I will start to incorporate early 2000 Jams into the Throwbacks. That makes:
- Throwback Jam Old School
- 90s Throwback Jams
- Throwback Thursday Jams (Early 00s)
Tag: wordpress
Love Me Into Music
the birth of tranquil
when words meet music
racing anxiety slowed,
and slick,
and subtle
like splashes of sunlight
chipping at our faces
warm and comforting
like tapping footsteps
love me
like drumming fingers
like dancing
bobbing heads
and bodies contorted
into the full figure of violin
and singing like half notes
like puzzles brought together
and connecting to the sky
we love like wireless
find us anywhere
find us weak
and fractured
our experiences tugging against our very
existence
like tendons and muscles
our faces pulled back
like nostalgia
an orgasmic melody
of words to virgin ears
potent,
and suspect,
and anxious
musical therapy
a body of instrument
like balls of flesh torn
into stuttering syllables,
and time signatures
and melodies and pianos
we play poetry like pianos
like fingers are feathers
every nerve tickled
by the slightest touch
a Katrina of waves
pleasurable
and strong
like euphoria
brushing against the shores of truth
love me into music
like base that split atoms into frequencies
that scrape the sky
that loves like stringed instruments
this is a love
that sounds
like
music
The 10-Day Negative Thought Fast
Wow, this is great! What a way to end No Whining Wednesday (today was a good day.) I definitely want to try this.
Would you like a simple way to really change your life? Instead of merely getting by, you’ll find that your life can truly be exceptional when you focus on positive solutions rather than the constraints of your challenges.
This 10-Day Negative Thought Fast, originated by Emmett Fox, one of the most popular self-help authors and speakers of the early 20th century, is an adventure you’ll reap many benefits from.
Here are the rules:
1. If you break any of the other rules, you must start the 10 days over from the beginning. To get the full effect, you must complete 10 consecutive days. Giving up negative thoughts is a little like giving up a drug; you’ve got to stop using them completely, otherwise you haven’t truly quit.
2. You cannot focus on a negative thought or remain in a negative emotional state for more than five minutes. Ideally, the time…
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Have You Stumbled Upon Me Yet?
OK, that was whack LOL.
But, I am finally on StumbleUpon and thought I’d take this time to do some shameless self-promotion.
I don’t have much of my own post up yet (because I just started) but I will start to drip feed posts on that platform when I share my posts across the others. (You can too! Just Stumble Me using the share button at the bottom there).
This also means more exposure for those authors of my Book Reviews…yesss.
You can find me here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/Yecheilyah
Now go, carry on with your day and spread the word!
Understand Your Strength
The first headline for this article was “Knowing Your Strength”. When I thought about it more, however, I was soon reminded that knowing your strength and understanding it are two different things. To know your strength is to have identified what it is. To understand your strength, however, is not only the ability to identify it but to fully comprehend it and to therefore incorporate it into your daily life. To understand your strength is to understand you.
The constant echo of Indie Author advice can be overwhelming. In addition, there are lots of people who take advantage of the new author’s lack of knowledge in its relation to both writing and publishing. (especially publishing) Everyone swears by their method and technique. The only problem is that what works for one person may not necessarily work for the next and it doesn’t take long for new authors to feel doubtful and overwhelmed. While many of you are professional, skilled, and experienced enough to offer valuable insight, what authors must keep in mind is not just what is right, but what is right for them. Look not just at what works, but for what works for you. And not just what works for you, but also where you’re the strongest.
People talk about weaknesses all the time. It is easy to boast in our weaknesses but we cannot be weak without also being strong. Yes, we all have flaws but we also all have strengths. It is when we embrace who we are and tap into what we should offer others according to who we are that we find ourselves performing better, putting out more valuable content, and making a greater impact on the people around us as opposed to “trying” something that may be a good idea but that does not represent who we are.
Strength can be defined as: the quality or state of being strong; strong: able to withstand great force or pressure.
What Happens if I Don’t Understand My Strength?
You become a carbon copy of someone else or a shadow of your real self. A silhouette of who you think you are supposed to be, an outline with no flesh and bone. In short, you become what you think people want to see and attach your actions and thoughts to that image. When that image is destroyed, so are you and you begin to feel just as worthless and as without substance as the image that you’ve made for yourself.
Understanding your strength does not just help you to begin, it helps you also to endure and this we can apply to every aspect of our lives. This message is not just for writers, but for everyone. Take exercise for example. I know that I am capable of doing no less than a 30min. workout but no more than 1 hour. I get up every morning and dedicate at least 30 minutes to my workout but no less. It takes discipline but because I understand my strength, I push myself to do what I know that I am capable of. By looking forward to the 30minutes, it does not seem overwhelming and I am more excited to get up and perform. At the same time, I do not push myself beyond an hour. I understand my strength is not there yet. It will also be taxing and I will be less likely to look forward to doing it or completing it. I will complain more and pretty much whine myself out of doing it.
