My book “Never Make the Same Mistakes Twice” is out across the country. It was released last Tuesday. It’s a memoir and it’s about my life. The book is written in my voice and it’s a page turner, meaning you gotta turn the page to read the next thing and the next and the next and the next. And you can read the whole book in a couple of hours. One of the things I talk about is my dating an abusive man, a man who abused me for a number of years. When I broke up with him and started dating other guys, I refused to get in a relationship with another man who was abusive, meaning hanging up the phone on me or yelling at me.

I also talk about how I was a former stripper. I was a single parent taking care of my son by any means necessary and providing for him in the best of ways, like a private school, a warm bed to sleep in, stuff like that, so I would work the day shift. I say out loud a lot of things that most people wouldn’t . I have balls like that. I say a lot of things that I probably shouldn’t say. But people like that; they like that I’m real.

I talk about my relationship with my mother, my mother that raised me, my aunt that raised me. It’s a very good book. I named the chapters after very specific things, too. Like the chapter on Sheree [Whitfield, fellow star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta], “Watch the Girl Who Throws Rocks and Hides Her Hands,” and the chapter “Stay Far Away From Nuts” is about Kim [Zolciak, another star of the TV show]. It’s a very good book; I have to pat myself about the back. And it’s an easy read. It’s gotten four and five stars across the board. Only two reviews gave it four stars, and the AJC and CNN both gave it 5 stars.

How did you decide to write a book? Was this something you always wanted to do?

No, I never thought of myself as an author. I talked about wanting to write a book on domestic violence. And this lady said to me, “You should write about your life. Look at where you’ve come from, you can inspire young women to be just like you.” And I said, “Really? Me?” Also, writing is therapy; it can help you. I didn’t look it at like that before I started writing. A couple of chapters when I wrote them, I cried. I’d get emotional just reading it and how it just hurts me still now. Especially the stuff about my mom. She isn’t here to witness it, to see what I went through growing up. I thought older people write memoirs, and that I wasn’t old enough. But this lady said to me “If you have a story to tell, you should tell it. Then you can always do another one later.” I can’t get it out of my mind that the book is across the country. People are in Texas and calling me saying, “I see your book is in Texas.” I got a call from a friend saying, “I was in Wal-Mart, girl, I [saw] you on the stands.” It’s a major accomplishment to be published. It’s a lot you have to go through.

How do you think the other Housewives will respond to the book, specifically Kim and Sheree?

We all [the Real Housewives of Atlanta] did the Ryan Seacrest radio show this week. Then Ryan and I did a shoot together for E! They didn’t say anything about [the book] on the show. Kim called me yesterday and said she was going to pick the book up because she was going to New York and wanted to read it on the plane. And I said, “You probably should wait until you get back to get the book.” I’d hate for her to read it on the plane and ruin her entire New York trip.

What “Mistakes” have you learned not to make by watching yourself on TV?

I sang the song about Kim in the limo and I want to take it back. Not because of Kim, but for a lot of reasons. I had no makeup on, so I was looking crazy, and I had a lot of drinks in me. As a goal, I’m not going to be as outspoken this year. But as soon as they bring the cameras to my house it’s like everything comes out of my mouth. I’m trying to hold back. It’s a work in progress. I have no secrets, my husband says. I tell everything.

What should viewers expect from this season?

Drama. You know that. Drama. Definitely expect it. It keeps it interesting. Five girls, with five huge personalities who all tell it like it is. [Audiences] eat it up. You will see all of [us] our doing our own businesses … Lisa [Wu Hartwell] and Sheree are doing a fashion line together. Kim talks about doing a wig line. Kandi [Burruss] talks about her album. I’m working on my book and my shoe line.

How has the show changed yours and your family’s lives?

It’s really changed my life a lot. My husband’s, too. My husband is a little more camera shy. My teenager, 19, thinks it’s all great, with the girls all at him. My youngest is 10 and we joke that he’s the most popular child on the playground. For me, I don’t leave the house a lot … I can’t go out as much as I used to without security. I have to be particular about the places I go now, too. I can’t go to a particular bar because you have to protect your image. I plan going to the grocery store. I used to go two times a day or whenever I wanted. Now I plan it around people stalking me in the store, and now I go at 12 to 2 a.m. You lose privacy a lot when you get in the spotlight. I just don’t understand those people who come up to me in a grocery store giving me a whole conversation about Sheree and Kim. I came in here to get some tampons and that’s it. I’ve got cramps, and I want to leave, and that’s it. You lose privacy, but you’re living a dream. I’ve always dreamed of stardom and Hollywood.

What’s something fans of the show wouldn’t know?

We work really long hours on the show. And we’re very exhausted, tired and frustrated. A lot of people think the cameras just show up. No. We have hair and makeup, and we can’t wear the same clothes twice. We’ll have to stop filming just to switch shirts. And we’re shooting for three months straight. We have [hair and makeup teams] trying to get us glammed up for camera. It’s a long a day; it’s hard.

We have to shoot scenes over and over again. “We need a different angle,” they’ll say, “NeNe, can you walk up the stairs again?” Pure work. We don’t do the show for free – we are free to be the Housewives of Atlanta. I don’t think people know that. Did they rent you a house? Give you a car? No. Call Bravo and ask them. They’ll tell you, “No.” You sign a contract and you are paid for a job. What you do with your money is your business.

How “real” is the show?

100 percent real. All of the arguments, fights, everything is real. We are unscripted television. We make our own show and we make it for not just y’all. [The producers will] say get together for dinner and then we get together for dinner. And we don’t all get along when the cameras are there and they know they’re on camera and don’t want to get caught [looking] like [idiots].

Are you friends with any other city’s Housewives – NYC, NJ, Orange County?

We are all [a part of] the franchise, so yes. We’ve come together at the A-list awards. I won “Guiltiest Pleasure.” I was against Kim Kardashian, Kendra Wilkinson, Bret Michaels and Gretchen Rossi. All of us were there together. We all did a fashion show together … A lot of the Housewives texted me when they picked up the book.

Anything else you want readers of The Red & Black to know about, NeNe?

I know it seems cliche, but dream big. It can truly happen for you. My aunt used to say, “Reach for the stars and you can be anything you want to be.” I used to be like “Oh OK, alright.” And it may come sooner or later; for me it came later. As I got older, I was like, “OK, stardom isn’t going to come to me. Then, one day, the producers came knocking and I was like, “Let’s get it poppin’.”

- Sara Goodman