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February 2024

Hey, Reader!

Have you ever heard of Parkinson's Law? Basically, the law states that if you give yourself a certain amount of time to complete a task, you'll probably end up using all that time to accomplish it, even if you don't need the time. That's why I'm so happy it's a leap year. I 100% used this extra day to write this newsletter. 😅

News

I finished the second draft of my novel! Songs of Aryam: Book 1 (Title coming soon) is now sitting at 26 chapters and 81,820 words. In draft 2, I mostly focused on ironing out the plot, adding and subtracting characters, and fine-tuning the worldbuilding. The terminology for everything took me forever to figure out, but I think I've got it!

Monitors. These are some of the most loyal servants of Beldemar, responsible for raising and training the guardians. At the start of the novel, Aryam lives with her Monitor, Ranee.

Guardians. Guardians are oathed at birth to a single royal, sworn to protect them and devote their entire selves to them. A group of four guardians is called a quartet.

Pulse. Pulses are the royals. They are essentially the guardians' heartbeat. If a pulse dies, her guardians die instantaneously.

Okan Okún. In Yoruba, these two words mean "heart" and "thread" separately. When a Pulse is in mortal danger, her guardians are teleported to her through the okan okún, providing them with a last chance to save her (and their own) lives.

I also worked out how I will explain the presence of some Yoruba words in the novel, and it's epic, but that's a secret for another day.

For more insight into world of Beldemar, you can order a copy of my comic book, which will be available for preorder in one week. Look out for the announcements on social media.

Something that Gave Me Life

Attending Virtuous Con was the highlight of my February. This is an annual convention about black storytelling, celebrating BIPOC voices in speculative fiction across various types of media. I loved this year's panels, especially Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy in the Real World, which featured Jessica Cage (an Indie author icon), and Sculpting Fiction: Crafting Fantasy from Reality with Karama Horne (host) and N.K. Jemisin (😍). If you don't know the people mentioned in this paragraph, look them up! That's my Black history month tip to you.

Ways to Get Involved

This month, I want to shine the light on other Black creatives in the SFF community. I invite you to support any of the artists listed on this page by following them on social media and engaging with their content.

Did you scroll down this far?? Thank you following my journey and being a valued member of my community! I appreciate you.

Take care,

Ty

Tylisha Washington Founder of Mahogany Griot and Author of Songs of Aryam

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
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