Tag: new

Short Locs and New Beginnings

I was twenty-two years old when I loc’d my hair. It is the only other time it has been this short (or a little shorter than this).

As a spiritual-minded person, I do not think of hair as just hair. I see it also as energy. (I believe the keratin protein in hair contains crystalline structures that act as energy amplifiers and antennas.) Thus, as the years have gone by, a lot of energy has been built into my locs. Some of it good, some of it not so good.

While there is the power of all I’ve accomplished, there is also the energy of losing loved ones. The energy of miscarriages. The energy of depression and sadness. As the years passed, my hair became more burdensome. They are thick and healthy but heavy. I saw this as much more than the weight of hair, but the weight of all I was still carrying after thirteen years of growth.

While I don’t think I will ever cut my locs off completely (I love my hair!), the symbolism of my cut is a cutting off of toxic emotions stored in my hair over the years and a separation from the past. It is a physical, mental, and spiritual cleansing through the release of the old and embracing the new. As I let go of those old branches, I await the beauty of the new ones to come in.

Just as pruning trees helps to remove portions that have a disease, fungi, and other types of decay, my trim represents the removal of those parts of my hair that can spread to the other “branches” and prevent them from healthier growth. It helps expose my scalp to more sunlight, air circulation makes it easier to wash and sleep, and it does not hurt my neck and back.

I feel this all on both a physical and spiritual level.

I love the overall freedom this new look gives me. I literally felt a weight lift when these heavy locs hit the floor.

This year, I intend to live more freely. I do not want to rush to do anything, conform to anyone’s ideas, or allow myself to be limited in any way. I am here for it all. This haircut is a symbol of this freedom.

I am excited about this new beginning.

PS. Exciting new update on the Black History book coming!!

Introduce Yourself Author Interview Slots Available: Join Over 40 other Authors!

Good Day Everyone!

Just a quick message to let you know that there are slots open for interviews. If you are new to this blog and are not familiar with my author interviews or how to schedule yours, click the original post HERE or the page HERE to learn what you need to do to be featured. Below is a brief description of this series. Please be sure to visit those pages for in-depth detail.

Introduce Yourself is a promotional opportunity for new authors I started back in 2016, hosted on this blog. It is an interview conducted by Yecheilyah (that’s me) with questions specifically tailored to helping us to get to know you better. Inspired by a song introduced in a children’s bible study class I helped coordinate, the song is meant to “break the ice.” With this feature, I hope to introduce new authors to my audience for an opportunity to learn more about them and their work. They say teamwork makes the dream work and I hope to do my part to introduce to the world little known authors and to assist in making these authors dreams come true. These interviews are free. All you have to do is follow the instructions and email me.

We have featured over 40 authors so far. New authors, established authors, Best Sellers and authors just getting started.

Join them!

 

PBS Blog Schedule 2019

Before you abandon your blogs to turn up tonight (tee hee), I’d like to introduce our schedule for this year. First, I’d like to thank and welcome our newbies and our die-hard supporters, the people who like our every post and share on social media. You guys are awesome and I do not take your contributions to the growth of The PBS Blog for granted. If you are new to this blog, please be sure to take this time to look around and familiarize yourself with the place. There are four years worth of material here to help you get to know me better and my writing.

Bloggers and Blogging

If you are not sure how the blog works or if you are thinking of starting a blog of your own, I invite you to visit the Blog Tips page HERE where I have archived my tips on blogging. I highly recommend you skim through them if you are new to the WordPress platform and are thinking to start a blog of your own (new writers, blogging is a great way to connect with readers!)

Writers and Writing

If you are a writer (especially an Independent writer) and you are looking for encouragement, resources or a better understanding of writing from an Independent/Self-Publishing perspective, I invite you to visit the Writer Tips and Resources page HERE where I have archived my tips on all things writerly and links to resources from others (particularly those more knowledgeable in the field.)

Book Reviews

I will publish reviews of books I’ve read to this blog again. I have not been as consistent as I was in 2017 (because of amazon‘s constantly changing review policies and my constantly changing schedule) but I am back on it dagone it. You can view my new policy here. (Does not apply to books I read on my own for leisure, just review requests.)

Segments

2018 has been a year of self-reflection, self-understanding and focus. This means that I intentionally focused on myself. Not in a selfish way but in a way where I can better understand me in order to help you. Long story short, in 2019 I will be refocusing on my services to others, armed with the fresh revelations that have come from getting to know myself better. I want to do more for aspiring authors, new bloggers, writers and the like. I am excited and motivated with the drive and desire to serve.

Now, let’s get to the point so you can get out of here.

2019 Schedule

While I have segments going on throughout the week to keep this blog afloat, this is not a niche blog. Meaning, I do not just post about one thing. Do know this schedule does not include any random, off topic posting I may do when I just feel like writing.

 

Everything starts back up next week, 1/7 – 1/11

Monday

Introduce Yourself Author Interviews – I will keep Mondays open for author interviews. To learn more about how to get featured on this blog, CLICK HERE.

Wednesday

No Whining Wednesday – No Whining Wednesday will continue with quotes and empowering notes that help to keep you from whining, criticizing, or complaining! Learn more about NWW HERE  (scroll down for the archived articles or follow the No Whining Wednesday tag).

