Thank you Lisa for paying it forward, as you always do, by nominating me for my 8th Blog Award, The Respect Award. I am truly honored about this award in particular because it’s something I strive to extend everywhere I go. I do not hesitate to give and it sometimes perplexes people but it is real. I’ll give you the shirt off my back if need be because that’s just the kind of person I am and its not fabricated. I strive to keep it real at all times and to give the same kindness and the same peace to everyone around me while at the same time remaining firm. I am kind but I am not naïve , thus discipline and firmness is just as critical to me as being a peacemaker only because these are the qualities of a good leader. In short, I appreciate you appreciating me and I hope that I can continue to display the same kindness to all of my bloggers in general; those who follow this blog today and on into the future.
“The “Respect” Award is my personal award for fellow bloggers who consistently reach out to other bloggers, offer support, are kind, struggle to understand differences in people, and who treat themselves and other people with kindness and respect. You don’t have to do anything for this award. You can choose to copy the Award Picture and give the award to the people who have earned your respect or you can do nothing. This is my way of saying thank you. You have earned my respect.”
I bleed words for a living. How did this come to be? At what point did I decide that I would write? That I would be a writer. Since I have always loved to write, it is challenging to pinpoint the exact moment I felt compelled to confide in words as a source of strength. My life has not been perfect in childhood, and having attended eight different schools before High School, I developed a love for reading. Ah, there it is. I write because I love to read. There are deeper reasons why I write but this is the starting place. Reading has always been my foundation. I could not trust in people so I trusted in books. Ironic isn’t it? For authors are people too. Nonetheless, by the age of twelve I developed a love for stories. Understand that my love for stories and my love for reading are two separate occasions. I have always, and still do, love to read. But it is that moment I took notice of how stories were written that I began to love stories. The emotion of the characters, the surrounding landscape, and even the way the words tippy toed across the page fascinated me. I wanted to be part of this process on a level that went deeper than reading. I wanted to become an architect of this kind of skill and just like that I began to write stories of my own.
Today
Today my love for writing and my purpose for doing so have spun into greater depth as I have experienced many different things, traveled many places, and interacted with many different people as opposed to when I was a girl. I write today not so much to merely entertain, but to do so while also educating. I write to free individuals from the limited ways we tend to think and to feel. I hope to provide a kind of “edu-tainment”, a made-up word meaning to educate through entertainment. Everyone wants to learn but it does not have to be dull. We all wish to enjoy ourselves as we learn and I hope that my books can provide and has provided this kind of nourishment. In short, my reasoning for writing has developed but at its core it has remained the same. I love writing because I love reading and every book I read is inspiration to write.
I just have to say I’m excited to be participating in Blogging U this year. I feel like I’m going back to school LOL. This will give me the chance to produce at least one post a day while sharpening my writing skills simultaneously. I am also looking forward to meeting new bloggers via The Commons.
So here’s how the postings will go: I will be taking the Writing 101 course for the next four weeks. That said, I will produce at least one post a day that will have something to do with our theme for the day in addition to my regular postings throughout the week (so my Writers Quote Wednesdays and other regular posts will still go out). I’m not sure if the prompts go out on weekends but I will continue to have Saturdays off so you can expect no postings on the prompt then. Otherwise, I will continue to annoy* your emails with my many random postings in addition to whatever blogging prompt we are given from Writing 101! OK, that exclamation mark was really unnecessary, I’m not that excited. It’s just that, well, The Walking Dead is about to come on.
*Note: Seriously, I hope I’m not that annoying, but if I am, always remember that you control how many emails, if any, you receive from blogs you follow. Just adjust your settings to where they accompany your toleration levels.
Wealthy and clueless are just some of the words Joseph uses to describe his family. Deeply concerned about the state of Black America, a fight with his brother compels a young Joseph to leave his mother’s house and join his friends for a trip to Atlanta for SNCC’s (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) second conference. Excited to live life on their own, Jo and his friends have left school and the lives they were living for a chance to become part of the movement. With no money and essentially no plan the seven friends, three black and four white, set out for the road when they are stopped by a racist cop who makes them exit the car. The teens are unaware that a mob of Klansmen also awaits them at the New Orleans bus terminal.
Find out in the 3rd installment of the Stella Trilogy how Joseph and his friends discover the truth about themselves in the Jim Crow south on The Road to Freedom.
***
That’s right people. Promotion for Book #3 of The Stella Trilogy has officially begun! I want to give a special thanks to M.S. Fowle, digital artist for Melchelle Designs for the excellent cover. I’d been searching for a long time for a cover that would capture my vision for this book and I’m so happy to have come across Mel.
Fundraising for this release will start soon and your support would be most appreciated. Until then, be sure to grab your copy of Beyond The Colored Line. All proceeds will go toward the release of The Road to Freedom.
Close up of a social media results report with pen and calculator
Social Media is a different world from offline. As such, I think interaction on and offline must apply to book promotion and be fitting for each. I’m learning, and trying to better implement, a well-balanced combination of both off and online tools because each is so different, yet similar too. Now the following are just my personal thoughts and opinions and are by no means that of an expert. These thoughts are not supported by any advanced data or statistic aside from my own experience; they are just my thoughts because, well, I was thinking about some stuff.
