I think romance is friendship and attraction sort of meeting together and that does influence what I'm writing a lot. I try to establish the attraction obviously but I also think it's important to show the characters having actual conversations about things other than their feelings for each other - and to develop their friendship on the page.
The Washington black community was able to succeed beyond his wildest dreams. I mean we had our own newspapers our own restaurants our own theaters our own small shops our own clubs our own Masonic lodges.