Tag: Events

Too Much & Then Some

Image by Mohamed Nohassi (Unsplash 2017)

This week has been too much and then some! I found my self disassociating because of the news, racism, and injustice.

I had to BLOCK some folks on social media (for their own good really cos folks play too much and don’t be ready for the TRUTH).

But I took stock of all that I’m grateful for and gave thanks this week. Also I had the pleasure of celebrating other people’s good news this week. That kept me lifted as well! And now the weekend is here blessing me with rest. 🙏🏾

Celebrate your life today!! Leave nothing on the table. 🥳💜

I’m still celebrating my latest book! This is Not About Love is getting excellent reviews and readership! Thank you to everyone who has shown off your copies and who have written reviews!

Are you curious what all the talk is about? Get a copy for yourself and a friend here

Upcoming Events :

May 1st at 6pm I’ll be in conversation with Almah LaVon Rice! Join us. Email for Registration

BLF Press presents Krystal A. Smith in conversation with Almah LaVon Rice

The Morning After! #TINAL Book Launch

Good morning Wordsmiths! How you feelin’? You good?

I’m good. So good! 👌🏾

Last night’s book launch went off without a hitch! So much joy, love, book talk, and laughter. Being in community, sharing insights, and performing made me feel so absolutely lifted. This writing life ain’t bad at all.

Big thanks to everyone who joined us last night and asked awesome questions and engaged. Our conversation was not only fun but much needed. There is so much secrecy in publishing and there is no need for it. There is room for all of us.

TINAL book launch crowd: looking good

My next reading event will be May 1st! Details to come. I hope you’ll join me.

Happy Sunday!🌈

It’s Release Day!

Hey Wordsmiths! Do you know what today is? Of course you do!

It’s release day! This is Not About Love #TINAL is out in the world! I feel so happy, grateful, and free!

I’ve honestly always dreamed about writing poetry and stories and having my words published for all the world to see. Today is a dream come true! One of many!

I want to give a huge heartfelt THANK YOU to all you Wordsmiths! You show up, encourage, and support me with no question.

Also to my publisher BLF Press, thank you for taking a chance on me yet again. Stephanie I still look at your editorial notes and get chills! Lauren thank you for this banging cover! You did that!!!

JL Herndon, Jason B Crawford your blurbs brought me to tears! Thank you for taking the time to read my words and see me!

Friends, lovers (past and future) get ready. Grab a copy of this collection and be prepared to sit with how you feel and just know it’s all LOVE even though…This is Not About Love

Join me Saturday April 10th for conversation and community as we celebrate the launch of #TINAL

Spring Forward! Then Land on Your Face!

Image by Caique Silva 2018 Unsplash

Daylight Savings is so unnecessary! ⏰ I don’t know why we even still do this. Is it for farmers? Is it because of the time space continuum? Is this the only way to keep the earth on its axis?

I’m exhausted! Always this springing forward warps my sense of everything! My body has the hardest time adjusting. I’ll be sleepy but can’t sleep.

The weather this week didn’t help either. A little bit of sun ☀️ and a whole lot of rain ☔️ and wind 💨 and tornado 🌪 warnings!

But! 🤗 The week wasn’t all bad. No siree! I got to experience a joyous (virtual) gathering of time traveling letter writing creators! I wrote a letter to my favorite wig – Mermaid Tendrils and tapped into a future self that will be absolutely instrumental in living my best life. #Living🙌🏾

I read two short Black lesbian romance novellas and even got some writing done.📚💜

I got some stellar cocktail recipes and suggestions from my Facebook pals today (hence the late night post) and yummy 😋🍹 My bar cart is adequately stocked again!

This gives me an idea! What if my poetry collection had a signature cocktail🧉 Yep! I’m gonna make one and post it before my book release.

Stay tuned for 💕Love Libations💕🍸😉

In the meantime preorder This is Not About Love and sign up for the launch party on April 10th! I’ll be in conversation with DeMisty D. Bellinger!

Register for the launch party here

Get some rest, Wordsmiths! And treat yo’self this weekend! 🛍😘

Weekly Wrap-Up: Weekend Edition

Image by Sincerely Media (Unsplash 2020)

Nothing Going On But the Rent

Hey Wordsmiths! What a long mundane week! Better than chaotic and out of control, but still, bluh.

