creative writing – Page 6

Remember to Back Up Your Content!

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.

Email is still useful

If these social media apps change their policies, having an email list can let you stay in touch with your customers, business partners, and author friends. Twitter and Instagram have already started using paid verified badges. Even further, Twitter claims that those who earned their blue checks will soon have to pay to keep them.

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?

Click Here!

If you only want updates on poetry contests, be sure to check poetry contest updates only when you get to the form!

Yecheilyah’s 6th Annual Poetry Contest 2023

https://www.yecheilyahsannualpoetrycontest.org/

Year Six Baby!!

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!

Rest Fuels Creativity

Novella Tolbert, my late Dad’s mom, aka my 100-year-old Granny!

Last week, I went home to Chicago and saw my dad’s side of the family for the first time in fifteen years. We extravagantly celebrated my grandmother’s 100th birthday in classic Tolbert fashion. I planned to bring my laptop but left it at home. Instead of squeezing in work, I played with babies and reminisced on memories.

Successful entrepreneurs travel a lot, but that travel is usually associated with the business. There is even a thing called work-cation, where you work while on vacation.

That’s all fine and dandy, but it is also not real rest.

It has been proven that taking frequent short breaks throughout the day improves productivity – but they need to be real breaks.

For example, not posting to social media while taking a social media break also includes not mindlessly scrolling or opening apps.

You must entirely disengage from whatever you are doing for a break to be truly rejuvenating.

Creative moments occur when the mind is relaxed rather than actively working since this is when the brain’s creative centers are most active.
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I noticed that while in Chicago, I did not worry about my manuscript or work, even as orders poured in for book reviews.

Much of that has to do with a promise I made to myself at the end of 2022 that 2023 wouldn’t be a year of fatigue and exhaustion. I vowed not to rush the process or take on too much.

Rather than take my laptop and edit, I spent most of the time eating, laughing, sleeping, and basking in my family’s love.

I learned that my 12-year-old niece didn’t know who Emmett Till was, so we took her and baby girl with us to the DuSable Museum.

Things are coming to me effortlessly as a result of letting things be. Yesterday, I found out that I am Soul (which is now at 71 reviews on Amazon!) and TWWBE are nearly sold out at Medu (again), identified a location for a future project, and established the groundwork for an event to celebrate National Poetry Month in April.

As the cool air whistles in from my back door, which is open, and the birds chirp their favorite afternoon tunes, I will continue to allow things to flow smoothly as I become a better version of myself.

Lessons from Grace Part One

These are the lessons I’ve learned thus far on my journey to give myself more grace.

Commit to Working More on Yourself than Your Business

Because my mindset determines the direction of everything I do, I’ve learned to prioritize my personal development over my business. I’ve realized that adequate rest, a healthy body, and a healthy sense of self-worth aren’t optional; they’re required for increased creativity and productivity. My self-esteem affects how I interact with others and make business decisions.

I accept that to triumph in the daily battle, I must have a strong faith/mind and be rooted in something greater than myself.

I am my best work, and when I am good, everything around me is good. To quote the African proverb, “When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside cannot hurt you.” (Unknown)

How to Eat an Elephant: Breaking My Writing Goals into Small Parts

There is only one way to eat an elephant, according to Desmond Tutu, and that is one mouthful at a time. He meant that everything in life that appears difficult, overpowering, or even impossible may be completed gradually by taking on just a little at a time.

I was stressed when I first got the edits for my black history book back. “This is going to take forever,” I thought.

But that’s because I was looking at the entire book with no system or organization to get it done. It was just one big pile of words that needed to be sorted out. So, what did I do?

I left it alone a couple days.

The time helped me to see how I would attack it. I decided to work on two chapters at a time. And by work on, I mean do everything that needed to be done: revise, add citations, summarize. Using a dope Black history planner I ordered from Black Prints on Instagram, I blocked off the entire month of January and February with the chapters I would do for each day, leaving one day (every Sat) as a rest day where I would not work on the book at all.

This changed my outlook immensely!

I find myself looking forward to work instead of dreading it (even the boring stuff like formatting citations). If a chapter is short enough, I could do three in one day. With this system, I am already on chapters six and seven.

Doing less feels like I am getting more done!

Moral: Few people who want to write a book get around to doing it because they are thinking about writing a whole book. But how about just writing a chapter? And if that’s too much, a paragraph?

