Aynoit Ashor's Blog, page 9
March 29, 2011
Her Story Changed My Life
God says to help others and that's what I aim to do. I will donate 10% of my book sales for the month of April to Child Help. Child Help's mission is the "Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse".
I decided to take on this challenge in honor of child abuse awareness month (April) and all children who suffer at the hands of those who are responsible of their well being. I am not a survivor of child abuse, but I know there are many children who and are suffering. They don't know what to do or who to tell when their arm is broken (again). They don't have many friends because their parents are neglecting their basic needs and kids at school say they stink or are dirty.
In elementary school I heard a story of a young girl who died at the hands of her adopted parents. Her name was Lisa Steinberg. Hearing about her story shocked me as an 11 year old. How could a child be killed by her parents. Don't parents love and protect you? I became a detective and wanted to find all of the information I could about Lisa Steinburg. There was no Internet back then so I had to watch the news, read the newspaper and magazines. I found an article written about Lisa and ripped it out of a magazine. I kept under my pillow and at night I would pray to God that He would not let any other children be abused or killed by their parents. At school, I started to notice kids who may have been neglected or physically abused. I didn't know what to do, so I would pray for them. I remember one boy who was picked on by us. (Yes, I was included.) His clothes were dirty and his hair was never combed. One day he never came back to school. We think his family moved away. I believe the story of Lisa Steinberg opened my eyes and gave me the passion to help others. Her story and my love for writing have contributed to my current story telling style. I want to help others overcome the darkness in their lives.
Fairly recently, there were two stories that broke my heart. The first happened in Newark, NJ. Newark holds a special place in my heart. I would spend my summers there as a child visiting my father, grandmother, aunt and sister. The first story brought me to tears. This story was of Faheem and Raheem Williams, twins, and their younger brother Tyrone Hill. Faheem was found in a plastic storage bin, dead. All of the boys where kept in the basement and starved. The final story I will post about, in this blog entry, infuriated me. It's the story of a father who raped his five daughters and impregnated three of them. (So, again, I write what I write because I want people to know that the horrible acts I write about really happen.)
I can't be in every home to help these hurting children. I wish I could protect them all, but I can't. So, I am donating to Child Help, an organization who can help more children than I ever can. So many times people donate during the holiday season and seem to forget people need help all year through. Will you help me? Will you download an eBook from Smashwords, or for your Nook or purchase a paperback copy of my books so we can help protect these children? If I could donate $1 Million I would be ecstatic. Wouldn't you be proud to help donate that amount of money to children who need your help?
I decided to take on this challenge in honor of child abuse awareness month (April) and all children who suffer at the hands of those who are responsible of their well being. I am not a survivor of child abuse, but I know there are many children who and are suffering. They don't know what to do or who to tell when their arm is broken (again). They don't have many friends because their parents are neglecting their basic needs and kids at school say they stink or are dirty.
In elementary school I heard a story of a young girl who died at the hands of her adopted parents. Her name was Lisa Steinberg. Hearing about her story shocked me as an 11 year old. How could a child be killed by her parents. Don't parents love and protect you? I became a detective and wanted to find all of the information I could about Lisa Steinburg. There was no Internet back then so I had to watch the news, read the newspaper and magazines. I found an article written about Lisa and ripped it out of a magazine. I kept under my pillow and at night I would pray to God that He would not let any other children be abused or killed by their parents. At school, I started to notice kids who may have been neglected or physically abused. I didn't know what to do, so I would pray for them. I remember one boy who was picked on by us. (Yes, I was included.) His clothes were dirty and his hair was never combed. One day he never came back to school. We think his family moved away. I believe the story of Lisa Steinberg opened my eyes and gave me the passion to help others. Her story and my love for writing have contributed to my current story telling style. I want to help others overcome the darkness in their lives.
