With seven novels to our credit, we were able to turn a bestfriendship into one of the most successful writing collaborations in contemporary fiction.
    We first met more than 35 years ago as plus size models vying for the same assignments. We were both featured in catalogs, ads, magazines and made national television appearances.
   Our modeling careers led to the opportunity to launch Maxima, a fashion and lifestyle magazine for plus-size women, where Virginia was editor-in-chief and Donna the managing editor.
    When publication of Maxima magazine ceased, we decided to try writing a book together---because modeling and starting a magazine weren't crazy enough ideas. The result, was Exposures, a novel about friendship and the world of fashion which was published in 1990. Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made,  came seven years later and was a critical success, an Essence Bestseller, garnered the Merit Award for Fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, as well as the 1998 Book of the Year Award from the African American Booksellers Conference of BEA (Book Expo America.)
     But more than that, Tryin' hit an emotional nerve with tens of thousands of readers from all over the world who continue to write to us more than 20 years after the novel's initial publication.  In 2000 Far From the Tree became a New York Times Bestseller, and Better Than I Know Myself  (2004) received two Open Book Awards. In 2008  Gotta Keep on Tryin'(sequel to 1997's Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made) came out, followed by What Doesn't Kill You which was published in 2009. Our last novel, Uptown hit shelves, e-readers and audio in 2010.  We have also re-released our very first novel, Exposures (1990) as an e- book.