If you can commit to writing a certain amount a day instead of all at once, you will look up to a finished book in no time.

However, it’s equally important to honor your commitments, or this strategy does not work. That’s the thing about writing, no one can do it for you. If you say you will write a chapter a day, try really hard to write a chapter a day.

I am really not all that organized. I just honor the commitments I make to myself.

I would also recommend staying within schedule. While I do three chapters if the two I have for the day are short, I never go on to four.

Which means I have time to draft this blog post!

I hope this helps someone.

Embracing the Beauty of Unhurriedness

We might be at the start of a new year, but it is still the dead of winter. Everything else in nature is still resting and storing strength for the spring. By then, the grass will turn green again, and new life will erupt from what I call the real new year: when everything in nature renews and is reborn.

I cannot help but wonder why we, as people from the earth, aren’t more like it. Why do we feel the need to rush ourselves through life? What would happen if we took five to six months to rest, plan, strategize, pray, meditate, and think? What kind of wisdom would we cultivate in this space of solitude? How much more impact would we make if we were well-rested and revitalized instead of busy and drained?

I think of this as I return from my break and continue my work. Except for this year, that work includes rest and joy. I’m not panicked or anxious about letting people know what I am up to or doing. I am not swayed by what others are doing on social media or concerned about needing to do more because I recognize I am not behind or late. I am where I need to be, and the things I need to get done will get done, each in its own time.

I am excited about the future in ways I have not been before because stepping back and slowing down will help me be laser-focused on one thing at a time, which will help me accomplish more.

In no way do I intend to be booked and busy this year. I’d instead be paid and productive because productivity includes rest.

In this season, I am embracing the beauty of unhurriedness.

Is Writing Still a Gift?

When I was coming up, we treated writing like a special gift, and those who could write well felt like they had superpowers. Or at least I did.

In elementary school, I was a terrible student. I got straight F’s, and the source of my lousy grades was math. I failed the sixth grade twice and almost failed the seventh grade.

Correction: I did fail the seventh grade, but someone had mercy on me, and I passed on to the eighth grade. I cannot say for sure today how it happened. Only I am glad it did.

By the time I was in eighth grade, I was seeing a special ed teacher. Every day he would come into our class, they would announce the special ed teacher was here, and the four, five, or six of us would stand and leave with him.

If that weren’t degrading enough, the work we did in that small room was fit for a first grader. Two plus two and four plus four. It was frustrating because the math I needed help with was the eighth-grade stuff.

I knew that one plus one was two. I didn’t know how it applied to the more advanced math in the other room. Still, they would give us these long worksheets with these kindergarten math problems, tons of them all down the paper. Some days, they would give us candy.

It was humiliating, and I would go home and vent my rage in my diary. I would write about how it felt to be singled out in front of the entire class and for the teacher to utter the words, “The special ed teacher is here,” which I thought was unnecessary. The lack of discretion seemed to me a lack of care for our feelings as students. I felt stupid and if that’s how I felt, I am sure the other kids felt it, too.

And then something happened.

This same teacher discovered I knew how to write. Suddenly, everything turned around. I cannot even say for sure how it happened. I still did not understand the math, but the more I wrote, the better my grades got. By the time the school year ended, I had an armful of academic awards and was graduating with honors.

Writing got me out of the eighth grade and into honors classes in High School. (Even honors math.)

Writing got me into College while still in High School. I attended Robert Morris College in my Junior year for early credit. I would go to High School in the daytime and then take the green line downtown for my college course in the evenings. It was dark when I got home every day.

Writing got me into AP Literature, graduating High School with honors, tenth in my class.

The Point of it All

For writers like me, writing isn’t something we dreamed up on a whim, but is an intimate part of our lives. It is something we can trace as ever-present. For us, writing is a deeply rooted passion that played a major role in developing who we are.

My concern now is writing isn’t taken as seriously as other gifts. Do we even consider it a gift? Indeed, one can learn to write through education, training, and coaching, but is it still a gift?

Are there still people who are natural wordsmiths? People, who go the extra mile to string words together into comprehension? People, who devour books like a man starving? And is writing still opening doors for them? As it did for me?

Do we still consider writing a gift, or is everyone a writer?

	Yecheilyah on Black History Lives
	Yecheilyah on Black History Lives
	unexpectedincommonho… on Black History Lives
	V.M.Sang on Black History Lives
	Rachel on Beware of Flattery