Yecheilyah’s 2nd Annual Poetry Contest 2018: Rules, Guidelines, Entrance and Prizes

Yess people! It’s that time! Time to reveal the guidelines to this year’s contest and our amazing prizes! Read on…

Yecheilyah’s 2nd Annual Poetry Contest 2018

Theme: Self-Care, Self-Love – Our theme this year is on self-care and self-love!

Submissions Accepted: Thursday, July 12th NOW– Tuesday, July 31st

*If your poem is ready, go ahead and submit it!*

Winners Announced: Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Guidelines

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  • The poems submitted must be original work. This means that the poems must be written by you. If we find a poem that resembles any previously published poem in any way that poet will be disqualified from the competition. Poems must be your own work.

 

  • The poem must not be previously published in a book or anywhere online (including your blog)

 

  • The contest will be judged based on writing, style and how closely the poem adheres to the theme.

 

  • We are judges of the competition only. All poets are welcomed to enter regardless of race, religion, political views or location. All poems must be written in English and there will be no shipments outside of the U.S. In the event a poet wins this competition and their residence is outside of the U.S., any prize requiring shipping (if any) will be awarded in digital form. Ex. Ebooks instead of paperbacks.

 

  • All poets must be at least 18 years of age to submit.

 

  • There are no entry fees for this competition. Simply subscribe to Yecheilyah’s email list HERE and email your poem to enter. Anyone who subscribes only to unsubscribe before the competition is complete (any time before the winners are announced) will be disqualified for the win. Any subscription that has not been made before 11:59pm EST on July 31st will be disqualified.

 

  • Authors of the winning poems grant Yecheilyah of The PBS Blog and Literary Korner Publishing the right to publish the poems on her blog located at www.thepbsblog.com  as the winning poem. Permission is granted upon entry of the contest for publishing to The PBS Blog. The poets retain all rights and copyrights of their own work.

 

  • Upon submission, poets grant Yecheilyah of The PBS Blog and Literary Korner Publishing the right to publish the poem in the Literary Korner Publishing’s debut online magazine. The poets retain all rights and copyrights of their own work.

 

  • Multiple entries to this contest are allowed. If submitting multiple poems there is a 3 poem max.

 

  • Entry is taken as acceptance of ALL of these guidelines.

Submission Instructions:

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  • Click on THIS link and subscribe to Yecheilyah’s email list. This will automatically give us your name and email address. Be sure to confirm your subscription is due to this contest by checking ‘yes’ next to “Is this a poetry contest entry?” on the form. *If you are already subscribed to my list you are halfway there! Just email me your poem*

 

  • Once you’ve subscribed to the list, please send your poem(s) to yecheilyah@yecheilyahysrayl.com.

 

  • Both of the above steps are needed for a poem to be considered submitted.

 

  • Submissions are accepted July 12th NOW – through July 31st 2018.

 

  • Winners are announced August 22, 2018 on The PBS Blog and across social media.

Prizes:

The grand prize winner of this contest will receive:

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  • One $50 Amazon Giftcard (this will be a hard-copy gift card mailed to the winner within the U.S. Winners outside the U.S. will receive an ecard.)
  • Gift Card is nested inside a specialty gift box
  • Gift Card has no fees and no expiration date
  • Gift Card is redeemable towards millions of items storewide at Amazon.com

Why Hardcopy Giftcards:

For authors getting reviews, Amazon is strict about assuming manipulation when it comes to amazon e-cards, usually given away at contests. “If the author has ever given the reviewer a gift card, anywhere in the past, then all the reader’s reviews are considered “paid for” and deleted.” (Source: https://tracycooperposey.com/amazon-reviews-being-deleted/)

To help to protect any authors entering this contest, our gift-cards will be hard-copy and mailed, except in the case of winners outside of the United States.

  • Signed paperback copy of I am Soul poetry book by Yecheilyah Ysrayl (Winners outside the U.S. will receive a digital copy of this book)
  • 1 Writing Custom Designed Journal and matching pen to encourage your writing journey!
  • Front page feature and publication to Literary Korner Publishing’s exclusive online magazine designed specifically for this contest, debuting this summer.
  • Promotion on The PBS Blog and social media (over 700+views weekly)

Runner-ups!

We will be choosing some runner-ups!

All Entrants

All entrants have the opportunity to be featured in our first online magazine publication designed specifically for this contest so put forth your best! Only a select few will be chosen!

Don’t forget to support the contributors to this year’s contest.