Fairly recently, there were two stories that broke my heart. The first happened in Newark, NJ. Newark holds a special place in my heart. I would spend my summers there as a child visiting my father, grandmother, aunt and sister. The first story brought me to tears. This story was of Faheem and Raheem Williams, twins, and their younger brother Tyrone Hill. Faheem was found in a plastic storage bin, dead. All of the boys where kept in the basement and starved. The final story I will post about, in this blog entry, infuriated me. It's the story of a father who raped his five daughters and impregnated three of them. (So, again, I write what I write because I want people to know that the horrible acts I write about really happen.)I can't be in every home to help these hurting children. I wish I could protect them all, but I can't. So, I am donating to Child Help, an organization who can help more children than I ever can. So many times people donate during the holiday season and seem to forget people need help all year through. Will you help me? Will you download an eBook from Smashwords, or for your Nook or purchase a paperback copy of my books so we can help protect these children? If I could donate $1 Million I would be ecstatic. Wouldn't you be proud to help donate that amount of money to children who need your help?
March 27, 2011
Nesting on the web
I feel like a pregnant woman when she starts nesting. For those who don't know what "nesting" is, it's getting everything together for the baby's arrival. Nothing like spring cleaning! I've added some new features to my website to keep it fresh for my visitors and uploaded my book trailers to my (new) YouTube page.
I'm also preparing for my donation to Child Help. April is Child Abuse Awareness Month and I will be donating a portion of my sales to Child Help, an organization for the "prevention and treatment of child abuse". I would like to donate $1 millon to Child Help. Will you help me in my mission to help end child abuse? You can download my books to your digital devices for only 99 cents. Do you know someone who would like to help? Direct them to my Smashwords page.
Book Trailer for I Wish I Would've
Book Trailer for Sixty-7
I hope you continue to follow me on my journey!
I'm also preparing for my donation to Child Help. April is Child Abuse Awareness Month and I will be donating a portion of my sales to Child Help, an organization for the "prevention and treatment of child abuse". I would like to donate $1 millon to Child Help. Will you help me in my mission to help end child abuse? You can download my books to your digital devices for only 99 cents. Do you know someone who would like to help? Direct them to my Smashwords page.
Book Trailer for I Wish I Would've
Book Trailer for Sixty-7
I hope you continue to follow me on my journey!
March 23, 2011
Because it needed to be told.
Most of the reader feedback from my novella, I Wish I Would've, is positive. Readers enjoy the stories many "wicked twists". But, there are times that my feedback is not what an author wants to hear. To those that ask why I wrote such a graphic and traumatic story, I say this, "Because it needed to be told."
I Wish I Would've
is a story of betrayal. It goes into a dark world that no one wants to believe exists. It discusses issues people want to believe just don't happen. People want to sweep this issue under the rug or ignore it. They don't believe it can happen in their neighborhood or even worse in their family. The issues I am speaking of are child abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking. (Let me burst your bubble by telling you that the United States has the highest number of children being trafficked. Not children from other countries. These children are from the US. These are our children and if we continue to ignore missing child reports/ads, we are not helping the voiceless victims. I digress, kind of.)
Ignoring the issues in I Wish I Would've will not make them go away. It will only keep you from being able to help someone who may want to reach out to you. There are millions of children who are (have been) victims of sexual abuse. They don't know who to turn to when their mom turns her back. Who can they trust when their uncle is the one abusing them? (Men are not the only perpetrators of sexual abuse and human trafficking.)
I wrote I Wish I Would've the way I did because I want the cycle to stop. I want my reader to "see" what a victim of these acts/crimes may be living with. I am fed up with reading stories of children being violated. Again, I say to those who can't handle I Wish I Would've 's content, "I wrote it because it needed to be told and I will continue to write stories tough stories even if it makes you a little uncomfortable."
Peace.