That’s okay though. Sometimes we need the lulls to make the highs stand out. And I’ll take weekend chores over a 7-day work week every time (because I have worked 7-days a week before and that shit should be illegal). 🧹 🧼 🧽

I can hardly remember what took place this week. I remember going to work and coming home and that’s it. I started a new WIP and have been working on that in the evenings. I played around with making videos and reading poems on camera and I still feel very much like a fish out of water. The tech, my voice, my FACE🙄…LOL Talk about stepping out of a comfort zone, more like leaping. 🤾🏾‍♀️

I’m about to go to the store to nab groceries and cat supplies. Once I’m back I plan to read and do some creative stuff, but a girl might just take a nap. 😴

Enjoy the weekend, friends! 💋

Upcoming Events:

BLF Press presents Krystal A. Smith in conversation with DeMisty D.Bellinger. April 10th 6pm to 7:30pm EDT Email info@blfpress.com to register

Preorder a copy of This is Not About Love from BLF Press

This is How We Do It!

Photo Alt text: Stems of lavender on pink background. Quote text overlay: “Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.” – Alice Walker

That’s a wrap! 3-5-21

It’s Friday! Huzzah 🙌🏾 Another week down. We did it.

Lots of story and project ideas popped up for me this week. I wrote them down and started on one I’m extremely excited about!

The urgency to create and produce has come upon me in such a way this week. It’s flared my anxiety with time. There’s never enough time it seems. The What Ifs started knocking at me. Then the doubts. #TheStruggleIsReal😔

Somehow I keep on keeping on. Maybe that’s why I’m so proud of my work. Maybe that’s why I cant shut my mouth about this poetry collection. Writing was just a thought one day in Mrs. Ramey’s English class. Now it’s a way to say something, feel, represent! #WritingIsTheWay #WritingIsEverything

Anyway…

Event scheduling continues for This is Not About Love #TINAL. I GOT CONFIRMATION this week that a writer/creator I absolutely adore and respect will host me in conversation. I feel so honored that they are making time for me and my collection of poems! More details on who and when coming soon but it’s 🤫 for now.

This week also had me thinking about writing advice and information. I enjoy talking about writing, process, and the act of creating. I don’t necessarily like the way people try to take advice as one-size-fits-all gospel. I do feel like I have some fresh thoughts on writing so I’m going to roll out some videos soon to share those thoughts. 👍🏾

That’s it for the week! I hope you all get to do something fun this weekend. Eat something really delicious and take a nap. 💜

UPCOMING EVENTS:

BLF PRESS Presents:

Krystal A. Smith in conversation with DeMisty D.Bellinger. April 10th 6pm to 7:30pm EDT Email info@blfpress.com to register

#ThrowBack

Hey Wordsmiths! Are you working hard or hardly working? I’m not gonna answer…Plausible deniability, ya know what I’m saying! 😅

I might not be working all that hard, but I am time traveling with the help of photos today. It’s wild to be able to look at a moment from the past and remember a smell, a feeling, a thought.

Like this pic from college. I was studying and using a friend’s laptop. My friend Will is out of frame to my right with his long legs stretched out. This apartment was always cold and noisy with neighbors stomping back and fourth.

Throwback to studying in a drafty apartment at Appstate Univ.

And here writing/revising at Scuppernong Books here in Greensboro during Come Write In. I remember the smell of cider and coffee mingling together, people chatting, and light music playing. Makes me miss face-to-face community events.

Come Write In at Scuppernong Books

Traveling to events for readings and meeting other writers is one of the perks being a writer. These pictures remind me of the excitement of arriving, the jitters before reading, and the laughs with readers and fellow writers.

OutWrite 2016, DC
Malaprops Bookstore 2018, Asheville

Ahhhh the memories! They’re all coming back to me! 🤗

I think writing creates memories in the same way looking at photos can bring you back to them. In my upcoming poetry collection This is Not About Love I use memories to create and connect to moments that need resolution, release, or righting. Memories aren’t always fun, uplifting periods of the past, but they can often affect our future. Bringing this to light is paramount to growth and real healing.

This Is Not About Love out April 6th 2021

#MondayMinute

10 Things about the upcoming release This Is Not About Love

Hey Wordsmiths! Happy Monday! I hope your V-day weekend was super sweet!

It’s well past lunchtime over here so I encourage you to eat something if you haven’t already. And enjoy these tasty tidbits a/b my upcoming poetry collection. Here we go:

1. I adore these poems! No question. Ask any writer what an accomplishment that is.

2. Exactly 2 of these poems were previously accepted by journals/mags but had to be pulled cos folks didn’t wanna ack right 🙃

3. One of the poems was first written while I was in undergrad at Appstate.

4. One poem mixes both English et française.

5. Parentheticals prove extremely important in this collection.

6. I tried my hand at a duplex after a Jericho Brown online class and Yaaas!! 👌🏾👏🏾

7. There are 3 previously published pieces in this collection.

8. I try my best to evoke time, and place in these poems.

9. These poems are about you! Yes, YOU!

10. I’ll be in conversation w/DeMisty D. Bellinger on April 10th (info below) and I hope you’ll join us to talk This is Not About Love. Get a copy here from BLF Press