I always find them so interesting- people.

People, although they are quite alike are so interestingly contradictory.  All in one moment they can be smiling so brightly the entire room glows but hurting so deeply that they want all life to vanish in seconds so they can peacefully live on in the abyss of mystery that is heaven and hell. 

It’s like a puzzle-the world- and we are all pieces.  Beautifully broken, horridly tragic, stunningly ugly people.  We each have our own lives, our own worlds, our own thoughts, our own file boxes.  File boxes filled with memories.  Memories of past lives and new lives and wretched disasters of our own wrong doings.  Filtered through our freckles, I swear.  Our only accessories that never quite leave us.  Hidden or visible they're always watching and spotting our every move, word, thought, feeling. 

How ridiculous is it to think our freckles reveal so much? But they do.  They dot our lives, blemishing more than just our faces.  Exposing the control we seek- our stuck up attitudes in a whirlwind of petty actions.  Many have called my analogies outlandish and unintelligible, but truly I believe if you examine a person more closely, their thought processes, everything..  How could one single set of eyes and ears record so much information?  How could these beautiful particles only catch all the bad in life when in reality they should be catching the good?  That is where freckles come in, discreetly beautiful in an ugly sort of way, they catch everything else. 

Life is full of disgusting little beautiful ugly things.

Things that we wouldn't catch and take hold of as extraordinary if we didn't notice them.  Heaven only knows in this picture perfect world only blemishes stand out.  So let your freckles go.  Let them be free.  Let them be noticed. 

The entirety of this whole conversation has nothing to do with anything, except everything.  All of this in total actuality has to do with people.  People within themselves are although quite confusing, truly easy to read and understand. 

You can look around a room and see the beauty in the corner with the long brown hair-  running her fingers through her bangs, tossing her glasses aside, she contemplates life over a cup of peppermint tea and a lemon scone. 

What about the man with the professor shaped glasses and the cappuccino at the bistro table thumbing away at an old Shakespearean book?  Eyes raised he glances at the beautiful woman who just walked in the door.  Blazing blue hair and green sharp eyes cut the room in hopes to arise suspicions of his true identity.  Studs and heels can only cover up so much. 

I long to know these souls.  These broken pieced together souls. 

I see the mom with the curly flailing hair, stress seeping out of her eyes.  Two kids in tow, hungrily searching for a seat, or a kind smile.  Two things that could only be found within an individual who noticed.  I look around and see several eyes glance her way.  Mugs empty, conversations dry, only chapped lips and a jacket awaiting them.  They know, they see.  But as the selfish human beings we all are, they turn in angst.  They look away, changing the topic of conversation just to continue on, breaking their bones in the hard wooden grooves of the worn chairs.  She turns away; sorry and worn.  But only one sees.  She quickly grabs her things and moves to another more solitary spot.  Only to provide refuge for a thankful set of eyes.  Kind words and smiles and love are traded only to be returned with the screaming of an ungrateful child.  “Want a kid?” she wearily jokes.  But I know she doesn't mean it. She ached and shed and labored for that human and she would it over and over and over again. 

Oh were the days we made our mothers ache! Ache at the thought of our futures, at the present trials, at the past tribulations.  Aches and head bumps only bring about scorn and wilted skin.  Bird's feet sprouts in the corners of the marbles of life.  Color fills even the most dull of life's delusions.  Reflections off grey deep puddles reveal only what needs to be known. 

So I ask you fellow thinkers, what is really important in earth? Mother's stories and screaming babies?  Classic literature and new political outlooks?  Or is it the utter aroma of one of life's greatest pleasures?  I don't know.

Ingest my thoughts, swallow them.  Sometimes only the most bitter needs to be chewed and digested in a sing-song way.

Ta Ta.

- an excerpt from my creative writing journal

Confidence is a choice. It cannot be dependent on acceptance, encouragement, praise or anything else for that matter.

Confidence is within you. It is the realization that there is more to life than you and that you have the power to set and meet your expectations.

Everything may feel like it's falling apart. Nothing may feel like it's going right. Things might be uncomfortable- but usually those are signs that things are changing and you're about to level up.

What can you do to give yourself a daily boost of confidence?

1. Don't run to social media. Avoid posting for affirmation, it comes off cheesy and slimy and needy.

2. Rather than looking to others for affirmation, say your own affirmations on the daily. These can be reminders for your heart, mind and soul.

Examples of my affirmations:

“I am loved.”

“I am beautiful.”

“I am creative and my creativity serves my higher purpose.”

“I am enough.”

“I am intelligent and can work through any trial.”

“I am worthy of love and I am loving to others.”

“I attract abundance through the way that I give back to others.”

“I am successful not because of what I do but because of who I am.”

“I am safe and secure in all ways.”

“Money is good and I am allowing money to flow into my life.”

“My soul is accounted for and I am content in my highest identity.”

These affirmations support my heart, soul, mind, income & life.

3. Set up reminders for yourself whether that is on sticky notes in your car or on your mirror, reminders through a phone app or a screensaver. These can be generalized or personal affirmations. Confidence is already within you, you just have to tap into it. You have the ability to be confident in anything and everything you do, but you must consciously allow it. As my client Melody says often “you are a conscious creator of your reality.”

