Author Spotlight – Yecheilyah Ysrayl

Welcome!

 

Please introduce yourself.

 

1. When did you start writing?

First, I’d like to thank you for this opportunity. My name is Yecheilyah Ysrayl (Yecheilyah pronounced e-see-lee-yah) but most people just call me EC, and I started writing when I was twelve years old.

 

2. What motivates you to write? 

Reading is actually a big motivation for me to write and always have been. There’s something about looking at how others have written that makes me want to write too. But, more deeply, life in general is a big motivation for me as well; my experiences, good and bad, my journeys, my revelations, and my sorrows. I think these emotions and testimonies of ours on an individual level, is a very powerful tool to be used to create that bridge of commonality with the rest of mankind. Those things we encounter in our everyday lives as we journey on to discover who we are is a huge catalyst for writing for me personally. So my writing, it comes from living and learning.

 

3. What genre do you write in and what made you chose this particular genre? 

I’ve written in a number of genres, to include Sci-Fi, but my favorite genre to write is Historical Fiction because I’ve always been in love with black history and literature. It’s an interesting thing though; I do not think that I consciously chose to write Historical Fiction but that my passion for identity and nationhood sort of, naturally, drove me into the genre. As I think about it now, it’s so much disinformation out there in regard to history itself that I just feel compelled to contribute in some way; to use my writing as a tool in the restoration of the truth.

 

4. What is your goal in writing? Do you have dreams where your writing should take you? 

I think my biggest goal is for my books to change the way that people have come to look at the world, and I think my dream would simply be a manifestation of that by way of someone’s life or their testimony. Whether it’s a compliment, a book review, or an interview like this one! It’s just great positivity to use as writing fuel when you can see that your writing is not in vain. So, I just want my books to be a stepping stone in that person’s life who have always wondered about the violence, the discrimination, and the so-called American dream. I want my books to be the beginning of the answer to “Why?” Besides this, I have no specific dreams in mind as to where my writing would take me other than to further introduce these truths to those who are willing to receive it. I mean, I wouldn’t mind my Stella Trilogy being part of Oprah’s book club! The bigger the audience, the greater the impact.

 

5. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block and if yes, how do you deal with it? 

Yes! I do suffer from Writer’s Block actually. However, I have come to appreciate that when I can’t write it is because I am not supposed to at the moment. Meaning, when I am experiencing Writer’s Block it’s usually because I’m trying to force myself to write instead of let it come naturally. To deal with this, I just stop trying and focus my mind on something else until the inclination to write returns naturally.

 

6. What advice would you like to give new, hopeful authors? 

I always say that new and aspiring authors should develop a passionate and loving relationship with reading. Though I didn’t start to actually write things down until I was twelve, I can remember that I’ve always loved to read. I could sit in a quiet place (even now) for hours and hours just reading. When I did start to write, it was because I read something that moved me to want to mimic that poem I read. So my advice would be to read because it is reading books, seeing the words on the page and how they are structured, that gives you that subconscious foundation to the skill that is writing books. I would also say not to limit your reading though; don’t just read books that you find entertaining but try to go beyond your comfort zone. Reading is just as informative and educational as they are entertaining.

 

1. Please, tell us about your work. 

I Self-Published for the first time in 2008 but it wasn’t until 2010 that I seriously got into the whole book publishing industry itself. Since then, I’ve written three poetry collections, one novel, a screenplay, and a trilogy. At this point in my life, however, I’m writing Historical Fiction novels and novella’s that delve into the many complexities that is slavery, racism, discrimination, and police brutality in the African American community. Not just in its relation to the surface information to which we are all aware, but my works focus more on the spiritual and mental reasoning and effects of these struggles concerning blacks in America. The Stella Trilogy, my recent work, covers three generations of individuals who are descendant from a woman named Stella. We begin with Stella’s enslavement in book one, her granddaughters complex decision to pass as white in book two, and her great grandson in book three who is also biracial and is on a quest to understand exactly what freedom is. As a result, he and his friends leave their mother’s homes to journey toward finding this out. It is my hope that these kinds of books will bring back that knowledge and history that is so often stripped from us and more importantly, that these kinds of books will bring healing. Healing not just to the African American but to all people as we journey to reconnect with that lost love that is our very identity.

 

Thank you for being my guest. It was such a pleasure to have you here!!

 

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Contact Yecheilyah:

Author Website (Where all of my books are found in paperback) http://www.literarykornerpublishing.net/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8336941.Yecheilyah_Ysrayl

The PBS Blog https://thepbsblog.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/literarykornerpublishing

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ahouseofpoetry

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yecheilyah/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yecheilyahysrayl

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/Yecheilyah/

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Yecheilyah’s books:

 

Amazon US

https://www.amazon.com/Yecheilyah-Ysrayl/e/B00ML6OHFA/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Barnes and Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/yecheilyah?_requestid=1134211

Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/search?query=Yecheilyah%20Ysrayl&fcsearchfield=Author

iBookstore

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/stella/id961269157?mt=11

Lulu

https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=yecheilyah&type=