July Review - Road to Release

 

© Creative Commons Zero (CC0)


Whoo, things are moving so fast!

First off, I had the best vacation with my friends. I'm the only Summer birthday between the local ones, so sometimes that means I automatically get a beach vacation for it. We went to Ocean City, Maryland, and went to the beach on our three full days, partied, went to Jolly Roger. Word of advice: don't eat heavy BBQ and then get on a roller coaster, then get on a whirly ride. I don't know what I was thinking, but I was nauseated. Still had a blast. My girl friends also threw me a surprise Beychella-style photoshoot, and there's nothing funnier than hearing your friends whispering outside of your hotel room trying to be quiet just so they can burst into the room. But I love my Queen Bee hoodie.

Secondly, the book release is three weeks away! I have a couple of interviews in preparation for scheduling, and I may be doing a Twitch stream the day before the convention. I met my publicist yesterday. I have a PUBLICIST. Oh, my God. When I say everything happening right now is a dream come true, it's a total dream come true. I'm excited, nervous, super anxious, feeling fight-or-flighty, but I'm here. Dover Comic-Con is two-and-a-half weeks away now. It will be my first convention as an author, and I'm ready. I need to get a table, hopefully from my church, but I'm ready. I hope to reveal the new cover for my normal Wednesday Words post; I just need all the titles on put in place. It's so pretty. I can't wait for everyone to see it. Of course, that means I'll have to change the layout of the blog, which I'll probably do this weekend. One thing I didn't realize until my director asked yesterday was I don't have ARCs yet. There's still time, but here's to fast readers! I also hope to make more bookmarks for Comic-Con like I did for the self-published release party. I need to get that done this weekend.

I'm increasing activity on my Instagram as I get closer to August 18th. Speaking of, I will also be more active on my Twitter account. I had a personal account, so I was splitting my time between the two. On Twitter, it's time consuming and unnecessary, so I deleted my personal account in order to build up the presence for my author account. May my personal account rest in peace. I had so many random celebrities like my tweets; I will miss that for sure.

Anyway, I have so much to do! *screaming* Wish me luck!

New Monthly Post: Black Author Spotlight

Introducing....



I'm very excited about this.

Starting in August, I will be highlighting black writers and authors on the 1st Wednesday of the month. I am in a couple of Facebook groups dedicated to black writers, and I follow many on Twitter; but we usually get swallowed up in the void of publishing. 

In 2014, Malinda Lo and Ellen Oh called out the publishing industry for the lack of diversity in kids' lit. Of course, this sentiment spread to other genres, and the hashtag #weneeddiversebooks was created. Unfortunately, instead of seeking out and/or stepping aside for BIPOC talent, white writers created stories with BIPOC main characters instead, and the publishers deemed that acceptable. Lee and Low put out a diversity baseline study in 2015, and then again in 2019. No significant change. BIPOC remain smashed together in the margins of the industry from the top to the bookshelf.

This lack of diversity and its complacency bleeds out into so many spaces, but as a black author, my blog will not be one of those spaces. I want to bring more awareness to black creatives so that we can get more of our stories seen. We're the only ones who can give a 100% authentic view of who we are. The more exposure we have, the better our chances of being acknowledged and the better our chances of other black writers in the next generations seeing us and knowing that they can do this, too.

So stay turned on August 4th for my first spotlight!


If you are a Black author who would like to be highlighted, email me the following information at debreneebyrd@gmail.com 

Name or Pen Name

Genre

Website/Blog

Social Media handles

Book (if any) and where to buy

Permission to use photos

Wednesday Words: Finishing up Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin & Jamal Campbell

 


We are almost halfway through July! As it is the 2nd Wednesday of the month, I will be sharing what I'm reading right now. I'm going to do my best to get Wednesday Words back into a consistent rotation. I was able to read for hours in a crunch while I was reading The Shining with my sisters, so I know I just need to sit down, turn on some music, turn down my notifications, and just read.

 

I have only two more installments left of Far Sector before the series is OVER! I'm sad about it. I haven't read a regular comic book in decades now. I've read manga and graphic novels, but the last superhero comic I read was definitely one of the X-Men comics when I was in single digits. Coming into the Green Lantern universe through N.K. Jemisin's brilliant eyes has been a great ride, and I think I'll be reading more comics in the future. I have hundreds of books and ebooks I need to read, though, so maybe not the near future.

So while I haven't opened these yet, just look at the covers. I have absolutely loved the color schemes and designs Jamal Campbell created. As we're coming up to what I can imagine is the big "boss battle," both of these covers give off great energy of what's to come. I can't wait. I brought my Kindle to work, so I'm going to get started on these on my down time.


What are you reading?

We Hold These Truths...

 [I posted this on Facebook last year, and it's a good time to post it today, because nothing much has changed. And all of us weren't free July 4, 1776.]

We hold these hard truths to be self evident:
That your forefathers claimed all men were created equal,
But said my forefathers were less than human and therefore property;
That you praise Lincoln for freeing the slaves,
When he didn't care either way, as long as the Union was saved;
That when the slaves were free, you turned your slave catchers into cops,
And created the prison system to put my forefathers right back into slavery.
We hold these truths to be self evident:
That your forefathers claimed all men were created equal,
And that Black people need to pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps,
But I don't recall anyone giving out the boots after emancipation was proclaimed;
Matter of fact, only the slave masters got reparations for the loss of their "property,"
But all men are created equal.
We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That this country was built with the blood, sweat, and tears of Black people,
On top of the bones, blood, and tears of the Indigenous;
Your forefathers said all men are created equal,
But you paved our paradise to put up Central Park in New York and bombed our Wall Street to appease the virtue of some fragile white woman in Tulsa and emptied a whole pool because a black woman dipped her toe in the water;
All men are created equal, but the father of modern gynecology treated black women like lab rats who can't possibly feel pain,
And his mindset continues to kill black women to this day;
All men are created equal, but they're even killing our children,
Because black children aren't allowed to just be children, so Mommy and Daddy have to sit them down for The Talk before they go outside to play.
We hold these truths to be self evident:
That all men are created equal, but red-lining and gerrymandering exist;
All men are created equal, but my parents were in segregated schools;
All men are created equal, but you're scared to say racism still exists;
All men are created equal, but turn on the fire hoses, release the dogs, throw the tear gas, get the pepper spray, they doth protest too much;
We hold these hard truths to be self-evident:
That this country wasn't built for all men,
And it's time to pick it up by its bootstraps, turn it upside down, knock out all the excuses, lies, the status quo, the racists, the gaslighters, and this jerry-rigged system,
And start over so we all can pursue life, liberty, and the justice we so deserve.