Beta Reads: Dear Summer
"Beta Reads" is a newsletter series for paid subscribers exclusively. The excerpts shared through this series are submitted by community members looking to publish and want community feedback.
Over the summer, I ran a short beta program to see how publishing through Blackstack would work in the future. Ashley was one of the authors a part of the beta program, and I love her story so much. Especially, with the storyline set in the Durham, NC area, where I spend a good portion of my adult life. I know Ashley’s book, Dear Summer, will perform well and has great potential to sell for years to come because it’s great storytelling.
While I decided to end the beta program with a guide to publish and editorial feedback, giving the authors a platform to get real beta readers’ feedback was something I felt I owed to these authors more than anything. I know what it’s like to write and finally get the feedback that makes you continue picking up the pen confidently. We are human; it is okay to want recognition for your art. This is our craft. With over fifty paid subscribers in the Blackstack community, what better confidence boost to get this book published and into our hands?
So do me a favor, show out in these comments for Ashley, and subscribe to her publication to stay up to date with her journey! As I was closing out the program, I asked Ashley a few questions that I thought might help you with a little context before we dive into the excerpt.
Jacquie: What is the title of your manuscript, and what does it mean to you?
Ashley: My title, “Dear Summer”, was based off a Vibes, and the Jay Z song “Dear Summer”. That one song that makes you remember that one crazy summer. It's is like writing a letter to the moment everything changed. It’s a confession. A memory. A warning. A love note to the version of me who was young, reckless, hurting, and still hoping.
Jacquie: If your book had a one-sentence message or affirmation, what would it be?
Ashley: Being young, in love and searching for peace, sometimes you end up in a wreck that helps you find your rawest form of you! Always keep pushing no matter how bad the wreck is.
Jacquie: What made you want to write this story at this time in your life?
Ashley: My heart said it was time! I wrote it for that teenage version of myself, the one who didn’t have the words yet but felt everything too deeply. I wrote it for the ones caught between growing up and holding on, between love that don’t love ‘em back and family that love ‘em too hard to breathe. It was time!
Jacquie: What emotion do you want to leave readers sitting with after reading your introduction?
Ashley: I want readers to feel like they just got off the phone with they best friend laughin’, cryin’, mad, and healed all at once. I want them to feel seen like somebody finally wrote down the shit they was too scared or too ashamed to say out loud. I want them to feel nostalgic, like summer heat, I want them to feel uncomfortable sometimes, 'cause truth ain’t always soft.
“Dear Summer” Excerpt
Written by
‘I’m glad Grandma was sending me and my cousin Asia out to run some errands for her. She needed the basic party supplies and wanted me to go find her a pair of sandals at the mall. And of course, I'd better not come back without her 12-pack of Pepsi.
I missed Asia, out of all of my cousins, she was the one I was closest to. She is only two years older than me, and she came to NC for college. She got accepted to North Carolina Central, and she never moved back to Jersey.
Maybe she likes it down here better, it is closer to eighty percent of our family. Hopefully she gets here soon! I needed a break, I needed to see more than old people. Shit, I need to see more than CJ!
Asia finally pulls up I run to hop in the car, “Don’t be gone too long,” my granny yells from the porch window.
“Yes, ma’am,” I smile and giggle.
As we are riding off, my sidekick keeps ringing off the hook. It’s my mom calling to let me know she gettin’ the house renovated, so I’ll be stuck in NC for the rest of the summer instead of two weeks. ‘What is this shit?’ I say out loud! Asia is hype, we haven’t spent a whole summer together in a minute. I hang up with my mom, feeling disappointed, but I get it, I guess!
“I gotta make a stop,” Asia says.
I heard her, but I didn’t reply. I was just looking out the window, stuck in my thoughts. No friends all summer, no parties, no life. Damn, no Dre either, I guess I gotta tell him I won’t see him til shit, I don't know when, since my grandparents moved down south. I won’t be able to be in the city this summer! Fuck! My life is in shambles that quick. I know I’m being dramatic, but fuck I had plans this summer!
After about twenty minutes, we finally pulled up to this small complex, which had maybe six townhouses.
“Who lives over here?” I asked.
“My boyfriend, I just gotta get something,” Asia mumbles.
“Ain’t nobody stupid, we gonna be here all night, but whatever,” I mumbled.
We get out of the car, walk up to a door with a gang of niggas outside. We walk into the smoke-filled room, so much smoke that I can barely see in front of me.
Asia walks over to this light-skinned skinny nigga with dreads and gives him a kiss, turns back to me, and says, “This Bonez, Calvin, and 2Piece.”
I said hey, while tryna to figure out where the fuck Asia got me!
But baby, when I tell you, they were all kinds of fine! Not an ugly one in sight, but they all look like they trouble, like that got some shit with them. Probably a couple kids and baby mamas.
I sat on a stool by the window, keeping my distance but still being cordial. We're all talking, shooting the shit, and this bitch wanna try to sneak off like nobody gonna notice they're missing. I guess we're staying a while. I guess I should text Dre and break the news to him. Maybe not, he’s gonna be so livid, but maybe he won’t, that nigga don’t give two fucks about me half the time.
Next thing I know, we hear the front door open and some hollering “CALVIN YOU KNOW THE FUCK BETTER”. “YOU IN HERE WITH SOME BITCH.”
I snickered and kept scrolling through my phone.
“Shay, don’t start your shit,” Calvin & 2Piece yell.
“No, who is this bitch?” Shay screams.
“Bitch I am not! I’m Liyah, Asia’s cousin.” I put my head back into my phone.
I continue to text my best friend Brina about all the new changes of the summer and the craziness I just encountered.
“Calvin, get her outta here. She always trying to start something with anybody.” 2Piece says.
“You quiet, but you ain't no punk huh?” he says as he looks my way.
“Hmph,” I say while shrugging my shoulders.
2Piece definitely was good looking. I mean, gorgeous, cinnamon brown skin, light brown eyes, and tattoos. Oh, I’ma sucka for tats. Six-two with this one dimple that keeps staring at me.
“You can talk, I don’t bite unless you want me to.” He smiles as he sparks his blunt.
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