You may post your review there now if you’ve reviewed an early copy.
If you want a free ecopy to read in exchange for an honest review, I have a few I am willing to give away! The only requirement is to leave a review on Amazon.
You can preorder the paperback, hard copy, eBook, or bundle now at blkhistorybook.com.
About.
Black History Facts You Didn’t Learn in School is a historical guide on Black Americans’ accomplishments, contributions, and struggles. It includes the experiences of Black individuals who have often been marginalized, overlooked, or omitted from mainstream historical accounts.From the resilience of women like Anna Douglass, first wife of Frederick Douglass, to the many Black communities that prospered, recognizing and celebrating Black history helps to ensure that these stories are acknowledged and that the achievements and resilience of Black people are valued and appreciated.
These are the lessons I am learning thus far on my journey to give myself more grace.
Take the Pressure Off
Story A.
I was never under any pressure to share the same stuff on all of my social media channels. I have never automated my posts to ensure that what I write to one also appears on the other, for this reason. Early on, I recognized that each medium had a slightly different audience. And I rarely received the same reaction when I attempted to post the same thing. At times, it works, but it’s not something I do often. Each platform, to me, is its own. Therefore, what I post to TikTok won’t necessarily make it to Instagram, and what I post to Instagram won’t necessarily make it to Facebook. (Hardly anything makes it to Facebook. It is my least favorite platform.)
Story B.
This weekend, I am excited to attend my family’s annual BBQ. That’s right. My Chi-town homies are coming down for us to meet in Augusta, GA, for some family time.
We were all to stay at the same hotel until my cousin called and said a group of them would stay at an Airbnb.
“Okay cool. Imma cancel our room then and find a cheaper hotel.”
I’m not staying at an overpriced hotel that everyone else is suddenly not staying at. (Cause how ya’ll just gonna leave.)
Nope. Imma find something else. (And I did at a little over $100 cheaper with the same quality.)
What’s my point of these two stories?
Take the pressure off yourself to do what everyone else is doing, appear polished and put together, or post eighty-six times a day.
Take the pressure off yourself to show up in spaces you are not comfortable with to make other people comfortable. This includes spending money you don’t want to spend.
Take the pressure off yourself to respond immediately to emails, text messages, and comments.
Take the pressure off yourself to agree with everything, overextend yourself, or do more work than is necessary.
Take the pressure off yourself to always go the extra mile, even when no one is going the extra mile for you.
Give yourself more grace by taking the pressure off.
I believe reading to be so powerful that it has the capacity to make one wise regardless of whose institution of higher learning the person has or has not attended. In the world of books, it makes no difference whether they completed grade school, high school, or learned to read later in life. That is the capability of the human mind. It is reprogrammable for excellence. The person who spends more time reading than engaging in frivolous activities can become a person of intellect of the highest degree despite their circumstances. Of this, I am sure.
My experience with reading is that it has an unparalleled ability to jolt the mind into action, turning readers into superheroes capable of phonemic awareness, visual and auditory processes, comprehension, and fluency. Nothing would make me happier for this generation than for them to sit down with a book and taste the deliciousness of its knowledge on their tongues. Magic exists in the world of expanded vocabularies, the ability to think critically, analyze, and solve problems. With just one flavorful novel, they, too, can be hooked on the limitless potential of being a well-read person.
I logged into my WordPress dashboard this morning, and my last 5-6 posts were gone, including paid book reviews.
Can you hear my heart breaking?
Thankfully, after about thirty minutes, they showed up!
My face after deleting my tweets cause I thought the links were dead. Photo by MART PRODUCTION
Too bad I had already deleted the tweets to what I thought were now dead links. Way to go, Yecheilyah.
A glitch, maybe, but the scare was real!
Chile, I almost cried.
Then I put my big girl panties on and understood today’s message.
ALWAYS back up your content!
Make sure your photographs, graphics, videos, and articles are stored in a folder on your computer or on a USB drive. Before composing your posts in WordPress, it’s simpler to write them in a Word document (or whichever program you prefer) and save them to your computer.
Never depend on ONE social platform to reach your audience
I have never been a fan of putting all my eggs in one basket, and this experience reemphasized the importance. I am all for monogamy, but cheating on your other social media profiles with a backup plan is okay, lol.
It is not a smart idea to rely only on one platform, whether we’re talking about Instagram bugs or if US companies and content creators will no longer be able to use TiKTok. (Are you following the case with them? Back those videos up!)
Keep your options open and stay as informed of all the developments as you can. Even if we disagree with AI, for instance, it would be a bad idea to ignore how it is affecting the book publishing industry and how authors and publishers create and distribute their works.
It is not farfetched to say that we might one day have to pay to use these apps. If that’s not your flavor, you will want to maintain contact with your people somehow.
Blogs are great alternatives to email lists since subscribing to someone’s blog mean you get an email for every update anyway.
If you simply use your blog, however, always refer back to point one and backup your blog content.
After all, we don’t own WordPress either.
Interested in joining my email list for updates you won’t get here or anywhere else?
I cannot believe we’ve been doing this for six years. If it weren’t for Covid, it would be year seven!
We are excited to gear up for year six of the contest. But we need your help to make this year a success.
I am looking for the following:
Sponsors: No books please. Contribution must either be a service our poets can benefit from or a financial investment toward the cash prize. There are four cash prizes worth between $25 and $100 up for grabs. You can donate whatever you like to put toward it, or you can donate toward one of the tiers (for example, first place is $100).
Judges: The last seven poems will be judged by additional authors, poets, editors, or literary experts who will also help select the top four winners. This is the perfect opportunity for those who are versed in poetry.
Before you put your hand in, remember: Previous winners cannot volunteer as judges, and persons wishing to participate in the contest cannot be team members in the background.
Poems will be judged in the following categories:
POWER
BEAUTY
EDUCATION / MESSAGE
ENTERTAINMENT
GRAMMATICAL / TECHNICAL
RHYME
ORIGINALITY
OVERALL IMPACT
Social Media Marketers/Promoters: Bloggers, businesses, and professionals willing to use their platform to help promote the contest from the start of the submissions until close.
If you are on board to help with year six, please email the following to yecheilyah@yecheilyahysrayl.com as soon as possible.
Your name/title as you want it to appear online
A professional photo/headshot
Your company logo (if available)
Social media handle
The area you are applying to help with. Sponsor, Judge, or SM Promo
If you know someone who could help, do feel free to share this post with them!
The PBS Blog 