Author: Yecheilyah

Writing to restore Black historical truth through fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Writer’s Quote Wednesday Writing Challenge – Strength

When I saw today’s theme, I was excited. I was excited because I have this graphic that’s just been sitting in my phone for about a week that I haven’t used.

Welcome back everyone to Writer’s Quote Wednesday (which I haven’t participated in for too long), hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading  and co-hosted by Ronovan of Ronovan Writes. Today’s theme is Strength and my quote is from an unknown source, I don’t know who wrote it, but it really uplifted me. I hope that it will do the same for you:

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I love this quote because to me, strength is endurance. Survival. It is moving forward without regard to struggle. Strength is the will power to choose to live through what could have killed you, emotionally, mentally, or physically. Some attributes of strength is forgiveness, and patience. I think these two things are necessary for anyone looking to tap into strength. Strength is being taken up by storms, but then afterward straightening your crown and moving forward.

The Top 50 Sites for Indie and Self-Published Authors

Excellent list of resources. Comments disabled here. Please refer to original post.

jenowenby's avatarJens Thoughts

I stumbled across this fantastic resource and wanted to share with you. I’d love to hear any feedback.

#URLCategory
1KBoards – Writers’ CafeALL
2The Newbie’s Guide to PublishingSelf-Publishing
3Amazon KDP & Author CentralResource
4The Passive VoiceIndustry/News
5Dean Wesley SmithSelf-Publishing
6TerribleMindsWriting Process
7The Creative PennSelf-Publishing
8No Rules Just WriteSelf-Publishing
9Self Publishing PodcastSelf-Publishing
10David GaughranSelf-Publishing
11The Book DesignerSelf-Publishing
12BookBubResource
13Nook Press / PubItResource
14GoodreadsSocial
15CopybloggerMarketing
16Jane FriedmanSelf-Publishing
17Seth GodinMarketing
18ScrivenerResource
19TED TalksAWESOMENESS
20Hugh HoweySelf-Publishing
21Lindsay BurokerSelf-Publishing
22Writer’s DigestWriting Process
23The Self Publishing TeamSelf-Publishing
24Kristine Kathryn RuschSelf-Publishing
25KOBOResource
26Digital Book WorldIndustry/News
27Storyfix.comWriting Process
28Karen WoodwardWriting Process
29Publisher’s…

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Why Your Book Isn’t Selling

Excellent points. I loved all of them. I always enjoy Kristen’s posts because they’re so real: Straight, no chaser: “Thing is, we don’t care about you or your book. We didn’t want to see that crap in our feed, we sure aren’t going to subscribe to a blog/newsletter that is nothing but self-promotion.”

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Author Kristen Lamb's avatarKristen Lamb's Blog

Screen Shot 2016-08-22 at 10.22.38 AM Original image courtesy of Juhan Sonin via Flickr Creative commons.

The writer’s worst nightmare. You researched, you wrote, you finished, and then published your book. You wait for the sales and……….*crickets*. This is something that can happen to any kind of author, traditional or nontraditional. We think we have a hit on our hands only to later be checking it for a pulse.

What happened? Why is the book just not selling?

The Market

Remaindered Titles Remaindered Titles

In the not so distant past, there was only one way to get published and that was traditional publishing. Though many authors cheered when they were finally able to cast off the chains of New York, let’s at least respect that agents and editors might have known a thing or three about the book business.

Writers would often get vexed at the stack of rejection letters, believing they couldn’t actually write well. This was…

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For Those Who Are Sick

If you want to follow this blog, I warn you. We are emotional, here. We are sometimes frustrated, tired, and some of us are beaten and broken; looking for words that will bring calm to storms that have not passed yet. For the messiah himself was sent to those who were sick.  Some of us are sick. Walking mistakes looking to be healed in places technology has not tapped into yet. Waiting for the ink in this pen to heal the shattered pieces of our souls. You see this pen, all courage shaped in my hand, is here to lift the fallen, to restore the broken, and to heal the hurting. The people here, those who follow this blog and the person who owns it, do not all have it together. So, if you want to join us I caution you: We are not robots mechanically maneuvering our way through social media. We do hold ourselves accountable, I must add for excuses do not live here, but we are not fake. We do not inhale html codes and hyperlinks, and our blood is not made of oil. Though I cannot promise you that we won’t leave stains, for we ourselves are stained. And yet, we know that we will not always be this way because our mistakes make room for healing. So we look for evidence of growth in the strangest places, like cracked surfaces, rocks, and hard places. Welcome.

4 Reasons Why I Won’t Change The Name of My Blog

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Branding logic says that my blog should be called after my name. Had I thought of this before starting this blog, perhaps I would have (maybe) gone with logic. However, because I’m a tad bit crazy, even being aware of this hasn’t moved me to change the name of this blog (even after much suggestion).

#1: Connected To My Name

My blog is already connected to my name. What this mean is that many people are already aware that The PBS Blog is the blog of Yecheilyah Ysrayl. Branding in one sentence, as defined by Kristen Lamb is:

“A brand is when your name alone has the power to drive sales.”

