Author: Yecheilyah

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

…if yeez LUV yer books… it’s okay to LUV yer Authors, too… let them know it!…

Seumas Gallacher's avatarSeumas Gallacher

…I’m an unashamed user of the SOSYAL NETWURKS in pursuit of my ‘business of writing’… in reflective self-honesty, I try to steer clear of SPAMMING, which I find as abhorrent and annoying as most of yeez Lads and Lassies of Blog Land… that does not preclude from time to time an acceptable amount of inclusion  in my posts, elements of my own WURK… there’s a proper way to do that… I like to think, in balance, the majority of my posts are aimed at entertaining, p’raps even educating, and certainly empathising with my fellow scribblers in support of their wee masterpieces… that balance is generally about 90% for others, 10% for my stuff… and I’m comfortable with that… when occasions arrive, such as this present period, running up to and including the launch of my latest Jack Calder  crime thriller, KILLER CITY, there will inevitably be a…

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Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Invest in Your Best

Good Morning Lovelies,

For today’s segment of Writer’s Quote Wednesday, hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading,  I draw inspiration from Brooke Griffin:

WQW

Sometimes we try to get everything done in one sitting when it was never meant to be that way. My Writer’s Quote Wednesday this week is to encourage every writer to take it one day at a time. I don’t know anything about the author of this quote (when I goggled the name it was about fitness or something idk) but I used it anyway because when I read it I knew Brooke’s words were meant for this week, as it is on one accord with my thoughts. Each day presents its own opportunity for improvement. It can be something as simple as getting out of bed or writing a journal entry. It can be something as great as finishing a book or as simple as cleaning the house today. Every day is a learning experience and because the days change so dramatically from day to day there’s always room to improve or to learn more about a particular thing or skill. This is not to say to chase after fruitless knowledge, but personal growth is always continuous. So this is to encourage each writer to invest in his or her best. When you invest in your best you can’t go wrong, you’ve done all that you can do. Today your best may be writing for 15 minutes, and tomorrow it may be 20 minutes. Whatever the case, give it your all. And always seek more.

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That’s it this week. Don’t forget to check out all of the other awesome quotes from other bloggers. For some reason I can’t link to the picture today so Follow This Link instead to join the fun. 🙂

writers-quote-wednesday

Why

…does man determine his self-worth by his career or financial situation? Is it really necessary to introduce yourself as a doctor outside of the office? Is it worth it to continue to remind everyone that your a writer with every post? Or does not the post itself justification enough? We all have bills to pay true, but perhaps if our self-worth wasn’t so wrapped up in titles and prestige we can enjoy life better and we won’t be so depressed all of the time. My books may sell and they may not but that’s the experience and I am in love with that process. You see we get so confused about life because everything is out of context, we have forgotten those things that are really important. When it’s hot we’re complaining that it’s too hot. When it’s cold we start complaining that it’s too cold. When it rains we are mad that it’s raining but when there’s a drought we curse the sky.

It is necessary to enjoy the sun rays instead of complain about how hot it is outside.

It is necessary to appreciate the stillness instead of complain about being bored.

It is necessary to love the fruit of the womb instead of complain about how bad your children are. Or have you not stopped to discern that some people cannot have them?

It is necessary to love the man or woman in your life if you have one.

In short, it is always necessary to pay attention to how you spend your time, for it will soon be just a memory.

Writing Distractions

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A surge of consciousness spills over your thoughts like a stream of mighty waters. Waves of ideas that suddenly dance upon the mental workspace of your brain, a wide collection of inspiration collectively manipulating ideas, images, and symbols. Together they battle against one another to see which is fortunate enough to make it on the page. Will they splash onto the screen or get caught between blue lines? These are the concerns of words who dream of nothing but getting out of your head. Who, if any, of these ideas will transition from thought to word and from word to living persona? Your fingers are excited by the mere contemplation of it and proceed to structure the foundations of a blank page. That is until something happens. It is usually at this point that someone knocks on the door, the telephone rings, the children are awakened, or a question is asked. Sudden interruptions startle your words out of their skins and they run into hidden spaces and behind writer’s blocks. I don’t know what it is about writing, but it is so easy to be distracted from it. It takes so much concentration and focus that sometimes I find it hard to get back into the swing of things once interrupted. It is an art indeed, a pictorial inscription; a steady stream of carefully arranged thoughts that must glide from the mind to paper without interruption. Any break in this stream may cause the artist to abandon his work until a more appropriate moment. Sometimes I find it hard to even explain this to people! Some just cannot understand how easy it is to break into that mode of concentration. ESPECIALLY if we’re talking about poetry. I can be sitting at the computer immersed in a very pivotal moment and then someone starts talking and then its like, “OK, but can I finish this stanza first?“

Launch Date Reveal!

One of the most exciting aspects of Self-Publishing is being able to build up suspense for the next project at your own pace and I have (finally) set a date for the release of my next book. As many of you already know, it releases this month but I had not given an exact date. So, without further ado, please Follow This Link to view the flyer that reveals the date for the release of “Beyond The Colored Line.” The flyers came out really nice and I’m going to enjoy sending them off.

Launch week for this blog is gonna be off the chain, yaaasss. 🙂

Encouraging Womanhood

I remember being given the permission to date at a certain age. Even if not literal (I don’t remember being told), by the age of 15, 16, and 17 it was understood I have at some point begun dating, and as such there was a silent acceptance of this change. As I’m running errands and trying to escape the triple digit scorch that’s got it’s body spread all over Louisiana, I thought about womanhood. d8998d4994ed3993c8d8df56c8e9ebcf What is womanhood? The question hangs over the heads of our daughters with anxious anticipation. The youthful mind dividing itself into sections of experience: puberty, first date, first love, marriage, and children. We split ourselves into portions and gamble off pieces that do not fit. We grow old and still we find this question lingering against the frontal lobe of our minds, and occupying the mental space of our thoughts, “What is Womanhood?” It is a question we believe can be answered just by purchasing cigarettes, buying liquor, engaging in sexual intercourse or the entering of the club scene. As my thoughts spread out and I take these snap shots of my own past, I thought about this generation and how disappointed I am in a lot of today’s youth. Their minds seem to be so far gone from basic fundamental teachings that drive adulthood. My thoughts grew to include preparation and how little of it is present in many of our communities. That is the preparation of our young people and most especially, of our young women. Instead of encouraging our daughters to get boyfriends, it is time we start to prepare them for womanhood. In this way, when they begin to engage in relationships, when they do find a man, they’re not little girls. Because we have not prepared our daughters, a generation of children occupy grown-up bodies and little girls have over run our households and are producing babies they don’t have the tools to teach. What happened to the womanhood training our grandmothers instilled in our mothers fifty years ago?