Follow Tehilayah’s Blog HERE
Follow Lisa’s Blog HERE
Follow Kathy’s Blog HERE
Follow Tinzley’s Blog HERE

These rules will be re-posted again as we get closer to the contest so go ahead and write those poems! Hurry. Deadline is 7/31

The PBS Blog Podcast Ep 15 – Discipline and Consistency

If discipline is a form of self-love then a refusal to correct the things that are wrong in our lives is a form of self-hate. Let’s love ourselves better. Tune into today’s podcast to hear more.

Listen to Discipline and Consistency now on Soundcloud for more and be sure to subscribe for notification of new episodes.

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-573689310

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pbs-blog-podcast/id1344901312?mt=2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pbsblogpodcast

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thepbsblog/

To follow my personal IG page @yecheilyah

The Time is Now to Become an Independent Author

Excellent article from Don.

Don Massenzio's avatarDSM Publications

Soap BoxYes, It’s time for my soapbox. You may be going through the classic struggle trying to decide whether to self-publish or wait for traditional publishing possibilities.

There are many pros and cons to each and I’ve gone through many of those in previous posts. For me, the obvious choice was self-publishing. When I triangulated my age with my available time and my tolerance for rejection, it was the smart option for me.

It’s up to you do decide which path you want to take, but I want to let you know that there has never been a better time to be an independently published author. There are so many tools and favorable platforms that, when you choose the indie author path, it is a fairly straightforward route to navigate.

Is it easy? Not at all. You will expend the same amount of energy (if not more) than you would have creating…

View original post 1,133 more words

Black History Fun Fact Friday – Anna Murray Douglass

Today, we are taking a look at a woman whose husband we know well. Frederick Douglass is well-known but his first wife is not. For the sake of time, I am combining sources from various articles since I have not had the chance to put something together for you this week. Enjoy.

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Anna Murray Douglass

Frederick and Anna met in 1838, when he still went by the surname Bailey and she by Murray. The daughter of enslaved parents in rural Maryland around 1813, Anna was the first of her siblings to be born free after her parents were manumitted (set free). She lived with her parents until the age of 17, at which point she headed for Baltimore and found work as a domestic helper. Over the years she managed to earn and save money; the vibrant community of more than 17,000 free blacks in the Maryland city organized black churches and schools despite repressive laws restricting their freedoms. When she met Frederick—historians disagree on the when and where their acquaintance occurred, but it may have been in attending the same church—she was financially prepared to start a life with him. But first, he needed freedom.

By borrowing a freedman’s protection certificate from a friend and wearing the disguise of a sailor sewn by Anna, Frederick made his way to New York City by train (possibly spending Anna’s money to buy the ticket, says historian Leigh Fought). Once there, he sent for Anna and they were married in the home of abolitionist David Ruggles. According to Rosetta, Anna brought nearly everything the couple needed to begin their life together: a feather bed with pillows and linens; dishes with cutlery; and a full trunk of clothing for herself.

– Source: The Hidden History of Anna Murray Douglass

In 1837, Frederick met a free Black woman, Anna Murray, who was born in 1813. Her parents had been freed before she was born, and Anna worked as a laundress and a housekeeper. Anna used her savings and sold a bed to pay for train tickets for Frederick, which he used to escape to freedom. She also sewed a sailor outfit for him, which he wore as a disguise. Fredrick had tried to escape before, but it was not until Anna helped him that he escaped successfully.

Once Frederick got to New York, Anna joined him and they married and moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts. They had five children together. When they moved to Rochester, New York, she turned their home into an Underground Railroad stop, providing shelter for runaway slaves en route to Canada.

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Frederick Douglass

As Frederick became more involved in activism, their relationship became more strained. Anna could barely read and write, and felt out of place among Frederick’s friends. His friends, most of whom were highly educated and intellectual, openly looked down on Anna (to his credit, he vigorously defended her against any who suggested she was not a worthy wife). Anna enjoyed being part of the Black community in New Bedford, but in 1847 Frederick moved the family, and as his circle of friends widened, hers diminished. Anna was also tormented by rumors that Frederick had affairs during his many travels. On two occasions, Frederick had women he was rumored to be sleeping with move into Anna’s house, causing controversy between the couple and within Frederick’s political community.

-Source: Real Life Romance: Frederick Douglass, Anna Murray, and Helen Pitts

While Frederick began his climb as an abolitionist orator, Anna cared for their children, born between 1839 and 1849: Rosetta, Lewis, Frederick, Charles, and Annie. In 1847, they moved to Rochester, New York, where Frederick began publishing his newspaper, the North Star.  The gulf between Anna and Frederick widened over the years; she could barely read and write and was rarely a part of his activist life and growing circle of prominent white and black abolitionist colleagues.  After the death of their youngest child, Annie, in 1860, Anna’s health steadily deteriorated. She died on August 4, 1882 at their home, Cedar Hill, across from Washington, D.C.  She was carried back to Rochester, New York, where she was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.

