Though her family sometimes received food stamps and occasionally had their utilities cut off, Marcie Alvis Walker’s parents led her to believe that they were an average middle-class Black family. They encouraged her to pursue her dreams and told her that if she worked hard enough, she’d achieve them. The small catch was that Walker’s dream was an elusive one for any cash-strapped and undereducated Black woman: being a New York Times–bestselling author. Now, as a published non-bestselling author, she wishes she’d had a backup plan.
When I first got divorced, I didn’t have a job, because I was doing my best to be a good and proper Christian woman whose husband was the head of the household while she looked after his every need and cared for his castle. Small hiccup—my first husband was having none of that: no church, no traditional job, no needs, no castle.
