Author Nikki Turner

After Nikki Turner read The Coldest Winter Ever by Sistah Souljah she was dismayed that there weren't other books like it. "I wanted to write the kinds of books I wanted to read," said the bestselling author, whose 2002 debut novel, A Hustler's Wife, would go on to sell more than a few 100,000 copies.

But becoming a novelist wasn't an easy transition for Nikki. A gentleman she was dating at the time had given her a computer as a Valentine's Day gift but when they broke up he took the computer with him - as well as the first half of Nikki's novel. She purchased another computer but her creative process had lost its steam. Her favorite uncle asked her how the book was coming along at a family cookout. When she mentioned that she bought a new computer but hadn't even taken it out the box her uncle said he would set it up for her if she promised to finish her book. He came the next day to set it up and 37 days later Nikki completed A Hustler's Wife. "The novel just came to me," Nikki said. "I started from scratch and didn't even want to go back to my earlier try. When I wrote A Hustler's Wife everything else - except for my kids - became a distant priority. And when I finished writing it, I was a very different person."