Toya (Iyawo Osuntajobo, Iya Eguntola)

Eliseia Part 3: Eliseia has gone to the Fae Realm and returned ...

Part 3 of my fantasy story: “Eliseia”

toyareneesmith.substack.com/p/eliseia-0c1

You don't speak here. *insert Jabari barks*

The renewal of my commitment not to talk to them folk about anything that matters to we.

toyareneesmith.substack.com/p/you-dont-s...

Eliseia Part 2

Part 2 of my fantasy story, “Eliseia”

toyareneesmith.substack.com/p/eliseia-d28

Eliseia Part 1

Having fun trying my hand at fantasy.

toyareneesmith.substack.com/p/eliseia

This evening on IG Live! 6 PM EST!
Come join Priests from the Sweet Water Collective to hear more thoughts on Iyalosa Osunyemi Akalatunde’s Reading of the Year.

EXPAND The word for my year.

toyareneesmith.substack.com/p/expand

My word for the year and how gospel music brought me to it.

Homebody Haiku Fireplace on high

toyareneesmith.substack.com/p/homebody-h...

My godmother @got2boshun will be doing her annual Reading of the Year at 2:30 PM EST. Come and hear what the Orisha have to say about this calendar year.
youtube.com/live/6RjBf6G...

Loneliness is my best friend. "Sometimes, I think I hold onto Loneliness because she's my only companion."

open.substack.com/pub/toyarene...

Even if all eating black-eyed peas and greens does for you is make you feel part of an unbroken chain going back hundreds of years or connected to people of African descent all over, then it’s of indescribable value.

The traditions our ancestors passed down are *for* us - to defend, protect, prosper, and grow us. If they’re a burden to you, don’t do them. They should be things you do with joy. If you can’t in this moment, wait until you can.

Riffing on the idea of an entire world on a snowflake ... The Island of Misfit Toys and Santa's workshop all reside on the tiniest snowflake.

toyareneesmith.substack.com/p/riffing-on...

The Year of Writing Dangerously Or: "The Year of Investment in Myself"

open.substack.com/pub/toyarene...

From Weeping Comes Joy | Toya Renée Smith | Substack Writing my way to being a Writer. Click to read From Weeping Comes Joy, by Toya Renée Smith, a Substack publication. Launched a minute ago.

So hey. I started a Substack.
I wanted a way to give y’all access to my writing without waiting for a book to be finished or a short story to be published.
I don’t know how often I’ll add to it but this is the place to follow my road to becoming a capital w Writer.
toyareneesmith.substack.com

Habari gani? Kujichagulia!

Today we focus on self-determination, on our ability to name, define, create, & speak for ourselves. You are not honoring the principle if you don’t honor & respect every Black person’s right to name & claim themselves, including pronouns, gender identity, and sexuality.

The smell of pomanders heated by the fireplace. #HoodooLife #HearthWitch #joy365

I am not an “Aw, shucks. It was nothing” type of mother. Parenting is not nothing. It’s not a thing to wave away. I have worked HARD. I have sacrificed. Wept. Changed. Grown. Dug deep to be a good example and a safe place. I am seeing the fruits of that labor.

The Kid got me a laptop for Christmas.
As she presented it to me, she said, “It comes with a caveat. You must finish your first book on it.”

I’m still weeping.
Nobody believes in me like my baby.

That feeling of when your daughter (who’s a baby so I don’t know how this is happening) is applying to GRADUATE SCHOOL.

Torn between: Everybody will want you because you are perfect & they’d be lucky to have you even breathe on their campus & NOOOOOOO YOU’RE A BABY AND YOU NEED TO BE WITH MAMA!!!

SOLD.

Benefits of living within walking distance of your mother: When your daughter tells her you’re riding the Crimson Tide and cramping too much to stand long, she brings over homemade turkey and rice soup and frosty ginger ale.

Bluesky feels very “serious” to me. I assume it’s because of the way I’ve built my feed so far. But yeah … it doesn’t feel fun. Which … *waves in the general direction of the world* … but I need tidings of comfort and joy right now.

Write generously for an audience who loves your work, not defensively for an audience who hates it

Also, I went to RPMS and remember when we weren’t allowed in there.

Yikes.

This is so cool. The Arabbers are among some of my fondest childhood memories. I felt super grown-up the first time my grandmother let me go to the cart alone to get the watermelon.

I’ve committed to reading at least one book from my existing To Be Read list per month in 2025.

Of course, my TBR list has 1505 books on it. But it’s a start.

I love it. Little Italy is a fave spot for me. IJS

Gotta kick off the 🎄 season right!!!

Take it away, DMX!

The Treaty on the Severn River Baltimore is Native American land — that's the first thing I want you to know.

"What might happen if we held Maryland (or the city of Baltimore) to its treaty obligations?"

The latest piece in our Hometown Histories series, from @actualkatherine.bsky.social.