Motivational Monday – 3/20/17

This week’s motivation is about living in the past. Lots of us tend to dredge up things that happened to us when we were young, stifling our chance at happiness. It’s time to let go. #mm

Silver’s Coming Attractions – “The Road to Freedom: Joseph’s Story (The Stella Trilogy Book 3),” by Yecheilyah Ysrayl

I am proud to announce the release date of the exciting conclusion in the Stella Trilogy – The Road to Freedom: Joseph’s Story, on February 26, 2016. Come and meet my friend Yecheilyah Ysrayl! Author, Yecheilyah Ysrayl If you have not had a chance to catch up with author Yecheilyah Ysrayl, I would like to […]

http://silverthreading.com/2016/02/23/silvers-coming-attractions-the-road-to-freedom-josephs-story-the-stella-trilogy-book-3-by-yecheilyah-ysrayl/

3 Songs That Changed My Life

Writing 101: Day 3 Assignment: Celebrate three songs that are significant to you. For your twist, write for fifteen minutes without stopping – and build a writing habit.

I have an eclectic array of music on my iPod and love listening to music. Anyone who has been around me will tell you I can’t sing, but that doesn’t stop me from bellowing out a tune like I was the best singer on earth. I just love singing along to songs on the radio, my iPod or satellite radio. If I know the lyrics, I am singing baby! That’s why this assignment is so difficult. How can I possibly be asked to narrow down my three favorite songs and write about what they mean to me? I will do my best, but be warned I can change my mind at any time about what songs are my favorites so my future me, like five minutes from now, will disagree with what I just wrote.

In no particular order, here we go…
First up we have “Shackles” by Mary Mary. This song has gotten me through some of the toughest times in my life. When I need to purge and talk to God, all I have to do is put this song on repeat and sing! No matter where I am this song evokes emotion in me. It makes me cry until my eyes are red and I am so congested that I can’t breathe. It can also make me so happy that I dance and get my life! It all depends on what mood I am in when I hear it and it is an automatic response. I never have to think about what is going on in my life, as soon as I hear that music it’s on.

Next up is “Lady in My Life” by the one and only Michael Jackson! Now comes some personal stuff that I usually don’t share, but I was once in love with this man. There I said it. When I was a teenager I was head over heels with MJ. I had posters and pictures plastered all over my bedroom walls and ceiling. I was somewhat obsessed with him and I hated Brooke Shields because she was dating him in the 80’s. I still can’t look at her without a side eye. Anyway, “Lady in My Life” was from the Thriller Album and the first time I heard the song it struck something deep in me. I imagined he was singing to me and only me. This was our song and even now I have to stop and listen whenever I hear it. The lyrics are great and I always get a warm feeling inside as soon as I hear his voice. He could make his voice sound like an instrument and I could hear the passion with which he sang. The entire album makes me take a nostalgic journey back to my teen years where I was carefree and in love with love.

Finally, I must speak about “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen! This song always gets me weird looks because I am a 40 something black woman from the South and no one expects me to know this song, let alone rock out to it. Whenever I hear this song my entire mood changes and I am the happiest person on earth. Now if you know the lyrics and what the song is about you may think this odd and it is, but so am I. I embrace being different and this song takes me from the slow harmonic melody where I can sing a ballad like Steve Perry. Then the music builds and builds and builds over opera until the rock and roll guitars get loud and make me bang my head so violently that I have a headache when I am through. It makes me so happy to let loose and be free! I absolutely love being silly at home with my husband, but when I am out and about I never let my guard down. This song makes me, almost mandates that I act a fool and I don’t care who is watching!

So now you know my three songs, for now, and a little more about my personal life than I wanted to share, but you know what they say. No pain, no gain!

Writing 101: Unlock the Mind

I decided to upgrade my writing skills by taking the Writing 101 course on Word Press. The first assignment is to “Unlock Your Mind” by writing for 20 minutes straight with no real purpose so here goes…

What makes people do the things they do? Why will one person go with the flow while another person pitches a fit at the smallest things? Are we bound to be like our parents or can we change the outcome of our future by learning from different sources.