I think this is the most clear and simplest definition of branding. Taking this into consideration, Author Branding is just the same “when an author’s name is strong enough to drive sales”, or in this case, drive views. I believe The PBS Blog is strong enough to hold its own as the blog home of Yecheilyah without me having to make that my blog title.

#2: Introversion

I’m shy! I’m not sure I’m comfortable naming my blog after me! “Welcome to the wonderful world of Author and Blogger Yecheilyah Ysrayl!” Just writing that made my skin crawl. I’ve always hated bringing attention to myself. Remember those days in High School where everyone wanted to show off their name brands but you were too poor to afford the Jordan’s? Good, now go back to that one time in forever you actually got a pair, and that one person who annoys everyone called you out and you knew it was just to mock you? Yea, that. The worst. Anyway, I digress. Long story short, I’m really shy even though I’ve come to notice people don’t believe I’m as shy as I am. I always get the side look when I say I’m an introvert, but it’s true. I am very laid back. I have the potential to sit in a room all day and not say anything and be completely fine with it.

#3: Not Just an Author Blog

I’m passionate about sooo much more than writing! For this reason, this is not just an author blog, even if I do talk about writing 85% of the time. OK 90%, whatever.

#4: Mission, Purpose, Goal

I named my blog Pearls Before Swine with the subtitle Truth is Stranger Than Fiction because it embodies my mission for this blog. That is, I will always prefer the truth (pearls) over the lie (swine) no matter the color, shade, or persona it’s packaged in and I will never force the truth down anyone’s throat. You see the truth is very precious, delicate and fragile like a pair of your mother’s most elegant pearls. She’s not going to give these over to anyone, let alone a pig who will rip them open and tear them apart.  A reference to Matthew Chapter 7, Verse 6 of the bible, Pearls Before Swine keeps me focused, and reminds me that truth is to be given only to those who want it. To those who will take it into their hands and protect it, use it, and wear it like sacred garments. Looking up at my blog name ALWAYS keeps me focused on my primary objective. I am to use my writing and skill set as a way to bring truth in the most creative and effective way possible. I am not to force, debate, or argue the truth because truth speaks for itself, and I am to never compromise my personal integrity because someone says so. Pearls Before Swine, because I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.

Mistakes

Blog Post Mess Up

If you got it all together, there is no room for growth. If you know it all, there is nothing else to learn. If there is nothing else to learn, there is nothing to strive for. If there is nothing to strive for, there is no hope. If there is no hope, then it is all in vain. Vain. It means nothingness. producing no result. Useless. Are you useless? Let it not be that your existence here is pure poverty; a wasting away of flesh. A joining of bone and marrow, flesh and blood yet dull of emotion, of mistakes, or faults, of trial and error. When you started writing; when you started a blog; when you started school; a new relationship; a job; when you started whatever it is that you started, no one expected you to turn into a robot. Mistakes exist to be learned from and they make up our experience but, when you’re pinched, no one expects you not to feel. Having faith does not mean that you have to pretend as if it doesn’t hurt. If you want to be the best, then there is one thing you must be willing to do: Mess Up. That’s right, you must fall, trip, stumble. If you are to be the best, then you have to make all of the mistakes that are necessary in order to know the difference between what works and what doesn’t. So, fall. Break. Burst forth. This is not your destruction. This is your birth.

Do Black Lives Really Matter

Abortion is the number one killer of black lives in America. It has killed more Black lives than AIDS, Cancer, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and even the entire Vietnam War, but no one speaks out about this. Alcoholism, drug addiction, child abuse, and molestation plague the Black community, but no one speaks out about this. 70% of African American women are single, and 42% have never married. This means 70% of African American women are left alone and unprotected, and 70% of Black children grow up without fathers. Contrary to popular belief, fathers provide more to the household than just money. They provide financial stability, yes, but also protection, leadership, and guidance for our children.

In fact, the state of the black man and woman relationship is worse today than it was over 50 years ago (and even during slavery. We were more communal as a people during slavery than we are today). In the 1960s, 40% of Blacks had their own businesses and 87% of black families were two-parent. Today, less than 7% of blacks own their own business and only 25% of black families are two-parent. But, no one talks about this. However, African Americans have been told over and over again what the problems are so this post is really not about that. This is not just about Slavery, Jim Crow, and Discrimination. This is about the revolution of self.

The African American community is in a state of spiritual crisis. As a community of people, we continue to fight for change that never comes. We continue to vote in an attempt to change our political clout. We continue to march, speak, and debate about the many changes necessary in this world, from education to discrimination and from discrimination to gender equality. But while we seek to change everything around us, we have yet to seek to change ourselves. We know what our problems are, but what we need at this point are solutions. Solutions that are deeper than government-funded organizations, protest marches, and ballot boxes. People cannot change anything around them if they cannot first change what is inside them, no matter their color.

In the words of the African Proverb, “When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside cannot hurt you.” Freedom is deeper than social economics. Freedom is spiritual and spiritual freedom begins inside the individual. To change the way that we live, we must first change the way that we think. Otherwise, if we continue to depend on outside sources to change our current conditions, we will be marching for the next 50 years while our sons’ blood cries out to us from the ground.