THE KITCHEN
Arts & Entertainment

Interviews,  Movies,  Books, Music, Celebrities
Underground Chicago

Nikki Woods’s new novel is ‘Easier Said than Done’

Easier Said Than Done Fall 2005 ISBN: 0-9755092-6-8

More info: Bio Reviews Purchase

Imagine nurturing a family, volunteering for worthy causes, being on a top rated Chicago morning radio program, AND still finding the enough creative energy to write a book being compared to best selling authors Terry McMillian and Kimberla Lawson Roby.

You can assume it’s easier said than done, and quite poetically, that’s the name of the first novel by WGCI radio personality, Nikki Woods.

You can hear her every morning on 107.5 FM from 5 am to 10 am on The Crazy Howard McGee Morning Show along with Tony Sculfield, the one-man riot and, of course, the crazy man himself, Howard McGee. Nikki’s the cuter one of the three on those huge billboards that can be seen all around the city.

Nikki Woods spends some of her spare time doing volunteer work with
The Big Sister, Little Sister Program, Chicago's Rape Crisis Center and
the Walter S. Christopher School for Children. She lives in the Chicago Suburbs with her husband Willis Porter and two sons.

And somehow, Nikki found the time to write Easier Said Than Done, a poignant new novel about love featuring a cast of characters so full of life they breathe, dream, and shout right off the page.

The main character, Kingston Phillips, a beautiful entertainment executive in the fast-paced city of Chicago, has finally grasped the brass ring.

Or is life really Easier Said Than Done? You’ve got to get the book to see how family, friendship, romance, career collide.

The buzz is that this first novel by Nikki reflects the great dialogue of Kimberla Lawson Roby, the New York Times best selling author of The Best-Kept Secret and the deep character development of yet another bestselling author, Terry McMillian.

So Bean Soup Times had to get a quick interview with Sister Nikki who is doing her “thang.”

Ok, tell us about your writing style. Your book has been compared to two very successful writers.
Well, I never said it, but I’ll claim it. Ha, ha, ha. Kimberla’s dialogue really sets her part and like Terry McMillian I have very well defined characters. I really like developed consistent characters.

Tell us about Easier Said Than Done.
Easier Said Than Done is a quick read. I wanted to write something that was light and fun. It has drama, love and other thing, but I didn’t want to write a first novel that you really had to think about.

It’s not necessarily an African American book although all the characters are African American. It’s not street literature. Everyone thinks nowadays that if you’re black you’re doing street lit, but that’s not my reality. I just don’t get it.

I don’t read many novels, but after reading the previews and reviews, I think guys would like it too.
I don’t bash men in my book. Its appeal is broad. I grew up on Harlequin romances. I don’t know if I’m telling my age, but I started reading them when I was 2 years old. Ha, ha, ha. I love romance and happy endings, although that’s not what always happens in real life.

It’s good to see a novel with a Black Chicago setting.
I like Chicago and most of my books will have a Chicago, St. Louis, and Jamaica setting because that’s what I know.

You came out of an HBCU (Howard University) where you studied education and journalism. There is a connection between the two.
Yes, and knowing who I work with (Howard McGee and Tony Sculfield), sometimes I feel like I’m teaching 5^th grade. Ha, ha, ha.

Now that I’m writing it’s all kind of working together. My mother and I are working on a series of children’s books. There aren’t a lot of books for children between the ages of one and five years old written by African Americans.

Thanks for talking to Bean Soup Times