Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on the importance of Black literature with Catyra Polland, the visionary founder of National Black Authors Day. Together, we'll explore the profound impact that Black literature has on our culture and the enduring legacy it leaves behind. We'll also delve into the challenging issues of ignorance and stereotypes that persist in the publishing industry, and how these factors affect the authenticity and visibility of diverse voices. In addition, we'll discuss whether genre or racial categorization better serve Black authors in bookstores, and share our personal experiences with these challenges. The episode will conclude with an emphasis on the power of authenticity in writing, the importance of identifying a target market, and an open invitation to authors to share their stories.
Click the link below to learn more about Catyra Polland Love4Words and National Black Authors Day.
https://www.love4words.com
https://www.rochesterfirst.com/community/community-events/we-are-being-authentic-2nd-annual-national-black-authors-day/
https://www.amazon.com/Professionalism-Whats-That-CaTyra-Polland/dp/B09LGNP8FZ
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Brothers and sisters.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Give me a moment with your friend.
I've never been up to mythoughts before.
Welcome to the Only One MicPodcast called J-Rob Brooklyn
Trey.
J-rob is off, but we're joinedby a very, very special guest,
returning guest, three-timereturning guest, miss Katara.
(00:36):
Hold it how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm doing well.
Thank you for having me Allright.
No Greatest greatest Anytime.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So listen y'all.
For those of you who justgetting up to speed on the show,
Katara has been on here inprevious episodes.
She is the founder and CEO ofLove for Words.
She's also a published authorherself.
She also is a is a speaker.
She's also a book coach, awriting coach, and she also is
(01:10):
the founder of Black Authors DayGive it up.
So, as we all know, and some ofyou who may not know Black
Office Day is on May the 4th.
Yes, May the 4th.
So you know.
She initially came on and toldus how she got it started.
(01:31):
You can go back and listen tothat episode about the
importance of it, and now I saidlet's come on back, because
right now it's about to come upMay the 4th, and we want to make
sure that the people are awareof this and keep it in the
forefront.
So Tyra get us up to speed onwhat's going on with you.
How's everything?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Everything is going well, Of course, still editing
and working with authors,helping them to get ready to
publish and make sure theirmanuscripts look and sound good.
I'm actually working on my nextbook.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Legacy Okay, give it up, everybody Give it up.
About time Give it up.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
My next book, Legacy Beyond Offspring, and in the
book I'm outlining differentways that you can leave a legacy
even if you don't have kids.
So at this point in my life I'mchild free.
But obviously there are otherways that I can leave a legacy.
So I talk about foundingNational Black Authors Day.
I talk about founding theLiteracy, Love, Scholarship and
some of the other ways thatpeople who don't have kids can
(02:31):
still leave a legacy, becausethere's still a stigma
specifically for women who don'thave children by a certain age.
So I just wanted to have aresource for them to know that
it's okay either if you choosenot to have kids, or maybe you
can't have children, so thereare other things that you can do
to leave your legacy outside ofum becoming a parent well, now
(02:52):
that you, you know and thisthrew me through a loop because
I didn't know you was working onthat but now that we're here,
can you just probably hit uswith one thing that you can give
the audience.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
not the whole book, because I know you're still, you
know plane, but what can yougive us, you know, for the
audience here?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yes, so there's some I'm actually addressing some
myths associated with those whochoose not to have children.
So I'm just talking about likemyth, I give a myth and then I
talk about like a myth buster.
So like one of the myths isthat if you don't have children,
then you'll feel like you havea void in your life.
(03:27):
But then the myth buster islike I don't have children, but
I have nieces, I have a godson,I have a goddaughter, or I'm a
teacher, so I have thesechildren that I'm teaching.
So just because you don't havekids doesn't mean you
necessarily have a void in yourlife.
There are other things that youcan do to, you know, give back
(03:47):
or help other people besideshaving your own kids.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Okay, I'm going to throw one at you, and I don't
know if it's in the book or not,you know.
But what about that myth to saypeople who don't want kids are
selfish or selfish?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, that one's also in there.
I kind of take some of the mythbusters are more lighthearted,
but sometimes people just thereare some people who just know
they don't want to be a parent.
So it's best that way, so youwouldn't want somebody to be
resentful Like I know I don'twant to be a mom but I had this
(04:19):
kid.
Now I got to raise the kid andunfortunately that happens a lot
of times.
People you know have unplannedpregnancies and then they take
out their resentment on thechild, either neglecting them or
abusing them.
So you know that's.
I think it's better forsomebody to not have kids if
they know they're not ready todo that or that they don't want
(04:40):
to, then to just have the kidbecause society is telling you
that you should have kids.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So sometimes they destroy your legacy too and I
mean I know we're gonna jumpinto black office day in a while
but.
I got now that you open up thiscan here.
There's so many questionsrunning through my head about
this one.
All right, what about that?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I just didn't find the right person yet, and it
might take a long time yeah, Imean, I think that's fair um,
it's very important, just likewhen you marry somebody who you
have children with.
So I don't think I I wouldn'ttake that lightly and I don't
see that as an excuse.
I think that's valid um, and itmay take a long time, which is
(05:24):
fine.
So I support anybody who feelslike they haven't found the
person, the other person, theother parent.
I don't think there's anythingwrong with that, because you
can't undo that.
So exactly.
Yeah, take your time, take yourtime.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You know that screening process needs to take
a very, very, very long time.
It might take years.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
We before you think about it we always talk about,
uh, marriage material man.
You're right, man, some peopleain't parent.
Material man, exactly yeah noyeah, some horrible parents out
there.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
It's very much yeah, that's a whole episode.
Yeah, I did a focus group ofsome child free adults and one
of the participants was sayingthat when she thought about
motherhood she was terrified.
So what's the point ofventuring down that if that's
the feeling you're getting justthinking about it?
(06:17):
So why would you subjectyourself to that?
So again, it really has to dowith who you are as a person and
knowing what you want to do,what you don't want to do and
what you're capable of.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
How did you just come up with that particular topic
to discuss?
I mean, that's something tobuild a book around.
I mean, that's, that's.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, yeah, I mean as a child free woman.
You know there's a lot ofmessaging.
You know, like I said, a lot ofmessaging that there's
something wrong with you as awoman If you don't become a
mother, you're selfish, orsomething's wrong with you or
you're going to regret it if younever have kids.
And I know that there are otherpeople in my network who also
don't have kids who hear thosesame things.
(06:58):
So I wanted to create aresource just for people to be
reassured that they have theright to make a decision about
their life, whether they want tohave kids or not.
But I also didn't want toforget about the people who
can't have kids.
We just assume that becausethey don't have kids, they don't
want them.
There are lots of families whoyou know are doing IVF and
(07:19):
trying to, you know, havechildren and you know they have
reproductive concerns and youknow it took them 20 years
before they have kids, or youknow they had to adopt, et
cetera.
So I just didn't feel like wewere getting a fair, we were
being fairly perceived bysociety as being child-free.
(07:41):
So I wanted to create a bookthat gave us not gave us power
we have power but gave us like aresource to look at, to say,
okay, well, maybe I, you know,maybe I do want to start a
national author's day, or maybeI do want to start a national
holiday, or maybe I want to doan annual event, so I have other
ways to leave my legacy, so Iwanted to be a part of, you know
(08:02):
, giving people options, youknow, outside of being parents.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You know, there's some women that say like I don't
want children and stuff likethat.
And then you have those otherpeople say like oh Jesus, you
know what I mean, like talkingfor the moment, or something.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I don't really have a response to that.
You can ignore those people andagain, you can make your own
decisions.
So, even if they don't agreewith it, that's okay.
That, and again, you can makeyour own decisions.
So even if they don't agreewith it, that's okay.
That's part of life, one of thethings I say, like if there's
somebody who doesn't like me orwhat I stand for, my values, I
just say you know, you're notthe first person, you won't be
the last.
So I got a life.
(08:37):
So it's like you can't pleaseeverybody.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So let's go ahead and wrap about this national black
office so um, I gotcha, I gotchaso let's go ahead and wrap
about this.
Uh, national black office day,alright yes, so you are a black
author, as you just stated, andyou know.
Kudos to you again.
Now go ahead and explain to thepeople who don't know what
(09:01):
black office day is, because wegot a lot of things that's going
to flood that day and it'sgoing to kind of overshadow, or
try to overshadow, what yourmovement is.
So go ahead and explain it tothe people.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah.
So National Black Authors Dayis a day to celebrate and
acknowledge our contributions toyou know, literature and the
literacy world.
We know that there are manyliterary giants who are now our
ancestors.
We know that we have currentliterary giants, black authors,
(09:33):
who are continuing to producemasterpieces, and we know that
we have the responsibility tohelp build up the future Black
authors or at least I have theresponsibility.
I'll take that to heart for me.
So I really wanted to create aday to you know, acknowledge
(09:54):
what we have done, because, asyou two already know, and I'm
sure some of our listeners, ourwork is often Our work is.
Often it's either ignored orunderval, um, the shine or the
recognition that it should.
So I want to be a part ofhaving a day, of course, more
(10:36):
than a day, but specifically May4th is the day to do that, um.
So when I founded it, I didresearch to see if it existed
and I I did find out thatNational Authors Day already
exists I think it's in November,but I wanted a more specific
day and I wanted it to beNational Black Authors Day.
So I envisioned that, of course, it would just get bigger and
bigger every year and that Iwould love to be able to travel
(11:00):
across the country to thedifferent places that are having
those celebrations.
So last year I did acelebration here in Rochester,
which is my native town.