While Indie Authors will run into many people trying to take advantage of them, people offering everything from products and services that Indies soon discover they don’t really have to pay for, what keeps me grounded—and what I offer to you with the same hope—is understanding the areas where I am the most strong. Having already a firm foundation in those things, it provides a great leverage on which to build. Instead of starting from scratch, pay most attention to those things that speak to who you already are, that connects with your spirit, and that bonds with you mentally in a way that is most you. Don’t just “do you” but know you and understand your strength.
- What can you do for the rest of your life whether you got paid or not and actually enjoy doing it?
- What are you the most skilled at? That thing you’ve always been able to do? That spark?
- What are you the most passionate about?
- What is your mission in life? What is your purpose?
- How can you combine your purpose with your career goals in the most genuine way?
Yecheilyah Ysrayl is a Blogger, Book Reviewer, and the Young Adult, Historical Fiction author of Black American Literature and is currently working on her next book series. “Renaissance: The Nora White Story” (Book One) is due for release July 15-16, 2017 at The Tampa Indie Author Book Convention in Tampa Florida. Originally from Chicago, IL, she now resides in Shreveport, LA with her husband where she writes full time. For updates from EC, be sure to follow this blog and to subscribe to her email list HERE.
Generation Butthurt—How Being Constantly Offended (and Offensive) Costs BIG
“Whenever we decide we might one day sell our book, we are making a decision to be a professional. Being a professional comes with certain rules that don’t generally apply to regular people.”
Image via Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of Kenny Louie.
Today we are going to dive back into social media because who we are on-line impacts the odds of our success. Whether we like it or not, engaging on social media and cultivating a following is going to massively impact our professional success (or lack thereof).
In sales we had a saying, Fish where the fish are. Well my darlings, the fish are schooling on social media. When we are online we are not only engaging with the readers of today, we are cultivating future readers. This applies as much to the pre-published newbie as it does the internationally best-selling author.
We are wise to remember that we now have entire generations glued to smart phones and LinkedInInstaSnap, and if we don’t learn how to navigate these waters? Bad juju.
This said. Social media is an extraordinarily powerful tool that is too…
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A Writer’s Responsibility
Writers must understand what their responsibility is as a voice. As a shofar to the world. Low self-worth, ignorance, and low self-esteem can be smelled from miles away. The stench of give up is not something that is difficult to discern. If you dare to write, then dare also to own it. Your words, your message, and your purpose is something that must not be shared timidly. It’s not about arrogance, for arrogance will surely destroy you. What it is about is writing with authority and making yourself responsible for every word, every syllable, and every piece of heart contextualized. Humility is understanding who guides you every day and who came before you. It is not thinking less of yourself. Every blog post, every email, and every book demand from you a responsibility. You are responsible for being professional, exact, kind, and factual despite how inappropriate others may be. You do not have the permission to curse people or spew opinions that are not rooted in fact. You are a writer and this is your responsibility. When it comes to writing, there is no modesty for the words that you put on the page. If you cannot strip yourself down to the bare minimum and expose your gift for what it is then what are you doing writing? In the words of Maya Angelou, “Life will knock a modest person down faster than a G-string falls off a stripper”. If you cannot take advice on how to better your work, what are you doing writing? If you cannot take it the same as you dish it, then what are you doing writing? What you do will come back. If you can give constructive criticism then be able also to take it. So what people think negatively about you. Their loss. Accepting correction is part of your responsibility as every artist or professional is told what they don’t want to hear at least some of the time. If this is something you can’t handle then again I ask you, what are you doing writing? The same applies to every profession. Dare not put your trust in man for man will always disappoint you. Instead, see every critique, every negative, every mistake, as part of the gift and the growth. You don’t have to agree with me but you will respect me and I will respect you. Not for you alone but because it is my responsibility as a person and as an artist to do so. Authors, you are a fountain of information. If you cannot hurricane Katrina, or tsunami this with the world and be confident and open about it, then what are you doing writing? To be courageous is not just a choice, but it is your responsibility. Every word I stitch into this blog, every piece I spit on stage, and every book I publish comes with trembling fear. But it is a fear that I must use as energy I need to push on. Always forward. Despite those looking for grains of fault in every post I publish, hoping to catch me in a trap as to accuse me of not being the person I’ve always shown myself to be. Despite this, I must write. Even if I do not speak (muteness is addictive. I’ll shut down with the quickness and write you notes as Maya did), I must write. I must do so because it is my responsibility. What’s my point here? Stop complaining. Are you a writer? Then be strong. Own it. You are here and you have something to do.
The PBS Blog 