I Wish I Would've
is a story of betrayal. It goes into a dark world that no one wants to believe exists. It discusses issues people want to believe just don't happen. People want to sweep this issue under the rug or ignore it. They don't believe it can happen in their neighborhood or even worse in their family. The issues I am speaking of are child abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking. (Let me burst your bubble by telling you that the United States has the highest number of children being trafficked. Not children from other countries. These children are from the US. These are our children and if we continue to ignore missing child reports/ads, we are not helping the voiceless victims. I digress, kind of.)Ignoring the issues in I Wish I Would've will not make them go away. It will only keep you from being able to help someone who may want to reach out to you. There are millions of children who are (have been) victims of sexual abuse. They don't know who to turn to when their mom turns her back. Who can they trust when their uncle is the one abusing them? (Men are not the only perpetrators of sexual abuse and human trafficking.)
I wrote I Wish I Would've the way I did because I want the cycle to stop. I want my reader to "see" what a victim of these acts/crimes may be living with. I am fed up with reading stories of children being violated. Again, I say to those who can't handle I Wish I Would've 's content, "I wrote it because it needed to be told and I will continue to write stories tough stories even if it makes you a little uncomfortable."
Peace.
March 18, 2011
You're All I Need to Get By
I was writing a "thank you" letter to God when I realized how important it is for Him to be in my children's lives.
I was blessed with them as a gifts and I truly enjoy them. I think my children saved my life. I could have been on drugs, in jail or dead but my love for them kept me from going down the wrong path- a path that would have been easy to travel.
(Back to why God is important in their lives.) God's presence is important for many reasons, here are a few:
I will not always be there but He willI am not perfect but He isI may not always have the answers but He doesI am not always patient but He isI may be to afraid to give tough love but He's notGod's love is needed when you are an adult and your earthly parents can not be there. This is why He is important for not only my children, but me, you and yours! I thank you, God, for this revelation.
I was blessed with them as a gifts and I truly enjoy them. I think my children saved my life. I could have been on drugs, in jail or dead but my love for them kept me from going down the wrong path- a path that would have been easy to travel.
(Back to why God is important in their lives.) God's presence is important for many reasons, here are a few:
I will not always be there but He willI am not perfect but He isI may not always have the answers but He doesI am not always patient but He isI may be to afraid to give tough love but He's notGod's love is needed when you are an adult and your earthly parents can not be there. This is why He is important for not only my children, but me, you and yours! I thank you, God, for this revelation.
March 16, 2011
Time Keeps on Slipping
On June 25, 2010 I attended the Black Writers Reunion and Conference (BWRC) and gained great insight. I enjoyed the conference and gained some extremely valuable tools. But, like with any tools, if you don;t use them, they will get rusty. So yesterday I took some time to review my notes from BWRC.
The first workshop I attended was "Write Some Cents into It". Nakia Laushaul presented priceless tips. She told us to keep our rejection letters to prove that we are trying to get a book deal/be in the book business and to keep flyers from book signings we have.
I read on and saw a statement i wrote that made me stop and reflect, "How much time are you spending trying to run a business?" After thinking for a few minutes I realized that I have FOUR full time jobs. How is that possible? Let me break it down real quick. 1. my day job, 2. as an author-preneur, 3. wife, 4. mother. (Yes, being a wife and mother are full time jobs, they are hard work, they never end and one has to continuously work on her craft to be better.) So how do I divide up my day with four full time jobs? I'm still trying to figure that out. (One goal is to cut out my full time day job.)
After reading these notes, I decided to break down my job as an author-preneur. I spend about ten hours a day working on book related activities from tweets, to emails, to setting up accounts, to checking those accounts, to researching new opportunities, blah, blah, blah. Did you notice writing wasn't even included in that list? I'm spending ten hours a day and I'm not even doing what I love the most. But believe it or not, I do like the "other stuff". Every day I am learning more of what it means to be an author-preneur.
I'm going to keep up the hard work because I know in the end it will be worth it.
The first workshop I attended was "Write Some Cents into It". Nakia Laushaul presented priceless tips. She told us to keep our rejection letters to prove that we are trying to get a book deal/be in the book business and to keep flyers from book signings we have.