This year I'm doing anothercelebration here, but as it
grows, I know that other placeswill be hosting.
Well, last year, other placesalready did start hosting events
.
So there were people who hostedtheir book signing that day.
(11:22):
They had their book launch thatday.
They opened their bookstore onthat day.
Those are their book launchthat day.
They opened their bookstore onthat day.
Those are some of the thingsthat they're doing this year as
well.
So, like I know, there's acelebration in South Africa
celebrating National BlackAuthors Day.
So it's gaining ground quickly,which is what I expected.
So I'm just glad that people areparticipating, and not just
(11:43):
with live events, but peoplewere using the National Black
Authors Day hashtag.
They were going live reading anexcerpt from a book by a Black
author or going live readingtheir own books.
There were people who were, youknow, posting pictures of their
favorite Black author orposting an excerpt from the book
of their favorite Black author,et cetera.
(12:03):
So the great thing about it isthere's really no limit to how
you can celebrate.
So you might want to maybe justwrite a journal entry about
what the day means to you, so itdoesn't even have to be a
public celebration.
Or maybe you just go to thelibrary and check out a new book
by a Black author you neverread.
(12:24):
So I just love that.
There's versatility in that andyou can choose how you want to
celebrate.
Actually, in Rochester there'san author doing her book signing
that day on May 4th, so that'sthe perfect way for her to
participate and then you know,or going to a Black-owned
bookstore.
So again, I just I'm excited tosee the ripple across the
(12:44):
country and really across theglobe, just that we have this
day to you know, recognize allthat we've contributed and also
recognize that we still have alot of battles as Black, just as
Black people, but as Blackwriters and authors.
So, like there are a lot ofBlack authors whose books are
(13:06):
being banned, there are a lot ofwell, yes, there are a lot of
Black authors who've worked withwhite editors or non-Black
editors who are rewriting theirwork or telling them they can't
use ain't or they can't useEbonics or AfricanAmerican
vernacular English, that it hasto be written in standard,
professional white English.
(13:28):
So, again, this day recognizesthe things that we're still
facing, but also that we areconstantly overcoming.
That is not, you know.
We're not a people who lie down.
We're not a people who areeasily swayed and we fight for,
(13:50):
you know, what we deserve.
It is a shame that we have tofight so hard.
That is certainly not fair andthat's certainly not acceptable.
But the point is, you know,because of how great we are, we
have the power to do that.
I would hope that that fightgets easier.
(14:11):
But you know, that's a wholenother conversation.
The day is there for us tocelebrate and be happy and be
merry, because the one thingthey can't take from us is our
joy.
So that's what it's about.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
He said books are being banned.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yes.
So there are a large percentageof books, specifically if they
are about race relations a lotof those that are about, like,
lgbtq, ethnicity books, like,again, racism and race issues in
America.
A lot of those books, peoplecan file a formal complaint to
(14:48):
have the book banned.
So that's happening across thecountry, where you know a white
person might read this book andit's teaching us about the
atrocities against AfricanAmericans, and they can fill out
a form and they can complainand then they could have the
book banned in that county orcity that they live in.
So that is something that ishappening, you know, across the
(15:10):
country, probably across theworld, but we're in America, so
I'll speak about the country.
So there's just a lot of stillpushback for our stories to be
told.
Lots of people are stilluncomfortable with that truth.
They don't want to takeresponsibility for how they're
benefiting from the isms and thesystems that we have.
So that's one way that they I'msure that they feel they can
(15:33):
maintain their uh, comfort.
So I don't have to.
I don't want other people toread this because it makes me
feel uncomfortable about how I'mbenefiting.
So I'm going to report thisbook and I'm going to get banned
in this county or this library,et cetera.
So that is happening veryfrequently.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
That's actually crazy , because it seems like now
there's like this huge thingabout trying to delete our
history, you know, or us talkingabout our history, and what's
crazy is that everybody else'shistory is constantly being
pushed down our throats.
You know what I mean, like theHolocaust, and you know Jewish
history and any other historythat you can think of.
(16:15):
I think we probably, as AfricanAmericans, we probably know
more about other people'shistory than anybody else in
this country.
It's kind of crazy.
Yeah, I can definitely tell and, truth be told, we know than
anybody else in this country.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
You know it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, I can definitely, and truth be told,
we don't know a lot about ourown.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Right, yeah, I didn't take an African-American class
until I got to undergrad at thecollege level.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It wasn't offered in any of the schools that I went
to secondary schools.
That was my first introductionto it and I just couldn't
believe that until I was, Ihadn't met your Evans and it
just wasn't a part of the system.
We were not taught about that.
I took an AP history class.
(16:57):
Now we do have the APAfrican-American history class,
but I don't know how familiaryou are with that controversy.
But they had to rewrite thecurriculum because I looked at
it and probably feltuncomfortable, like we don't
want you teaching people andprobably felt uncomfortable Like
you know, we don't want youteaching people this.
So that's just another, youknow, attempt to erase, forget,
(17:19):
whitewash our history.
So I definitely agree with you,andre, that there are so many
attacks happening on so manyfronts, which is exhausting.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Well, the beauty about how you know we all came
up in our generation is that wealways knew that school wasn't
going to provide you with allthe information that you needed.
You know, and so we will have alot of people you know push
this particular you know I don'twant to say push, but introduce
you to you know certain pointsin Black history and stuff like
that to have you go ahead and doyour research on it, and this
(17:55):
is stuff we were doing kind ofoff book.
He wasn't doing this in schooland this was like in high school
and whatnot, like they wouldhave some information available
to you.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
But you know what?
I think we were blessed becausewe grew up in New York, so in
New York City, you know, thisstuff was pumped to us whether
it was on the street you got iton the street or you got it in,
you know somewhere in theclassroom by those teachers that
were, you know, down enough togive you some information.
And you know, it's kind of funnybecause I was telling him
(18:24):
before I was speaking to us,sitting down here and not just
calmly having the conversation,and I said, well, elhadj Malik
Shabazz, and she didn't know whoMalcolm X was and she's a grown
woman, you know, she got amaster's degree and everything
like that, and I'm like westarted talking about that and
she was like, well, you grew upin New York, we didn't learn
that in our school system.
So you know, it's kind of sad.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, and also that the history is selective.
So we learn about MLK.
I don't know too many schoolsthat really herald Malcolm X.
So we get bits and pieces andwe get who they choose.
They want us to know about.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, exactly, it's always down to Martin and Rosa
and Jackie Robinson.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
And then they want to give you the passive history
about them.
They want to give you about therevolutionary history because
all of those people had somerevolutionary sides to them.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Rosa Parks was a Black Panther.
A lot of people didn't knowthat.
You know what I mean.
Stuff like that.
So you know, that's how that go.
Now, with the event coming upand celebrations coming up, what
are some?
What are some black authorsthat you looking at, like that?
You can see that some up andcoming.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Um, up and coming, so I'll I'll stick with my clients
.
So, um, I just recentlyfinished editing a book.
His name is Caleb Jakes.
He's also here in Rochester.
He attends a university atRochester.
He is a I don't know what yearhe's in, but this is his first
book and he wrote a book abouthis experience and journey in
(20:02):
battling obesity and how thatwas a spiritual journey for him.
So, even though, you know,obesity is seen as something of
the physical, he just talkedabout how you know that tied
into his spirit and how he feltabout himself and also talk
about how he overcame it.
So that was an excellent read.
I've never, you know,experienced obesity or dealt
(20:26):
with that, but I mean I couldinsert any other type of, you
know, adversity I have had andget a lot from it.
So I really enjoyed readingthat.
I think he's 18.
So I'm all about, you know, thenext generation of black
authors.
He's a great writer, I reallyenjoyed editing and he is in the
(20:48):
final stages of publishing.
So, caleb Jakes, I will highlyrecommend him.
Another one of my recent clientsis Lee Jackson and she wrote a
fiction book and her book isabout a young girl growing up in
the Bronx.
So she's, you know, talkingabout the trials and
tribulations.
You know her parents are kindof absent, not as involved as
(21:10):
they should be, so a lot ofthings are falling on her
shoulders.
So, again, you know readingthat I really enjoy editing
nonfiction.
I'm just cause, well, hers isfiction, partially fiction.
It's loosely based on her, yeah, loosely based on her life.
So I love just being able toread people's stories and see,
um, I don't like to use the wordresiliency because it's overuse
(21:36):
in our community.
It's a good thing, but I think,because it's used so often,
it's just assumed that itdoesn't matter what we
experience, we will overcome it.
So it's okay for us to continueto experience those battles.
So that's why I don't like touse that word, but, for lack of
(21:57):
a better word, her book justshows that she's overcoming a
lot of things as a young woman.
So her name is Lee Jackson.
So those are two recent.
I'll stick with those.
Some of my favorites.
They are my favorites too, butI'm going established.
Uh, not new author favorites.
I'm actually looking at mybookshelf.
(22:18):
Uh, walter mosley.
Um, I really like his work.
Um, it's funny though, becauseI started reading walter dean
myers in high school and I wentto a bookshop looking for his
books and I came across WalterMosley's book.
Are you guys familiar withWalter Dean Myers?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Myers, are you familiar with him?
I'm not familiar.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I never heard of him.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah, he's a YA author.
I think he's from Harlem, sohe's writing for you, so I came
across.
Are you familiar with WalterMosley?
Yes, yes.
OK.
So I came across his book and Ithought it was Walter D Myers
because I just wasn't payingattention.
So I started reading the bookand I'm like I thought he was a
YA writer Because you'refamiliar with Walter Mosley.