Me and Offline supporters from Canada and Philadelphia at The Pearls Before Swine release, The Double Tree Hilton Hotel, Chicago IL 2014
In my opinion, offline offers opportunities not always present online and online offer its benefits as well that are not always present offline. There are things I would do online as to appeal to this community that may not be required offline. Or that may not attract as much attention to offline supporters. For instance, I think offline activities are great to share with your online friends in the form of pictures. It’s always exciting to see photos of book signings, public speaking engagements, and varying social engagements with offline supporters. I think these, pictures, are far more engaging to your online supporters than ads and constant promos concerning updates of what is done offline because it gets boring after a while.
Online communities want to engage online whereas offline communities who are not as into “internet-ting” want to engage offline. Offline supporters and readers want to hear your voice and see your face. They can care less about how many Facebook Likes you have. As such, I believe balance of both on and offline activity is good but that there also need to be a limit to merging the two. Its OK for them to be separate. I believe, for instance, that a social media presence should rightly fit the online community.
I know this looks good, but Social Media is very deceiving. While numbers such as is in this photo is exciting it can mean absolutely nothing or it can mean everything. You will probably never know for sure. This is where offline activities come into play. Offline book promotion handles much of the foot work. It is the physical act of pushing the book.
Social Media on the other hand, in my opinion, is not necessarily about selling books as much as it is about building; though through building come sales, social media is best utilized to help generate buzz about a book without blatantly asking people to buy it. Its purpose is to serve as a networking platform that helps connect writers to other writers, readers to writers, digital marketers and professional experts, editors, book groups and workshops, reviewers, beta readers, and gives authors room to connect with readers who enjoy the genre in which the writer writes by way of a platform. What I hope to accomplish as an author in general but especially online, is to show my support for the books content itself. I aim to raise awareness concerning the social or political message behind the writing. Why is this topic relevant today? How does it help people to grow? What value does my subject hold and can it start conversations that lead to greater understanding? By striving to answer these questions, it will help garner offline attention and lead to radio interviews and social engagements. In short, I try to forget for a moment literally selling the book, and to instead focus on why my book is different from the next and thus why it is even worth your time in the first place.
Social media is about connections and should be used to reach the people you can’t reach offline (because they will become offline supporters). It should be, not merely an advertisement of the book, but a presentation of the books message and an introduction of the author on a personal level. By focusing on the content of the book and getting to know the author, I believe readers become interested in the book itself because of their passion for the topic and their trust of the author. In this way, I think we Indies have the potential to reach lots of readers and to be more productive in our service to the online literary community.
I promise you
a woman.
You see I know what kind of girls you’re used to
I know that
little black girls can’t appreciate you like I can
see
I know that
those little girls you’re used to
doesn’t know what you’ve been through cause
kindergarten fingers on small hands don’t know how to hold you
like I do
see
she pushes buttons on your heart like that
cause she’s not hip to the fact that a man
can lose focus too
but see she’s just a little girl so
she plays catch with your emotions
cause she feels that if she hits you hard enough
you’ll start coughing up tokens for her to play games with
see
I know that your body to these little girls is merely a myth
and every trip to your mouth is a quiz enveloped in living water
that she ain’t learned how to swim in yet
so she apologizes for getting lost in your kiss
and every vibration of your body simply doesn’t make sense to her
and every word of truth coming from your lips
is like a puzzle that she ain’t figured out yet
you see she’s insecure because what she’s selling has failed
and its cause the way you love to her is reminiscent of fairy tales
see
they mistake my trust for you as some kind of façade
don’t know what a real man is so they think you’re a God
to me
mistaking the heavenly embrace of your arms for wings
cause I told ‘em I’m willing to fly away with you
mistakenly discerning that you grant me wishes like milky ways & stars cause
they see me praying for you
but that’s because I’m not a little girl
so wishing upon stars we don’t have to
but your mind they can’t dissect
and your ways are hidden from them like the life of insects so
she dismisses you as too perfect & she ain’t ready for all that yet
you see I know
what kind of girls you’re used to
but what I promise you
is a woman
I promise you support sweeter than any tea you could fathom
you see I promise you words of love
not temper tantrums
I know what kind of girls you’re used to
so I promise to appreciate every inch of you
Because what I promise you
is a woman
I promise to be strong so when it comes to bearing my burdens
sweetie you don’t have to
because I promise to help and not hinder you
I promise to cry tears on your shoulders
so I can properly communicate with you
And I promise to bear soldiers and little soliderettes for you
And I promise that temptation won’t attempt to temp you
cause aint no way little girls gonna love you the way that I do
you see I promise
not to walk in your shoes
cause I’m woman enough to know that you’re the head of me
but like the neck I support you
I promise not to distrust you like they do but we gonna talk about it
and when were done
I’m gonna feed you
cause I know that I can be satisfied by the same living bread
that satisfies you
So I’m gonna love you
Beause what I promise you
I promise you
not a little girl,
but I promise you
a Woman
The PBS Blog 