I read on and saw a statement i wrote that made me stop and reflect, "How much time are you spending trying to run a business?" After thinking for a few minutes I realized that I have FOUR full time jobs. How is that possible? Let me break it down real quick. 1. my day job, 2. as an author-preneur, 3. wife, 4. mother. (Yes, being a wife and mother are full time jobs, they are hard work, they never end and one has to continuously work on her craft to be better.) So how do I divide up my day with four full time jobs? I'm still trying to figure that out. (One goal is to cut out my full time day job.)
After reading these notes, I decided to break down my job as an author-preneur. I spend about ten hours a day working on book related activities from tweets, to emails, to setting up accounts, to checking those accounts, to researching new opportunities, blah, blah, blah. Did you notice writing wasn't even included in that list? I'm spending ten hours a day and I'm not even doing what I love the most. But believe it or not, I do like the "other stuff". Every day I am learning more of what it means to be an author-preneur.
I'm going to keep up the hard work because I know in the end it will be worth it.
March 14, 2011
A lil about me, Aynoit Ashor
So you may (or may not) be wondering who I am. I am the author of the Family Secrets Series and yes, I am self-pubbing.
First, let me tell you about the series I am penning. The Family Secrets Series is touching on issues that most people do not want to touch. I talk about sexual abuse, domestic violence and child abuse, just to name some of the issues. Why do I write about such horrible topics? Because I want my readers to take off their blinders. I want those who are living with these issues to have a voice. Yes, my stories have "wicked twists", but my main purpose is to introduce people to the hard facts. (Take off your blinders folks.)
Self-publishing, the dreaded way to enter the world of books. I have decided to self-publish because of the rejection letters and the lack of response from agents. I recently happened upon J.A. Konrath's and Amanda Hocking's blogs. Well, to be truthful, I didn't "happen upon" the blogs. Ms. Hocking has been in the literary news for her "unbelievable" eBook sales and while reading her blog I read about J.A. Konrath. These two authors have sparked a flame in me. They have given me hope. I am following their advice (and the steps they have taken).
I uploaded my first novella
I Wish I Would've
on Smashwords. I decided to make it a FREE download, to get my name out. I originally published
I Wish I Would've
in May of 2009 and sold about 50 copies (to date). I continue to have rave reviews about the book. (There are some who can't handle the subject matter.) My decision to put it on the Smashwords was a great one. It's been on the site for only 13 days and I've had over 200 downloads! That excites me. (Yes, it's free but if readers aren't interested, will they take up space on their Kindles and Nooks?) I know that is a drop in the bucket to the self-pubbing eBook big dogs, like J.A. Konrath and Amanda Hocking. But, I will get there.
First, let me tell you about the series I am penning. The Family Secrets Series is touching on issues that most people do not want to touch. I talk about sexual abuse, domestic violence and child abuse, just to name some of the issues. Why do I write about such horrible topics? Because I want my readers to take off their blinders. I want those who are living with these issues to have a voice. Yes, my stories have "wicked twists", but my main purpose is to introduce people to the hard facts. (Take off your blinders folks.)
Self-publishing, the dreaded way to enter the world of books. I have decided to self-publish because of the rejection letters and the lack of response from agents. I recently happened upon J.A. Konrath's and Amanda Hocking's blogs. Well, to be truthful, I didn't "happen upon" the blogs. Ms. Hocking has been in the literary news for her "unbelievable" eBook sales and while reading her blog I read about J.A. Konrath. These two authors have sparked a flame in me. They have given me hope. I am following their advice (and the steps they have taken).
I uploaded my first novella
I Wish I Would've
on Smashwords. I decided to make it a FREE download, to get my name out. I originally published
I Wish I Would've
in May of 2009 and sold about 50 copies (to date). I continue to have rave reviews about the book. (There are some who can't handle the subject matter.) My decision to put it on the Smashwords was a great one. It's been on the site for only 13 days and I've had over 200 downloads! That excites me. (Yes, it's free but if readers aren't interested, will they take up space on their Kindles and Nooks?) I know that is a drop in the bucket to the self-pubbing eBook big dogs, like J.A. Konrath and Amanda Hocking. But, I will get there.
