one of these types of women: Dimes, Profiles and Wives. As you turn the pages of my premier book I hope it will keep you intrigued and praying that you become the latter in God’s timing.

Check out my first novel here:
Dimes, Profiles, and Wives

2017 Behind, 2018 Ahead

Well it’s that time again. The first day of a brand new year. Each year at the stroke of midnight for the past few years I have entered into the new year with thanksgiving on my lips and in my heart. I thank God that I made it. Because all of these years, since 2003, have been divinely extended by no one but Yahweh. So what did I leave behind in 2017?
The most important thing I left behind was self doubt. It had ran havoc in my life for far too long and starting today my relationship with self doubt has been cancelled. I have been allowing self doubt to stifle my growth as an African American woman, wife, author, daughter, sister, friend and all around beautiful person. So guess what, self doubt, YOU’RE FIRED!!!

I’m not going to bore you with my entire list of things I have decided to leave behind last year, but the undeniable troubles that arose with my fight with self doubt was worth mentioning. A lot of people suffer with just that one thing that has created a multitude of problems for them in their lives. Things like depression, overeating, addiction to drugs and alcohol the list could go on and on, but at the core of it, self doubt started those pathologies.

But fret not, today is a new day. And as the word for the day stated, He will do a new thing and it shall spring forth. You will know it and He will make a way even in the wilderness and by creating rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 That was just confirmation for me this morning. In 2018 I will be doing a new thing by believing in myself and all the things I have the capability to do for myself, my husband, my family, friends, strangers and even my enemies. Let today be the day that you allow God to do a new thing in your life. Happy New Year!!!