(23:06):
So I was like, oh, walter putthe script.
He's not writing for kids, nomore.
But then eventually I looked atthe book and I was like, oh,
this is a whole other Walter.
So it was a funny way that Istumbled into Walter Mosley
because I thought I was readinga different Walter.
So those two Walters I reallylike.
(23:27):
I do a lot of business readingtoo, like to help continue to
grow my business.
Um, actually, down here I'mlooking at one of these books
networking for freelance editors.
It's not a black author, butthis is one of the books I'm
reading right now.
So that was helpful.
So, yeah, those are some of thebooks that I and authors that I
like.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
What do you think?
The digital, digital orphysical?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I prefer physical.
Um, I recently startedlistening to audio books, so
that's that's been.
I like it because it's faster,so I could just sit and work and
listen to the audio book.
But I do still buy books and Idefinitely go to the library.
So I prefer physical books.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah, I'm like you.
I prefer physical, physicalbooks.
I'm of the mind like in a whilewe won't have a lot of physical
media books, anything of thatnature.
So it's like you want tocollect this stuff while you
have it to be able to pass itdown, because you know digital
media can be manipulated in somany different ways.
You know, I mean so, I just Ithink that way some time y'all
(24:30):
still like records.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Man, I'm one of them people.
Now you know I got a wholebookshelf for books and stuff
like that.
But now I kind of like you know, I like the whole candle thing
and just you know you can cop it.
Whenever you want to cop it nowI put it in the bookstore.
I mean, maybe I'm being lazynow, but you know it's good to
have a little library in yourpocket.
It's nothing wrong with that,you know what.
I mean so certain things I mightput on the candle, but it's
(24:53):
like things that I know, likedealing with history or anything
like that, or you knowbiographies or something I try
to keep a physical copy yeah,definitely, maybe I should,
maybe, maybe I should purchasethe physical copy more, because
I I heard a person I know thatum told me that she wrote a book
and she was saying that onamazon.
(25:14):
Like so many words.
She was saying like they don'treally get the money that they
should get off on amazon, oryeah, I think they have.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
I don't know if it's still an option, but at one
point you could select 70, 30 orI think it was 60, 40 I don't
know what it is now.
So they do take, you know, apercentage not quite half, but
they take a percentage.
So you don't see your fullroyalty.
So I know a lot of authors tocombat that.
(25:44):
What they'll do is they'll selltheir book on their website so
you know they can print theirown books, or you can put your
book on Amazon, buy copies for$2 and 15 cents I think that
went up, so it was probably like$3.
So you can buy the copies atthe low cost and then sell them
through your website and get agreater profit.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
So it's like any vetting process with Amazon, or
is it just like streaming, likeany type of streaming service
where you can just writesomething and just upload it?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, Anybody, you know.
You know how to use a computerand you have a manuscript, you
can do it.
There are certain dimensionsyou have to have.
So you either have to know howto do the formatting yourself or
hire someone to do it for you.
But as far as content, I don'tthink there's limitation to that
.
So if you write something, youpublish it.
You know you get your um.
(26:34):
You get your um.
It's in the I'm forgetting whatit's called um you get the
number associated with your book.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
You get your manuscript uploaded so yes, isb
a number and copyright your bookbefore you publish it.
So yeah, um, it's a pretty, umstreamlined process yeah, and I
know you mentioned before, likea lot of these, you know, black
authors who are writing positivethings probably get pushed and
for some reason my mind is goingto the movie American Fiction.
(27:04):
So like do you think like that'swhat it is.
Is that you have to be ignorantto sell?
Is that what they push to sell?
Is that what they push?
I see the Facebook.
Is it like it's something thatyou have to be ignorant to sell
in terms of you know the othermedia?
You know what I mean.
Like they pushed out a littlebit more.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of truth.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
You're excited about this one.
Huh yeah, she was ready to saysomething.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
So you're excited about this question.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Here in Rochester we have the Rochester Association
of Black Journalists and theyhave a partnership with a local
theater where they host filmsthat are Black culture films,
and I was a panelist offeringwhat is that called?
We basically talked about themovie after we watched it I'm
(27:51):
sure it's a simple word, I can'tthink of it so we were asked to
talk about it, give a review.
It was myself and anotherpublisher.
So, yes, I'm excited about thatand I actually wrote a blog
post about it.
So what I will say is I workwith self-published authors and
hybrid publishers.
So I don't work with, like thebig five publishing companies,
(28:11):
but I'm sure that there's a lotof truth based in what was in
the movie.
What I will say on theself-publishing, hybrid side is,
when you do it yourself, youdon't have that publisher over
your head telling you oh, youhave to write garbage, you have
to write this, that.
So as a self-publisher, hybridpublished author, you write what
(28:32):
you want.
That.
So, as a self-publisher, hybridpublished author, you write
what you want.
So you don't have thoseconstraints and I do believe
that's why so many authors notjust Black authors, but authors
in general go theself-publishing route because
you don't have this majormachine in your ear telling you
this is what you have to write,this is how you have to write it
, or you're not going to sell,or we're not going to to sign
you, or we're going to drop you,et cetera, et cetera.
(28:53):
So I would say the positive tothat is we have options where we
can, where we control ournarrative and we don't have to
worry about being pigeonholed orforced into a narrative just
for money.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Right, right.
It seems like that's the routethat a lot of people go and
we've had a few authors on theshow and everything and even in
like the spaces of the Latinospaces they say a lot of, it is
very like stereotypical in termsof that, you know.
So it's just.
It's just a rough road and youknow, going to these bookstores
(29:28):
and stuff this is what you seeis being pushed more in terms of
what is called African-americanyou know writers, but you know
what the sad reality is.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
We have to come to the grips of it's what we like.
Man, it's sad to say, man, youknow not all of us.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
But yes, you're right .
Yeah, I mean, it's not.
It's not what, it's not what,it's not what I, it's not what I
like, but I'm saying that youknow what I mean.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Like yeah, like perfect example, like even what
we do right now.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
We can put something up that's educational in
whatever case may be, and you'llnever get any hits or any likes
on the book if you putsomething up in this drake
fighting somebody or somegarbage like that, then you're
gonna get a lot of hits and it's, it's sad and I even say, like
we'll reach a certain people,people who run it, and they and
they do let you know when theydo hear it that they appreciate
(30:13):
it.
You know what I mean.
So it's like stuff like that.
But I get what he's saying.
It's just like you can talkabout whatever's the flavor that
we, if I said, if I said puffyon this thing, or if I said
diddy, 30 times on here and puthis picture up instead of yours,
guess what?
You know what I mean.
So it's like that's how itworks.
That's just how it is.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
And I don't want to seem negative, but you know I'm
just, you know, trying to statethe fact and, like I said, you
know there's a bunch of peoplelike ourselves like I don't read
, you know that garbage oranything like that.
And, to be honest with you, I'mconstantly reading something
about finance or something abouttrying to better myself, so it
is what it is.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah, One of the other interesting points in
American fiction.
Have you seen it, both of you,you know what.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I've seen it, but I've seen several clips about it
and I'm like I can't get myhands on this movie.
For some reason I wasn't ableto get to the theater to see it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah, okay.
One of the poignant points forme was Should I spoiler alert or
you don't want?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
that Go ahead Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I was going to say there's a scene where he walks
in the.
He walks in the bookstore andhe's looking for his book and
it's in the black section.
So he's pissed off.
So he takes his book and heputs it in the.
Was it sci fi that he waswriting?
He put it in the genre that thebook was.
(31:31):
So I was kind of grappling withlike do Black authors want
their books to go in the Blacksection or do they want them to
go into the genre fit?
So if I'm writing sci-fi, is itbetter for my book to be in the
sci-fi section and perhaps riskit being seen because it's a
sea of white authors in thatgenre?
(31:54):
Or do I want to be stereotyped,so to speak?
And but because it's easier tofind, because it's already with
the other black authors?
So that was an interestingpoint that I've just been
thinking about.
Like I don't know.
I mean, I've nevertraditionally published, so I
don't know what my preferencewould be, would be yeah, but
maybe it's just be.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
I know the answer to this one I got it man.
Put it in the sci-fi section.
Man, yeah, I was going to saythe same thing.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
I'm telling you because A good black sci-fi
writer.
I mean, you got to discoverthat yourself.
I was thinking the same thing.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Because if you go to our section, all it is is guns
and sex and drugs and whateverthe case may be, and you might
find some classics in there orsomething like that.
But uh, that's about it, youknow, and if you ain't looking
for that I mean if you ain'tlooking for the classics,
hopefully somebody white orsomebody you know, looking in
the other side I won't say white, but looking in the other side
(32:50):
we'll find your book there, man.
That's interesting and thattype of thing.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, so yeah, that was a good point that I remember
from the movie.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Well, it's the same thing with, like Black directors
, like you might watch a movieand didn't realize you know like
Anton Foucault made this movieor made this show or something.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
But you're not going in saying well, I'm looking for
it because it's you know, stevenspielberg, I just want to see a
good movie, you know.
I mean yeah, yeah, so ithappens without the black
section, or or you can do bothright, yeah, yeah, you can do
both, that would be the maximum.
Yeah, yeah yeah in bothsections.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That would help, I guess.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
So, if you want to, if you want to, you know,
because when you go, I was gonnasay when you go to the
bookstore, do you I mean youguys, I'm asking do you go to
the black section?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
I do, I do for me it's different because I don't
like peruse books, so like Iwill hear about a book and I
want this book.