– Source: The Black Past Remembered

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Helen Pitts Douglass

One year after Anna’s death, Frederick remarried. His second wife was Helen Pitts. She was born in 1838. Her parents were abolitionists, and she was an ardent abolitionist and suffragette. In 1880, her family moved next door to the Douglass family, and Helen assisted Frederick with his work. She also worked as a clerk and co-edited a women’s rights magazine.

Their marriage was quite a scandal. Helen was white and twenty years younger than Frederick. His children felt the marriage disrespected their mother. Frederick and Helen’s friends were shocked because they felt the marriage was too sudden and because they were worried about the race and age differences. Helen’s family cut off contact with her altogether, and their local society was appalled that a black man and white woman were married at all.

Helen Pitts’ response: “Love came to me, and I was not afraid to marry the man I loved because of his color.”

Frederick’s response: “This proves I am impartial. My first wife was the color of my mother and the second, the color of my father.”

-Source: Real Life Romance: Frederick Douglass, Anna Murray, and Helen Pitts

EC thoughts: I feel kind of sad for Anna and I can’t help but to wonder why Frederick, intelligent as he was, did not teach her to read and write. Did she not want to learn? Or did he not want to teach her? We can only speculate.

6 Self-Publishing Myths That Need to Die | Kristina Adams

I wasn’t gonna share this article (except to my Facebook and Twitter page), but I loved what Kristina was saying so much I just had to share it here as well. If you’re still trying to decide on Self-Publishing or not this  article should clear some things up for you. I am always talking to new Self-Publishers about the importance of platform so I found the following statement an important one to share:

The assumption that traditional publishers will do all of your marketing for you is one of the biggest myths when it comes to traditional publishing. The more a publisher pays for a book, the bigger the marketing budget. Unfortunately, unless you already have a big platform, it’s pretty unlikely you’ll get a fat cheque or a decent marketing budget. Publishers pay more for celebrity books—and market them heavily—because they already have an audience. They know the books will sell if they reach the right people. The lower the risk, the happier they are to invest.

I think it’s a good idea for Indie Authors (myself included) to seek to learn more about the publishing industry as a whole (to include Traditional Publishing even if we aren’t seeking that route) because it can help us to better understand the business of publishing, such as the importance of having a platform, and can possibly help us to better sell and market our books. For example, “Most agents and publishers—particularly the bigger ones—won’t even consider you unless you already have a social media following of a few thousand. This shows them that you already have a fan base that will buy the book, and there’s already a market out there for you and your book(s).” (source: https://www.writerscookbook.com/indie-publishing-vs-traditional-publishing/)

I think Self-Publishers can benefit from this same kind of information. We may not be seeking agents but we do still need readers and the bigger the platform, the better our chances of finding those readers. Just a thought.

Read through to the ORIGINAL article HERE.

When the World Loves You

I hate to have to be the one to tell you this

after all, you woke up today optimistic

and here I am

feeding you words that I know you do not want to hear

but I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I didn’t tell you the truth

about how the world loves you.

The world will love you

only after the soil hugs your flesh

when the breath leaves your body for that place it will now call home

the world will bring you home

on the backs of T-Shirts

and tattoos that kiss cuzo’s flesh

in a frame on grandmother’s wall

and in museums

popularize your name in a post

speak to you in a language that you will never understand

and in a voice that you will never hear

the world will love you

later

after the fact

like they did messiah

on their living room walls

force a crown of thorns around your head

sacrifice your body to social media

hang you

on their Facebook walls

hashtag your legacy

in cyberspace

they will celebrate you

like they never even did at birth

I warn you

they will throw you parties

bigger than anything your eyes could behold

hold you

in their memories like a nightmare

from which they cannot awake

you will haunt them

and they will love it

the world will love you in caskets

and in prayers

tell you secrets in the grave

they will confide in you

like a man to a woman’s hips

when the world loves you back

it is in flowers

and candlelight vigils

it is in marches, street corners, and pictures

the world will love you in laughter

and in memorials

in memory and regret

and I apologize that I have to be the one to tell you this

after all, you woke up today optimistic

but I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I didn’t tell you the truth

about how the world loves you

only in death.

This poem is inspired by “When the Hood Loves You Back” by Steven Willis. You can watch the video to my poem below. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel for notifications of more poems.

90s Throwback Thursday Jam – Brandy – I Wanna Be Down (Remix) (feat. Mc Lyte, YoYo & Queen Latifah)

I wasn’t a hardcore Brandy fan but I’m feeling this 90s swag today. Tell ’em ladies! Lol