When I was young, I felt like my mom was the center of the universe, Super Woman, if you will. In my mind there was nothing she could do wrong and I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. My older siblings did not share my enthusiasm and thought she was mean. Now that I am an adult, I have a different way of thinking about her because she no longer is seen as a super hero. I love my mom and will never cast her as a villain, but I wonder why she did some of the things she did. I have always been a sensitive person and kind of empathetic. What makes people tick and why they do the things they do are questions that I need answered. I never wanted to be a therapist per say, but I craved the knowledge. Whenever something happens my first instinct is to ask why or how. I find this a great trait as I pursue a career in writing.

Getting back to my mom, she was hard working and the type of black woman who kept her head down and did not cause trouble. Not to say she was a coward by any means because if trouble found her you could best believe she would annihilate it with ease. What I mean is when she went to work she did her job and as she was told unless it was something absolutely crazy. She was born in the 30’s in rural Virginia and had children at a young age out of wedlock so she had to do what she had to do to survive. Her mom died when she was 12 years old and she had to fend for herself being one of 17 children. As a black female growing up back then she had very limited options on how to earn money. I know she once wanted to be a nurse because she told me when she tried without success to make me study to be one. Mom has always been talented in the kitchen and worked several years in a restaurant in her home town. She has a special way about her when she cooks and can make anything taste amazing! I marveled at her cooking ability when I was young and she shared her gifts with me. I am proud to say I can burn in the kitchen as a result. Even though she could cook anyone out of the kitchen, she never had the ambition to pursue her dreams. As a matter of fact I don’t recall her ever expressing her dreams to her children. This must have seemed like a waste of time for her because she had mouths to feed and dreaming would not do it.

Most of my life I remember her being a maid and serving parties to earn a living. She has done several other jobs to make ends meet, but those were her staples. Thinking back I wonder why she never opened a catering company. She was always volunteering at the church whenever they sold plates and she would cook what seemed like a ton of potato salad, green beans and BBQ chicken. She was always the organizer and delegated who would do what. She was a BOSS in the biggest since of the word when it came to those church sales. I wonder what kind of life she would have if she used those skills to build her own business.

Intro to Rebirth…

I wanted to gain more experience in writing a blog so I decided to take the Blogging 101 course. Today is Day 1 and the assignment is “Who am I and why I’m here”. Let’s see…

My name is Lisa Wright-Tetting and all of my life I have been resisting my gift of writing. I enjoyed it in school and for years have secretly wanted to make a living at it. It was such a secret that I hid it from myself and never told a soul. Growing up I never knew that black women could really be writers. Everyone I ever read about and every book I was given was written by or about either Caucasians or males. As a result I never had the ambition to be a writer. It was as if my mind had been told that it was not possible for me to be who I was because I never saw any other examples of people who looked like me.

As I grew older I realized there were very popular African American writers, some of them women, but I had never been exposed to them. I read their books with excitement but still never thought I could do what they did. As an adult the desire to write would not leave so I dabbled a bit in poetry, but never had the courage to read them at open mic nights. I have always had stories in my head since I can remember, but I never thought anyone would care to read them so I never bothered to write them down. Last year at the age of 44 I finally got the courage to start a blog. It was something I wanted to do for years, but was too afraid of rejection and criticism.

Since starting my blog, I have refocused my way of thinking and grown to the point that I have allowed what has been locked away deep in my heart and mind to be released! I finally realized that the writer in me will not be silent and if I don’t let her escape I will be doomed. It felt soo wonderful to open the flood gates and let her out! The first time I revealed something personal in my blog I was nervous, but I received positive feedback from friends and family. My goal with this course is to learn ways to expand my readers and reach more people. I have stories and opinions inside of me that need to be told and expressed and I would love to share them with the world!