So it's not a matter of lookingfor a black author, I'm just
looking for that particular book.
(33:58):
I'm not like a book shopperwalk around, see what I see.
This is the book, this is thecategory, this is the genre.
This is why I need it.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
I'm going to get it and then I'm leaving Katara.
I'm different.
It depends on what I'm lookingfor.
If I'm coming here to get abook about Malcolm X, that's
what I'm going for.
If I'm coming to get a bookabout this.
That's what I'm going for.
That's just me.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
It's sad to say, man, but when I go there looking for
a white author I like JodiPicard, I like a lot of her
books.
I go there sometimes and I'lljust, you know, browse it and
see what I, you know, there'ssomething more like I'm reading
through the summary andeverything on the back.
So you know, but, um, again, I,I don't really go to the black
section.
It's sad to say, but I don't,man, because again, when I go
(34:45):
there, all I see is the samething it's the two bs or I'll go
to the um if I do go there I'mBarnes Noble, or I'll go to the.
If I do go there, I'm likelooking for the classics, or
something that I, you know, likesomething that somebody told me
, like yo you been should haveread this, you know what I mean,
so I'll get that.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
That's a good question right there, Kataya.
What's one of those you beenshould have?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I mean, most of the reading I do is my clients work
Right, so I don't really havethe.
Every once in a while I'llbreak out a book for like
non-work, so none really come tomind at this point.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
So if we think back in the day, something maybe
historical or a story you shouldhave read Like if you tell me
something like you know what abiography of malcolm x maya
angelou's uh singing andswinging, getting married like
christmas all them yeah evendonald goines and stuff like
that, I mean, which is liketrash books of the past.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
But you know, but I like donald goines man, so I'm
sad to say I like that, but uh Imean?
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I mean, my answer would be all the books I read in
my first af-American one on oneclass.
I should have known those namesat 18.
And the saddest part about itis that was an elective.
Wow.
So I mean, if I didn't have thedesire, I could have gone
another 18 years.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
But you know what, sometimes that's the best, the
best time when you had, when youhit.
It is like you know, if youtake a history course or
something like that, then kindof I look at it as like the
rabbit hole.
You know what I mean.
Like it's a good introduction,a good jumping on point, but
then you continue to researchwith whatever interests you.
You know what.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I mean yeah, so yeah, just learning about in depth
the stories.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
of you know, like SNCC and I, mean oh yeah, yeah,
I like stuff like that, yeahit's just.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
It just brings me a lot of heartache to know that
that's not like a staple of ourhistory and that I could have
easily missed that.
And how many people are my agewho still don't know and will
never know you?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
know, will never know yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Right.
No, yeah, they're not damp init, but sometimes reality
doesn't feel good.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
No, it don't, it don't.
And then sometimes you got tolook back in the past to see
where we going with this thing.
You see the whole stuff that'shappening with these students
and everything it thing.
You see the whole stuff that'shappening with these students
and everything.
It's nothing but the 60s, youknow I mean 60s all over again.
So listen, if you, um, if youcould give any tips right now to
any up and coming writers whomight be at the next national
(37:33):
black office day, getting theirbooks on and whatnot.
What would you say?
Speaker 1 (37:37):
um, I would just say write what matters to you.
Some people write a book formoney, so they write about
things that are trendy, or theywrite about things that are
funny or the entertainment, butthey're not connected to them as
the author.
So, whatever you're planning towrite, I will highly encourage
(38:01):
that is something of value toyou, something that you connect
with, is something that you're,like, passionate about, unless
like.
Unless your goal is like, maybeyou want a ghostwriter and you
just trying to, you know, getthe bag.
You don't really care about thecontent.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Some people like that yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, most people.
Yeah, yeah, most people.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Most people yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Yeah.
So you know that's your goaland you know I wish you the best
on that journey.
But for the authors, who, youknow, care about the content and
want to produce quality work,it's all about authenticity.
Authenticity and for yourself,but also the information that
(38:46):
you're sharing, you have totailor it to your audience.
So sometimes, you know, authorscome to me and you know one of
the first questions I ask is whois your target market?
And they say everyone.
And we got to dial it backbecause if you write for
everyone, you're not writing foranyone.
So that's one of the big thingsthat comes up when I'm working
(39:10):
with clients, like they don'tknow who their target market is
and they think that every singleperson walking the earth is
going to pick up their book andbuy it.
So they don't have a realisticidea of you know who your target
market is.
So know that what you'rewriting is valid to you and know
that what you're offering isvalid to your readers.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
OK, all right, take that.
Take that All right, before Ilet you go.
Can you tell everybody if youknow where the next Black Office
day event will be held inrochester?
As well as your handles, wherethey can reach you, where they
can reach love for words and all?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
yes, of course.
So I am hosting a nationalblack office day event in my
hometown of rochester, new york,on may 4th, 11 am to 2 pm.
Um, it's going to be at theAvenue Black Box Theater, but
please do host whatever eventyou feel suits you best,
wherever you live.
It is not limited.
So, please, I encourage you todo whatever you feel is on your
(40:11):
heart to celebrate the day onSaturday.
You can connect with me onLinkedIn.
I'm the only Kataira Poland onthere, so you'll find me easily.
I'm also on Instagram underKataira Poland.
My website is the love it'slove, the number four words dot
com.
All of my handles are on there.
(40:32):
My email is on there, so feelfree to get in touch with me
that way.
So yeah, and then my email isPoland at love, the number four
words dot com.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah, and I'm going to link everything down in the
description and all that for youtoo.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Okay, give us a quick rundown how the day is going to
be.
I mean, do you have anythingplanned, or like what.
I mean, what do you haveplanned?
Speaker 1 (40:54):
yeah.
So, um, there's, there's goingto be, of course, authors there.
They'll have their books ableto connect.
Um, there will also be vendorsthere who specialize in literacy
.
So we have an organizationthere that focuses on tutoring.
We have another organizationthat focuses on doing research
about the impact of literacy inthe community.
(41:14):
We have writers and books,writers and books.
Inclusion, freedom, learningScholar is a learning center
here where they have a heavyemphasis on reading, and there
are a few other vendors that areslipping my mind at the moment.
Oh, we have a mobile bookstorebased out of Buffalo, but she'll
be coming with her books.
(41:35):
So, again, all of the vendorshave a literacy focus, have a
literacy focus.
So I just wanted people to knowthat there are resources if you
need, you know, help withreading, writing literacy,
digital literacy, adults andchildren, because we all know
that.
You know there are a lot ofpeople who struggle with reading
, don't know how to read, orfunctionally illiterate, et
cetera.
So I wanted to create that onespace where they can get a lot
(41:57):
of resources at once.
And then we also have a Blacklibrarian panel, so there's four
Black librarians who will be onthat panel talking about their
careers, encouraging otherpeople to consider becoming
librarians.
I mean, there's a lot we don'tknow about what they do and we
all know that they're extremelyimportant.
So they will be there talkingabout their journeys,
(42:18):
encouraging the kids and theadults there who maybe never
considered librarianship.
It's a viable career and it'svery important and we need to
keep our Black librarians, weneed to keep that pipeline
growing.
So we'll have that panel.
So it's mostly, you know,networking walking around the
panel, the mayor will say somewords, one of our authors will
(42:40):
say some words and we'll just beenjoying each other's company.
There's lunch and yeah.
So that's what we have going onon Saturday All right, that's
what's up.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
You feel everybody that's good.
Everybody got a story in themsomewhere.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yes, absolutely so.
One of the things I will sayabout that is you don't have to
share the story.
So a lot of people would preferto just write in the journals,
which is perfectly fine.
So you might not want topublish a book, maybe you just
want to write these feelingsdown, maybe it's therapeutic.
So, for those of you who choosenot to publish, that's fine as
(43:13):
well.
But writing is still beneficialto everyone, whether you share
what you're writing or not.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
Yeah, and I always say when we have conversations
that I respect anybody who sitsdown and commits themselves to
page like that, because it'shard it got to be hard to kind
of unleash your imagination orunleash your personal side of
you and all of that, yourfeelings and also, you know,
much respect to anybody, that'sit All right.
(43:40):
So thanks once again.
I'm like a sorry.
Much respect to anybody that'shere.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, all right.
So thanks once again.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
I'm like a tarot.
I don't want to hear anybody'sstory.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Yeah, you know what.
You don't want to hear it.
Some things might depress you.
Yeah, I don't want to hear it,man.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
It gave us too much.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
That's the truth.
That's the truth.
So I'm pretty sure we will dothis again on the next go around
.
Hey, how about this?
The next time you come on, whydon't you bring on one of your?
Speaker 1 (44:06):
office.
Oh, definitely Yep, you knowwhat I mean.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
We'll do.
Yeah, we'll do, yeah, you know.
Sorry, I didn't think aboutthis before, but could have
brought somebody home.
But you know, Lord willing,there'll be a next time, Right
next time right.
All right, okay, we thank youonce again for your time
everybody, so we're going to goahead and sign off.
Kataira always a pleasure.
You might be the first personthat's been on here about three
(44:30):
times, so we appreciate that theOnly One Mic Podcast is
available on all platforms youstream your podcasts on.
Also, check out our Only OneMic Podcast YouTube channel to
catch up on past and currentepisodes, and please don't
forget to rate the show andsubscribe.
Check us out on Instagram andTwitter at TheOnlyOneMikeP1,
facebook and LinkedIn atTheOnlyOneMikePodcast, and you
(44:51):
can email us at TheOnlyOneMike00at gmailcom, or you can call us
at 302-367-7219 to have yourcomments and questions played on
the show.