Thursday

Throwback Thursday – I miss how we used to jam ya’ll! Throwback Thursday will be in full swing next week. Throwback Thursday is when I post old school music videos to the blog. I have 3 categories so everyone gets a lil something something from it.

1. Throwback Jams (old school music the 80s on back)

2. 90s Throwback Jams (jams from the 90s, obviously)

3. and Early 2000 Jams (music from the early 2000’s)

Friday

Black History Fun Fact Friday – Throwback Thursday Jams and Black History Fun Facts are the most popular on this blog so they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Black History Fun Facts will return in full swing. (I have written tons of Black History articles on this blog that should keep you busy reading if you are new to PBS. CLICK HERE.) I noticed we dragged a bit in 2018 so I need to step it up in 2019. There’s been a lot of talk about The Year of Return (1619-2019 makes 400-years for Blacks in the America’s per captivity) I may just start the year off talking about that.

Poetry

Not included is poetry because I don’t have a special day for this. I will continue to publish poetry pretty much whenever I feel like it. If you would like listen to my poems, subscribe to my YouTube Channel HERE. I also host an Annual Poetry Contest, founded in 2017. We have had two amazingly talented winners so far and some outstanding runner-ups and it’s almost time to get things started for our 3rd Annual Contest!

Annual Poetry Contest Winner 2017

Annual Poetry Contest Winners 2018

The PBS Blog now contains affiliate links. This means should you purchase anything from these links, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This allows me to keep this blog up and running. I will never link to something I haven’t personally used or disliked so don‘t be shy, click on the book cover to this month‘s featured book (Michelle Obama‘s Becoming) in the sidebar and thank you for your support!

KDP Print Just Got A Whole Lot More Attractive

Nicholas gives us the scoop on some hot new upgrades to KDP for Print.

Nicholas C. Rossis

CreateSpace-Amazon logos | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's booksI’m sure most of you have heard the news by now, but if you haven’t, Amazon has announced some major changes to its KDP Print program. Only two days after I was telling people in this blog’s comments that I wouldn’t even consider moving to KDP Print from CreateSpace until Amazon addressed its two most glaring issues, the company announced it had. On top of that, it addressed my major problem with CreateSpace, thus making it a whole lot more likely that I will soon be moving over.

Problem #1: No Physical Proofs (Solved)

The first problem with KDP Print concerned its means of proofing your manuscript. Well, you can now order printed proofs from KDP. Proofs allow you to review a physical copy of your draft paperback prior to publication.

Note, however, that the process is a bit more cumbersome than the one CreateSpace uses. Specifically, here’s how you…

View original post 884 more words

New Beginnings

What happens when the words

are carried on the backs of angels

and thread themselves like strings from your heart

to the edge of your fingertips

like consciousness translated into poetry

a spiritual essence poured out only to be confined

and restricted to the page that binds them

what happens when newness fills you to the brim

forcing you to walk into new beginnings

that this flesh has yet to verbalize properly

I have not the answers to these questions

not yet

just inklings of miracles

from black colored ink

and fire coated passion

on white paper.

My First Comment! – Hard Work Pays Off Part 1

No, not on this blog, obviously.

I started two new blog positions a few weeks, almost a month or so ago that are quickly gaining momentum, adding more features every day to help better the platforms and expand their reach. These blogs are IH Blogs and My Trending Stories.

Don’t look at me like that. I know I didn’t tell you about my blogs on the side. It’s just, I’ve been, well… tied up. In my defense, you can literally see them on the side bar there. Just click on their badges to learn more.

So anyways, I didn’t want to mention anything until I started to see some real results. Even more, until I have done enough research to know MTS was legit (hey, gotta do your research). I wanted to wait and I am glad I did. Anywho, to the point (I have until my husband gets out the shower to finish this post or you’ll be reading this in the morning. Movie Night is a ritual. Gotta keep the spark ladies!)

My Trending Stories had me stumped a bit. Why? Because the platform was different. Since I’ve never blogged outside of WordPress (to include Self-Hosted), I don’t have much experience outside the good ole posts dashboard here. My new dashboard space includes Meta Tags, Meta descriptions, Slugs, the works. Of course, if this is baby talk then you understand what I mean by I’m green to this. Since the typical blog gives you the opportunity to like and comment and share posts, on Self-Hosted blogging sites it’s not so easy to get likes and shares. First, people have to find the article important enough to share on their social media accounts. It’s not like they can just reblog the post or like it right here like you just liked this post. No, they have to share it via their social medias (I currently have no shares but my likes are starting to trickle in!) and comments are usually made by way of Facebook. This means, as I’ve discovered, readers have to find the information extremely useful and I’ve found (both by experience and by monitoring other peoples blogs), that it takes a lot of work to get reactions to a post when you don’t have the luxury of…

Hubby’s out of the shower. Sorry guys. We’ll pick this up in tomorrows post. We’ll call it…Overcoming Blog Learning Curves. I’ll give you a few bullet points on how I managed not to pull my locs out and went from zero followers and zero interaction on my new freelance blog positions until now starting to see some pick me up. Not a lot, but every little bit counts. Hard work truly does pay off.

Click Here to Follow Me at My Trending Stories.

I don't really sleep with a Teddy Bear. I would though.
I don’t really sleep with a Teddy Bear. That’s what husbands R for.