We thank you all again for yourtime.
Katara, you in particular,thank you.
Thank you for the audience, formaking space, and we encourage
you, please, to speak the truthquietly and clearly and listen
(45:12):
to others, even adult andignorant, because they too have
their story to tell.
So until next time, I'm goingto switch this up, katara each
one, teach one if you can't findone, talk to the little ones
and you'll see.
They'll feel the missing pieceto rise and shine.
Peace everybody.
Brothers and sisters.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Give me a moment with your friend.
I've never been up to mythoughts before.
Welcome to the Only One MicPodcast called J-Rob Brooklyn
Trey.
J-rob is off, but we're joinedby a very, very special guest,
returning guest, three-timereturning guest, miss Katara.
(00:36):
Hold it how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm doing well.
Thank you for having me Allright.
No Greatest greatest Anytime.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So listen y'all.
For those of you who justgetting up to speed on the show,
Katara has been on here inprevious episodes.
She is the founder and CEO ofLove for Words.
She's also a published authorherself.
She also is a is a speaker.
She's also a book coach, awriting coach, and she also is
(01:10):
the founder of Black Authors DayGive it up.
So, as we all know, and some ofyou who may not know Black
Office Day is on May the 4th.
Yes, May the 4th.
So you know.
She initially came on and toldus how she got it started.
(01:31):
You can go back and listen tothat episode about the
importance of it, and now I saidlet's come on back, because
right now it's about to come upMay the 4th, and we want to make
sure that the people are awareof this and keep it in the
forefront.
So Tyra get us up to speed onwhat's going on with you.
How's everything?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Everything is going well, Of course, still editing
and working with authors,helping them to get ready to
publish and make sure theirmanuscripts look and sound good.
I'm actually working on my nextbook.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Legacy Okay, give it up, everybody Give it up.
About time Give it up.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
My next book, Legacy Beyond Offspring, and in the
book I'm outlining differentways that you can leave a legacy
even if you don't have kids.
So at this point in my life I'mchild free.
But obviously there are otherways that I can leave a legacy.
So I talk about foundingNational Black Authors Day.
I talk about founding theLiteracy, Love, Scholarship and
some of the other ways thatpeople who don't have kids can
(02:31):
still leave a legacy, becausethere's still a stigma
specifically for women who don'thave children by a certain age.
So I just wanted to have aresource for them to know that
it's okay either if you choosenot to have kids, or maybe you
can't have children, so thereare other things that you can do
to leave your legacy outside ofum becoming a parent well, now
(02:52):
that you, you know and thisthrew me through a loop because
I didn't know you was working onthat but now that we're here,
can you just probably hit uswith one thing that you can give
the audience.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
not the whole book, because I know you're still, you
know plane, but what can yougive us, you know, for the
audience here?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yes, so there's some I'm actually addressing some
myths associated with those whochoose not to have children.
So I'm just talking about likemyth, I give a myth and then I
talk about like a myth buster.
So like one of the myths isthat if you don't have children,
then you'll feel like you havea void in your life.
(03:27):
But then the myth buster islike I don't have children, but
I have nieces, I have a godson,I have a goddaughter, or I'm a
teacher, so I have thesechildren that I'm teaching.
So just because you don't havekids doesn't mean you
necessarily have a void in yourlife.
There are other things that youcan do to, you know, give back
(03:47):
or help other people besideshaving your own kids.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Okay, I'm going to throw one at you, and I don't
know if it's in the book or not,you know.
But what about that myth to saypeople who don't want kids are
selfish or selfish?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, that one's also in there.
I kind of take some of the mythbusters are more lighthearted,
but sometimes people just thereare some people who just know
they don't want to be a parent.
So it's best that way, so youwouldn't want somebody to be
resentful Like I know I don'twant to be a mom but I had this
(04:19):
kid.
Now I got to raise the kid andunfortunately that happens a lot
of times.
People you know have unplannedpregnancies and then they take
out their resentment on thechild, either neglecting them or
abusing them.
So you know that's.
I think it's better forsomebody to not have kids if
they know they're not ready todo that or that they don't want
(04:40):
to, then to just have the kidbecause society is telling you
that you should have kids.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So sometimes they destroy your legacy too and I
mean I know we're gonna jumpinto black office day in a while
but.
I got now that you open up thiscan here.
There's so many questionsrunning through my head about
this one.
All right, what about that?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I just didn't find the right person yet, and it
might take a long time yeah, Imean, I think that's fair um,
it's very important, just likewhen you marry somebody who you
have children with.
So I don't think I I wouldn'ttake that lightly and I don't
see that as an excuse.
I think that's valid um, and itmay take a long time, which is
(05:24):
fine.
So I support anybody who feelslike they haven't found the
person, the other person, theother parent.
I don't think there's anythingwrong with that, because you
can't undo that.
So exactly.
Yeah, take your time, take yourtime.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You know that screening process needs to take
a very, very, very long time.
It might take years.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
We before you think about it we always talk about,
uh, marriage material man.
You're right, man, some peopleain't parent.
Material man, exactly yeah noyeah, some horrible parents out
there.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
It's very much yeah, that's a whole episode.
Yeah, I did a focus group ofsome child free adults and one
of the participants was sayingthat when she thought about
motherhood she was terrified.
So what's the point ofventuring down that if that's
the feeling you're getting justthinking about it?
(06:17):
So why would you subjectyourself to that?
So again, it really has to dowith who you are as a person and
knowing what you want to do,what you don't want to do and
what you're capable of.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
How did you just come up with that particular topic
to discuss?
I mean, that's something tobuild a book around.
I mean, that's, that's.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, yeah, I mean as a child free woman.
You know there's a lot ofmessaging.
You know, like I said, a lot ofmessaging that there's
something wrong with you as awoman If you don't become a
mother, you're selfish, orsomething's wrong with you or
you're going to regret it if younever have kids.
And I know that there are otherpeople in my network who also
don't have kids who hear thosesame things.
(06:58):
So I wanted to create aresource just for people to be
reassured that they have theright to make a decision about
their life, whether they want tohave kids or not.
But I also didn't want toforget about the people who
can't have kids.
We just assume that becausethey don't have kids, they don't
want them.
There are lots of families whoyou know are doing IVF and
(07:19):
trying to, you know, havechildren and you know they have
reproductive concerns and youknow it took them 20 years
before they have kids, or youknow they had to adopt, et
cetera.
So I just didn't feel like wewere getting a fair, we were
being fairly perceived bysociety as being child-free.
(07:41):
So I wanted to create a bookthat gave us not gave us power
we have power but gave us like aresource to look at, to say,
okay, well, maybe I, you know,maybe I do want to start a
national author's day, or maybeI do want to start a national
holiday, or maybe I want to doan annual event, so I have other
ways to leave my legacy, so Iwanted to be a part of, you know
(08:02):
, giving people options, youknow, outside of being parents.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You know, there's some women that say like I don't
want children and stuff likethat.
And then you have those otherpeople say like oh Jesus, you
know what I mean, like talkingfor the moment, or something.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I don't really have a response to that.
You can ignore those people andagain, you can make your own
decisions.
So, even if they don't agreewith it, that's okay.
That, and again, you can makeyour own decisions.
So even if they don't agreewith it, that's okay.
That's part of life, one of thethings I say, like if there's
somebody who doesn't like me orwhat I stand for, my values, I
just say you know, you're notthe first person, you won't be
the last.
So I got a life.
(08:37):
So it's like you can't pleaseeverybody.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So let's go ahead and wrap about this national black
office so um, I gotcha, I gotchaso let's go ahead and wrap
about this.
Uh, national black office day,alright yes, so you are a black
author, as you just stated, andyou know.
Kudos to you again.
Now go ahead and explain to thepeople who don't know what
(09:01):
black office day is, because wegot a lot of things that's going
to flood that day and it'sgoing to kind of overshadow, or
try to overshadow, what yourmovement is.
So go ahead and explain it tothe people.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah.
So National Black Authors Dayis a day to celebrate and
acknowledge our contributions toyou know, literature and the
literacy world.
We know that there are manyliterary giants who are now our
ancestors.
We know that we have currentliterary giants, black authors,
(09:33):
who are continuing to producemasterpieces, and we know that
we have the responsibility tohelp build up the future Black
authors or at least I have theresponsibility.
I'll take that to heart for me.
So I really wanted to create aday to you know, acknowledge
(09:54):
what we have done, because, asyou two already know, and I'm
sure some of our listeners, ourwork is often Our work is.
Often it's either ignored orunderval, um, the shine or the
recognition that it should.
So I want to be a part ofhaving a day, of course, more
(10:36):
than a day, but specifically May4th is the day to do that, um.
So when I founded it, I didresearch to see if it existed
and I I did find out thatNational Authors Day already
exists I think it's in November,but I wanted a more specific
day and I wanted it to beNational Black Authors Day.
So I envisioned that, of course, it would just get bigger and
bigger every year and that Iwould love to be able to travel
(11:00):
across the country to thedifferent places that are having
those celebrations.
So last year I did acelebration here in Rochester,
which is my native town.
This year I'm doing anothercelebration here, but as it
grows, I know that other placeswill be hosting.
Well, last year, other placesalready did start hosting events
.
So there were people who hostedtheir book signing that day.
(11:22):
They had their book launch thatday.
They opened their bookstore onthat day.
Those are their book launchthat day.
They opened their bookstore onthat day.
Those are some of the thingsthat they're doing this year as
well.
So, like I know, there's acelebration in South Africa
celebrating National BlackAuthors Day.
So it's gaining ground quickly,which is what I expected.
So I'm just glad that people areparticipating, and not just
(11:43):
with live events, but peoplewere using the National Black
Authors Day hashtag.
They were going live reading anexcerpt from a book by a Black
author or going live readingtheir own books.
There were people who were, youknow, posting pictures of their
favorite Black author orposting an excerpt from the book
of their favorite Black author,et cetera.
(12:03):
So the great thing about it isthere's really no limit to how
you can celebrate.
So you might want to maybe justwrite a journal entry about
what the day means to you, so itdoesn't even have to be a
public celebration.
Or maybe you just go to thelibrary and check out a new book
by a Black author you neverread.
(12:24):
So I just love that.
There's versatility in that andyou can choose how you want to
celebrate.
Actually, in Rochester there'san author doing her book signing
that day on May 4th, so that'sthe perfect way for her to
participate and then you know,or going to a Black-owned
bookstore.
So again, I just I'm excited tosee the ripple across the
(12:44):
country and really across theglobe, just that we have this
day to you know, recognize allthat we've contributed and also
recognize that we still have alot of battles as Black, just as
Black people, but as Blackwriters and authors.
So, like there are a lot ofBlack authors whose books are
(13:06):
being banned, there are a lot ofwell, yes, there are a lot of
Black authors who've worked withwhite editors or non-Black
editors who are rewriting theirwork or telling them they can't
use ain't or they can't useEbonics or AfricanAmerican
vernacular English, that it hasto be written in standard,
professional white English.
(13:28):
So, again, this day recognizesthe things that we're still
facing, but also that we areconstantly overcoming.
That is not, you know.
We're not a people who lie down.
We're not a people who areeasily swayed and we fight for,
(13:50):
you know, what we deserve.
It is a shame that we have tofight so hard.
That is certainly not fair andthat's certainly not acceptable.
But the point is, you know,because of how great we are, we
have the power to do that.
I would hope that that fightgets easier.
(14:11):
But you know, that's a wholenother conversation.
The day is there for us tocelebrate and be happy and be
merry, because the one thingthey can't take from us is our
joy.
So that's what it's about.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
He said books are being banned.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yes.
So there are a large percentageof books, specifically if they
are about race relations a lotof those that are about, like,
lgbtq, ethnicity books, like,again, racism and race issues in
America.
A lot of those books, peoplecan file a formal complaint to
(14:48):
have the book banned.
So that's happening across thecountry, where you know a white
person might read this book andit's teaching us about the
atrocities against AfricanAmericans, and they can fill out
a form and they can complainand then they could have the
book banned in that county orcity that they live in.
So that is something that ishappening, you know, across the
(15:10):
country, probably across theworld, but we're in America, so
I'll speak about the country.
So there's just a lot of stillpushback for our stories to be
told.
Lots of people are stilluncomfortable with that truth.
They don't want to takeresponsibility for how they're
benefiting from the isms and thesystems that we have.
So that's one way that they I'msure that they feel they can
(15:33):
maintain their uh, comfort.
So I don't have to.
I don't want other people toread this because it makes me
feel uncomfortable about how I'mbenefiting.
So I'm going to report thisbook and I'm going to get banned
in this county or this library,et cetera.
So that is happening veryfrequently.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
That's actually crazy , because it seems like now
there's like this huge thingabout trying to delete our
history, you know, or us talkingabout our history, and what's
crazy is that everybody else'shistory is constantly being
pushed down our throats.
You know what I mean, like theHolocaust, and you know Jewish
history and any other historythat you can think of.
(16:15):
I think we probably, as AfricanAmericans, we probably know
more about other people'shistory than anybody else in
this country.
It's kind of crazy.
Yeah, I can definitely tell and, truth be told, we know than
anybody else in this country.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
You know it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, I can definitely, and truth be told,
we don't know a lot about ourown.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Right, yeah, I didn't take an African-American class
until I got to undergrad at thecollege level.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It wasn't offered in any of the schools that I went
to secondary schools.
That was my first introductionto it and I just couldn't
believe that until I was, Ihadn't met your Evans and it
just wasn't a part of the system.
We were not taught about that.
I took an AP history class.
(16:57):
Now we do have the APAfrican-American history class,
but I don't know how familiaryou are with that controversy.
But they had to rewrite thecurriculum because I looked at
it and probably feltuncomfortable, like we don't
want you teaching people andprobably felt uncomfortable Like
you know, we don't want youteaching people this.
So that's just another, youknow, attempt to erase, forget,
(17:19):
whitewash our history.
So I definitely agree with you,andre, that there are so many
attacks happening on so manyfronts, which is exhausting.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Well, the beauty about how you know we all came
up in our generation is that wealways knew that school wasn't
going to provide you with allthe information that you needed.
You know, and so we will have alot of people you know push
this particular you know I don'twant to say push, but introduce
you to you know certain pointsin Black history and stuff like
that to have you go ahead and doyour research on it, and this
(17:55):
is stuff we were doing kind ofoff book.
He wasn't doing this in schooland this was like in high school
and whatnot, like they wouldhave some information available
to you.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
But you know what?
I think we were blessed becausewe grew up in New York, so in
New York City, you know, thisstuff was pumped to us whether
it was on the street you got iton the street or you got it in,
you know somewhere in theclassroom by those teachers that
were, you know, down enough togive you some information.
And you know, it's kind of funnybecause I was telling him
(18:24):
before I was speaking to us,sitting down here and not just
calmly having the conversation,and I said, well, elhadj Malik
Shabazz, and she didn't know whoMalcolm X was and she's a grown
woman, you know, she got amaster's degree and everything
like that, and I'm like westarted talking about that and
she was like, well, you grew upin New York, we didn't learn
that in our school system.
So you know, it's kind of sad.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, and also that the history is selective.
So we learn about MLK.
I don't know too many schoolsthat really herald Malcolm X.
So we get bits and pieces andwe get who they choose.
They want us to know about.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, exactly, it's always down to Martin and Rosa
and Jackie Robinson.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
And then they want to give you the passive history
about them.
They want to give you about therevolutionary history because
all of those people had somerevolutionary sides to them.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Rosa Parks was a Black Panther.
A lot of people didn't knowthat.
You know what I mean.
Stuff like that.
So you know, that's how that go.
Now, with the event coming upand celebrations coming up, what
are some?
What are some black authorsthat you looking at, like that?
You can see that some up andcoming.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Um, up and coming, so I'll I'll stick with my clients
.
So, um, I just recentlyfinished editing a book.
His name is Caleb Jakes.
He's also here in Rochester.
He attends a university atRochester.
He is a I don't know what yearhe's in, but this is his first
book and he wrote a book abouthis experience and journey in
(20:02):
battling obesity and how thatwas a spiritual journey for him.
So, even though, you know,obesity is seen as something of
the physical, he just talkedabout how you know that tied
into his spirit and how he feltabout himself and also talk
about how he overcame it.
So that was an excellent read.
I've never, you know,experienced obesity or dealt
(20:26):
with that, but I mean I couldinsert any other type of, you
know, adversity I have had andget a lot from it.
So I really enjoyed readingthat.
I think he's 18.
So I'm all about, you know, thenext generation of black
authors.
He's a great writer, I reallyenjoyed editing and he is in the
(20:48):
final stages of publishing.
So, caleb Jakes, I will highlyrecommend him.
Another one of my recent clientsis Lee Jackson and she wrote a
fiction book and her book isabout a young girl growing up in
the Bronx.
So she's, you know, talkingabout the trials and
tribulations.
You know her parents are kindof absent, not as involved as
(21:10):
they should be, so a lot ofthings are falling on her
shoulders.
So, again, you know readingthat I really enjoy editing
nonfiction.
I'm just cause, well, hers isfiction, partially fiction.
It's loosely based on her, yeah, loosely based on her life.
So I love just being able toread people's stories and see,
um, I don't like to use the wordresiliency because it's overuse
(21:36):
in our community.
It's a good thing, but I think,because it's used so often,
it's just assumed that itdoesn't matter what we
experience, we will overcome it.
So it's okay for us to continueto experience those battles.
So that's why I don't like touse that word, but, for lack of
(21:57):
a better word, her book justshows that she's overcoming a
lot of things as a young woman.
So her name is Lee Jackson.
So those are two recent.
I'll stick with those.
Some of my favorites.
They are my favorites too, butI'm going established.
Uh, not new author favorites.
I'm actually looking at mybookshelf.
(22:18):
Uh, walter mosley.
Um, I really like his work.
Um, it's funny though, becauseI started reading walter dean
myers in high school and I wentto a bookshop looking for his
books and I came across WalterMosley's book.
Are you guys familiar withWalter Dean Myers?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Myers, are you familiar with him?
I'm not familiar.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I never heard of him.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah, he's a YA author.
I think he's from Harlem, sohe's writing for you, so I came
across.
Are you familiar with WalterMosley?
Yes, yes.
OK.
So I came across his book and Ithought it was Walter D Myers
because I just wasn't payingattention.
So I started reading the bookand I'm like I thought he was a
YA writer Because you'refamiliar with Walter Mosley.
(23:06):
So I was like, oh, walter putthe script.
He's not writing for kids, nomore.
But then eventually I looked atthe book and I was like, oh,
this is a whole other Walter.
So it was a funny way that Istumbled into Walter Mosley
because I thought I was readinga different Walter.
So those two Walters I reallylike.
(23:27):
I do a lot of business readingtoo, like to help continue to
grow my business.
Um, actually, down here I'mlooking at one of these books
networking for freelance editors.
It's not a black author, butthis is one of the books I'm
reading right now.
So that was helpful.
So, yeah, those are some of thebooks that I and authors that I
like.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
What do you think?
The digital, digital orphysical?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I prefer physical.
Um, I recently startedlistening to audio books, so
that's that's been.
I like it because it's faster,so I could just sit and work and
listen to the audio book.
But I do still buy books and Idefinitely go to the library.
So I prefer physical books.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah, I'm like you.
I prefer physical, physicalbooks.
I'm of the mind like in a whilewe won't have a lot of physical
media books, anything of thatnature.
So it's like you want tocollect this stuff while you
have it to be able to pass itdown, because you know digital
media can be manipulated in somany different ways.
You know, I mean so, I just Ithink that way some time y'all
(24:30):
still like records.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Man, I'm one of them people.
Now you know I got a wholebookshelf for books and stuff
like that.
But now I kind of like you know, I like the whole candle thing
and just you know you can cop it.
Whenever you want to cop it nowI put it in the bookstore.
I mean, maybe I'm being lazynow, but you know it's good to
have a little library in yourpocket.
It's nothing wrong with that,you know what.
I mean so certain things I mightput on the candle, but it's
(24:53):
like things that I know, likedealing with history or anything
like that, or you knowbiographies or something I try
to keep a physical copy yeah,definitely, maybe I should,
maybe, maybe I should purchasethe physical copy more, because
I I heard a person I know thatum told me that she wrote a book
and she was saying that onamazon.
(25:14):
Like so many words.
She was saying like they don'treally get the money that they
should get off on amazon, oryeah, I think they have.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
I don't know if it's still an option, but at one
point you could select 70, 30 orI think it was 60, 40 I don't
know what it is now.
So they do take, you know, apercentage not quite half, but
they take a percentage.
So you don't see your fullroyalty.
So I know a lot of authors tocombat that.
(25:44):
What they'll do is they'll selltheir book on their website so
you know they can print theirown books, or you can put your
book on Amazon, buy copies for$2 and 15 cents I think that
went up, so it was probably like$3.
So you can buy the copies atthe low cost and then sell them
through your website and get agreater profit.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
So it's like any vetting process with Amazon, or
is it just like streaming, likeany type of streaming service
where you can just writesomething and just upload it?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, Anybody, you know.
You know how to use a computerand you have a manuscript, you
can do it.
There are certain dimensionsyou have to have.
So you either have to know howto do the formatting yourself or
hire someone to do it for you.
But as far as content, I don'tthink there's limitation to that
.
So if you write something, youpublish it.
You know you get your um.
(26:34):
You get your um.
It's in the I'm forgetting whatit's called um you get the
number associated with your book.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
You get your manuscript uploaded so yes, isb
a number and copyright your bookbefore you publish it.
So yeah, um, it's a pretty, umstreamlined process yeah, and I
know you mentioned before, likea lot of these, you know, black
authors who are writing positivethings probably get pushed and
for some reason my mind is goingto the movie American Fiction.
(27:04):
So like do you think like that'swhat it is.
Is that you have to be ignorantto sell?
Is that what they push to sell?
Is that what they push?
I see the Facebook.
Is it like it's something thatyou have to be ignorant to sell
in terms of you know the othermedia?
You know what I mean.
Like they pushed out a littlebit more.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of truth.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
You're excited about this one.
Huh yeah, she was ready to saysomething.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
So you're excited about this question.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Here in Rochester we have the Rochester Association
of Black Journalists and theyhave a partnership with a local
theater where they host filmsthat are Black culture films,
and I was a panelist offeringwhat is that called?
We basically talked about themovie after we watched it I'm
(27:51):
sure it's a simple word, I can'tthink of it so we were asked to
talk about it, give a review.
It was myself and anotherpublisher.
So, yes, I'm excited about thatand I actually wrote a blog
post about it.
So what I will say is I workwith self-published authors and
hybrid publishers.
So I don't work with, like thebig five publishing companies,
(28:11):
but I'm sure that there's a lotof truth based in what was in
the movie.
What I will say on theself-publishing, hybrid side is,
when you do it yourself, youdon't have that publisher over
your head telling you oh, youhave to write garbage, you have
to write this, that.
So as a self-publisher, hybridpublished author, you write what
(28:32):
you want.
That.
So, as a self-publisher, hybridpublished author, you write
what you want.
So you don't have thoseconstraints and I do believe
that's why so many authors notjust Black authors, but authors
in general go theself-publishing route because
you don't have this majormachine in your ear telling you
this is what you have to write,this is how you have to write it
, or you're not going to sell,or we're not going to to sign
you, or we're going to drop you,et cetera, et cetera.
(28:53):
So I would say the positive tothat is we have options where we
can, where we control ournarrative and we don't have to
worry about being pigeonholed orforced into a narrative just
for money.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Right, right.
It seems like that's the routethat a lot of people go and
we've had a few authors on theshow and everything and even in
like the spaces of the Latinospaces they say a lot of, it is
very like stereotypical in termsof that, you know.
So it's just.
It's just a rough road and youknow, going to these bookstores
(29:28):
and stuff this is what you seeis being pushed more in terms of
what is called African-americanyou know writers, but you know
what the sad reality is.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
We have to come to the grips of it's what we like.
Man, it's sad to say, man, youknow not all of us.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
But yes, you're right .
Yeah, I mean, it's not.
It's not what, it's not what,it's not what I, it's not what I
like, but I'm saying that youknow what I mean.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Like yeah, like perfect example, like even what
we do right now.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
We can put something up that's educational in
whatever case may be, and you'llnever get any hits or any likes
on the book if you putsomething up in this drake
fighting somebody or somegarbage like that, then you're
gonna get a lot of hits and it's, it's sad and I even say, like
we'll reach a certain people,people who run it, and they and
they do let you know when theydo hear it that they appreciate
(30:13):
it.
You know what I mean.
So it's like stuff like that.
But I get what he's saying.
It's just like you can talkabout whatever's the flavor that
we, if I said, if I said puffyon this thing, or if I said
diddy, 30 times on here and puthis picture up instead of yours,
guess what?
You know what I mean.
So it's like that's how itworks.
That's just how it is.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
And I don't want to seem negative, but you know I'm
just, you know, trying to statethe fact and, like I said, you
know there's a bunch of peoplelike ourselves like I don't read
, you know that garbage oranything like that.
And, to be honest with you, I'mconstantly reading something
about finance or something abouttrying to better myself, so it
is what it is.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah, One of the other interesting points in
American fiction.
Have you seen it, both of you,you know what.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I've seen it, but I've seen several clips about it
and I'm like I can't get myhands on this movie.
For some reason I wasn't ableto get to the theater to see it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah, okay.
One of the poignant points forme was Should I spoiler alert or
you don't want?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
that Go ahead Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I was going to say there's a scene where he walks
in the.
He walks in the bookstore andhe's looking for his book and
it's in the black section.
So he's pissed off.
So he takes his book and heputs it in the.
Was it sci fi that he waswriting?
He put it in the genre that thebook was.
(31:31):
So I was kind of grappling withlike do Black authors want
their books to go in the Blacksection or do they want them to
go into the genre fit?
So if I'm writing sci-fi, is itbetter for my book to be in the
sci-fi section and perhaps riskit being seen because it's a
sea of white authors in thatgenre?
(31:54):
Or do I want to be stereotyped,so to speak?
And but because it's easier tofind, because it's already with
the other black authors?
So that was an interestingpoint that I've just been
thinking about.
Like I don't know.
I mean, I've nevertraditionally published, so I
don't know what my preferencewould be, would be yeah, but
maybe it's just be.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
I know the answer to this one I got it man.
Put it in the sci-fi section.
Man, yeah, I was going to saythe same thing.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
I'm telling you because A good black sci-fi
writer.
I mean, you got to discoverthat yourself.
I was thinking the same thing.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Because if you go to our section, all it is is guns
and sex and drugs and whateverthe case may be, and you might
find some classics in there orsomething like that.
But uh, that's about it, youknow, and if you ain't looking
for that I mean if you ain'tlooking for the classics,
hopefully somebody white orsomebody you know, looking in
the other side I won't say white, but looking in the other side
(32:50):
we'll find your book there, man.
That's interesting and thattype of thing.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, so yeah, that was a good point that I remember
from the movie.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Well, it's the same thing with, like Black directors
, like you might watch a movieand didn't realize you know like
Anton Foucault made this movieor made this show or something.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
But you're not going in saying well, I'm looking for
it because it's you know, stevenspielberg, I just want to see a
good movie, you know.
I mean yeah, yeah, so ithappens without the black
section, or or you can do bothright, yeah, yeah, you can do
both, that would be the maximum.
Yeah, yeah yeah in bothsections.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That would help, I guess.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
So, if you want to, if you want to, you know,
because when you go, I was gonnasay when you go to the
bookstore, do you I mean youguys, I'm asking do you go to
the black section?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
I do, I do for me it's different because I don't
like peruse books, so like Iwill hear about a book and I
want this book.
So it's not a matter of lookingfor a black author, I'm just
looking for that particular book.
(33:58):
I'm not like a book shopperwalk around, see what I see.
This is the book, this is thecategory, this is the genre.
This is why I need it.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
I'm going to get it and then I'm leaving Katara.
I'm different.
It depends on what I'm lookingfor.
If I'm coming here to get abook about Malcolm X, that's
what I'm going for.
If I'm coming to get a bookabout this.
That's what I'm going for.
That's just me.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
It's sad to say, man, but when I go there looking for
a white author I like JodiPicard, I like a lot of her
books.
I go there sometimes and I'lljust, you know, browse it and
see what I, you know, there'ssomething more like I'm reading
through the summary andeverything on the back.
So you know, but, um, again, I,I don't really go to the black
section.
It's sad to say, but I don't,man, because again, when I go
(34:45):
there, all I see is the samething it's the two bs or I'll go
to the um if I do go there I'mBarnes Noble, or I'll go to the.
If I do go there, I'm likelooking for the classics, or
something that I, you know, likesomething that somebody told me
, like yo you been should haveread this, you know what I mean,
so I'll get that.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
That's a good question right there, Kataya.
What's one of those you beenshould have?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I mean, most of the reading I do is my clients work
Right, so I don't really havethe.
Every once in a while I'llbreak out a book for like
non-work, so none really come tomind at this point.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
So if we think back in the day, something maybe
historical or a story you shouldhave read Like if you tell me
something like you know what abiography of malcolm x maya
angelou's uh singing andswinging, getting married like
christmas all them yeah evendonald goines and stuff like
that, I mean, which is liketrash books of the past.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
But you know, but I like donald goines man, so I'm
sad to say I like that, but uh Imean?
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I mean, my answer would be all the books I read in
my first af-American one on oneclass.
I should have known those namesat 18.
And the saddest part about itis that was an elective.
Wow.
So I mean, if I didn't have thedesire, I could have gone
another 18 years.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
But you know what, sometimes that's the best, the
best time when you had, when youhit.
It is like you know, if youtake a history course or
something like that, then kindof I look at it as like the
rabbit hole.
You know what I mean.
Like it's a good introduction,a good jumping on point, but
then you continue to researchwith whatever interests you.
You know what.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I mean yeah, so yeah, just learning about in depth
the stories.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
of you know, like SNCC and I, mean oh yeah, yeah,
I like stuff like that, yeahit's just.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
It just brings me a lot of heartache to know that
that's not like a staple of ourhistory and that I could have
easily missed that.
And how many people are my agewho still don't know and will
never know you?
Speaker 2 (37:04):
know, will never know yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Right.
No, yeah, they're not damp init, but sometimes reality
doesn't feel good.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
No, it don't, it don't.
And then sometimes you got tolook back in the past to see
where we going with this thing.
You see the whole stuff that'shappening with these students
and everything it thing.
You see the whole stuff that'shappening with these students
and everything.
It's nothing but the 60s, youknow I mean 60s all over again.
So listen, if you, um, if youcould give any tips right now to
any up and coming writers whomight be at the next national
(37:33):
black office day, getting theirbooks on and whatnot.
What would you say?
Speaker 1 (37:37):
um, I would just say write what matters to you.
Some people write a book formoney, so they write about
things that are trendy, or theywrite about things that are
funny or the entertainment, butthey're not connected to them as
the author.
So, whatever you're planning towrite, I will highly encourage
(38:01):
that is something of value toyou, something that you connect
with, is something that you're,like, passionate about, unless
like.
Unless your goal is like, maybeyou want a ghostwriter and you
just trying to, you know, getthe bag.
You don't really care about thecontent.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Some people like that yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, most people.
Yeah, yeah, most people.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Most people yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Yeah.
So you know that's your goaland you know I wish you the best
on that journey.
But for the authors, who, youknow, care about the content and
want to produce quality work,it's all about authenticity.
Authenticity and for yourself,but also the information that
(38:46):
you're sharing, you have totailor it to your audience.
So sometimes, you know, authorscome to me and you know one of
the first questions I ask is whois your target market?
And they say everyone.
And we got to dial it backbecause if you write for
everyone, you're not writing foranyone.
So that's one of the big thingsthat comes up when I'm working
(39:10):
with clients, like they don'tknow who their target market is
and they think that every singleperson walking the earth is
going to pick up their book andbuy it.
So they don't have a realisticidea of you know who your target
market is.
So know that what you'rewriting is valid to you and know
that what you're offering isvalid to your readers.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
OK, all right, take that.
Take that All right, before Ilet you go.
Can you tell everybody if youknow where the next Black Office
day event will be held inrochester?
As well as your handles, wherethey can reach you, where they
can reach love for words and all?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
yes, of course.
So I am hosting a nationalblack office day event in my
hometown of rochester, new york,on may 4th, 11 am to 2 pm.
Um, it's going to be at theAvenue Black Box Theater, but
please do host whatever eventyou feel suits you best,
wherever you live.
It is not limited.
So, please, I encourage you todo whatever you feel is on your
(40:11):
heart to celebrate the day onSaturday.
You can connect with me onLinkedIn.
I'm the only Kataira Poland onthere, so you'll find me easily.
I'm also on Instagram underKataira Poland.
My website is the love it'slove, the number four words dot
com.
All of my handles are on there.
(40:32):
My email is on there, so feelfree to get in touch with me
that way.
So yeah, and then my email isPoland at love, the number four
words dot com.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah, and I'm going to link everything down in the
description and all that for youtoo.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Okay, give us a quick rundown how the day is going to
be.
I mean, do you have anythingplanned, or like what.
I mean, what do you haveplanned?
Speaker 1 (40:54):
yeah.
So, um, there's, there's goingto be, of course, authors there.
They'll have their books ableto connect.
Um, there will also be vendorsthere who specialize in literacy
.
So we have an organizationthere that focuses on tutoring.
We have another organizationthat focuses on doing research
about the impact of literacy inthe community.
(41:14):
We have writers and books,writers and books.
Inclusion, freedom, learningScholar is a learning center
here where they have a heavyemphasis on reading, and there
are a few other vendors that areslipping my mind at the moment.
Oh, we have a mobile bookstorebased out of Buffalo, but she'll
be coming with her books.
(41:35):
So, again, all of the vendorshave a literacy focus, have a
literacy focus.
So I just wanted people to knowthat there are resources if you
need, you know, help withreading, writing literacy,
digital literacy, adults andchildren, because we all know
that.
You know there are a lot ofpeople who struggle with reading
, don't know how to read, orfunctionally illiterate, et
cetera.
So I wanted to create that onespace where they can get a lot
(41:57):
of resources at once.
And then we also have a Blacklibrarian panel, so there's four
Black librarians who will be onthat panel talking about their
careers, encouraging otherpeople to consider becoming
librarians.
I mean, there's a lot we don'tknow about what they do and we
all know that they're extremelyimportant.
So they will be there talkingabout their journeys,
(42:18):
encouraging the kids and theadults there who maybe never
considered librarianship.
It's a viable career and it'svery important and we need to
keep our Black librarians, weneed to keep that pipeline
growing.
So we'll have that panel.
So it's mostly, you know,networking walking around the
panel, the mayor will say somewords, one of our authors will
(42:40):
say some words and we'll just beenjoying each other's company.
There's lunch and yeah.
So that's what we have going onon Saturday All right, that's
what's up.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
You feel everybody that's good.
Everybody got a story in themsomewhere.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yes, absolutely so.
One of the things I will sayabout that is you don't have to
share the story.
So a lot of people would preferto just write in the journals,
which is perfectly fine.
So you might not want topublish a book, maybe you just
want to write these feelingsdown, maybe it's therapeutic.
So, for those of you who choosenot to publish, that's fine as
(43:13):
well.
But writing is still beneficialto everyone, whether you share
what you're writing or not.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
Yeah, and I always say when we have conversations
that I respect anybody who sitsdown and commits themselves to
page like that, because it'shard it got to be hard to kind
of unleash your imagination orunleash your personal side of
you and all of that, yourfeelings and also, you know,
much respect to anybody, that'sit All right.
(43:40):
So thanks once again.
I'm like a sorry.
Much respect to anybody that'shere.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, all right.
So thanks once again.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
I'm like a tarot.
I don't want to hear anybody'sstory.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Yeah, you know what.
You don't want to hear it.
Some things might depress you.
Yeah, I don't want to hear it,man.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
It gave us too much.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
That's the truth.
That's the truth.
So I'm pretty sure we will dothis again on the next go around
.
Hey, how about this?
The next time you come on, whydon't you bring on one of your?
Speaker 1 (44:06):
office.
Oh, definitely Yep, you knowwhat I mean.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
We'll do.
Yeah, we'll do, yeah, you know.
Sorry, I didn't think aboutthis before, but could have
brought somebody home.
But you know, Lord willing,there'll be a next time, Right
next time right.
All right, okay, we thank youonce again for your time
everybody, so we're going to goahead and sign off.
Kataira always a pleasure.
You might be the first personthat's been on here about three
(44:30):
times, so we appreciate that theOnly One Mic Podcast is
available on all platforms youstream your podcasts on.
Also, check out our Only OneMic Podcast YouTube channel to
catch up on past and currentepisodes, and please don't
forget to rate the show andsubscribe.
Check us out on Instagram andTwitter at TheOnlyOneMikeP1,
facebook and LinkedIn atTheOnlyOneMikePodcast, and you
(44:51):
can email us at TheOnlyOneMike00at gmailcom, or you can call us
at 302-367-7219 to have yourcomments and questions played on
the show.
We thank you all again for yourtime.
Katara, you in particular,thank you.
Thank you for the audience, formaking space, and we encourage
you, please, to speak the truthquietly and clearly and listen
(45:12):
to others, even adult andignorant, because they too have
their story to tell.
So until next time, I'm goingto switch this up, katara each
one, teach one if you can't findone, talk to the little ones
and you'll see.
They'll feel the missing pieceto rise and shine.
Peace everybody.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.