So have a little confidence, you've got this.

Download this FREE wallpaper for your phone to remind you to stay confident.

P.S. This was totally a letter from me to myself because my confidence has been lagging BIG TIME, especially with my new song that just came out. What's funny is the song is about stepping into yourself and having confidence and settling with your choices and moving forward... so. Check it out 😆

Stream & Download “No Turning Round” & don't forget to save it to a playlist, share with a friend & follow me on Spotify & YouTube 😘

https://open.spotify.com/album/48PNsqMpWVFp1yejunw85f?si=oWYewLOMQhub6b_EewPJNQ

Last week I challenged ya'll to invite 5 people to join Coil! Did you?

I did and I know that 2 of those people signed up for sure and I'm waiting on the other three! 😉 Really, it's not that scary, especially if you use my guide, all you have to do is ask!

I also reached 100 followers today and man does it feel good! Thank you to everyone who has followed me, reads my articles and upvotes – ya'll are keeping me going!

After 2 years of intense social media training and over a year of running my own social media marketing business, I'd love to share with you a few insider tips on how you can integrate Coil into your social media channels for the best return on your time investment!

Okay let's dive in: 3 ways you can integrate Coil into your social media!

1. Share Your Posts

This one is a bit obvious, but it's something you might not have done yet! If it's out of fear of it not being accepted or read, that's BS. Seriously, people share thousands of posts a month, why not yours? As soon as you've published your article and made sure that everything looks good, share your link on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram Stories.

Instagram Stories: If you have over 10k followers on IG, you can drop that link in the swipe up method and then put a bit of text in the story to encourage your followers to swipe up and learn more. If you don't have that many followers, set up a LinkTree or MilkShake link that you add your best articles to and encourage people to click the link in you bio. Here's mine for an example: Riley Q Linktree.

Facebook & Twitter: Drop the link directly and write a little blurb about the article or quote yourself. It's important to hook your audience in so they click on the article. By designing beautiful cover photos that show up in the link's “preview” you will increase your chances of your followers clicking through to the article itself.

2. Explain Coil

Once you get comfortable sharing your Coil posts on your social media channels and your followers are starting to get used to seeing “Coil” on your platforms, you need to start explaining it. Why? 2 reasons.

1. People won't join the platform unless they understand it and that's the whole reason we're sharing our Coil posts on other platforms.
2. New technology scares people and unless they become familiarized with it by friends and family they won't be likely to jump on board with the community. Right now we have a prime spot in the community, it's big enough that we have some support but it's not big enough where you're going to get lost. For example, if you look to business communities on Instagram and Facebook and see people like Danny V and Jenna Kutcher and wish you could've been them or you look to YouTube and wish you could x,y, or z – you have that opportunity. We are on the verge of a massive influx of users on Coil. If you want to establish yourself as a lead content creator, now is the time. When you set yourself apart and explain Coil to people and invite them in you will automatically be tagged in people's mind as an “expert” or a “lead” in the community. This is important. The difference between someone who makes a boatload of money and someone who doesn't is the “expert” status. Are you going to be the expert or the tagalong?

How do you explain Coil to people?

Click here to download my stories template (6 slides & GIFS explaining Coil). All you have to do is insert your Coil username on the last slide & bada-boom! 💥

I've also got these two downloads for you- one to post in your feed & another for your stories to explain Coil, the technology & why they should join!

You can also check out resources on Coil's FAQ page and Hodor's blog if you're having trouble. I've also got a whole post explaining how to invite people to Coil!

3. Make Coil Exclusive

If you have a good following on your social media channels and they're getting great content from you on a regular basis they're not going to be inclined to just up and join another platform. Instead, you need to give them a reason. If you create content that is exclusively on Coil and tease them with it, you're much more likely to convert them. You can do this by making all of your content “Subscriber Only” (don't forget to mention this when you're explaining Coil so that they understand they can't get the content anywhere else). You can also create a few posts using the 100+20 rule to encourage them to invest in all you have to offer. This might take awhile for people to catch on to but if you make it clear that they are missing out on content by not being on Coil and you do that on a regular basis, you will slowly see them move over.

Conversion isn't going to happen overnight, you have to stick with it. Continue talking to people, share your posts on a regular basis, share other people's content on your pages, talk about what Coil is doing and how it's changing the game and talk about what and how you're getting paid. Money talk always sparks interest. Consistency is key in this game and you have to be in it for the long haul.

I have a 5 day challenge for you:

Day 1: Share your best Coil post on your channels (put your best foot forward!)

Day 2: Share content from other creators that you love! There are many talented creators on here, help them out by sharing their Coil post!

Day 3: Explain how Coil is changing the game in getting paid as a creator. If you feel comfortable, share your earnings and talk about how Coil is changing your life. (Just don't do it in an icky, spammy, scammy way.) Compare it to YouTube monetization and how it is replacing ads and programs like Patreon. You need to explain that the artist only gets paid if the consumer has a Coil account. Encourage your followers to comment or reach out to you if they'd like to support you and other creators but have questions before they sign up. If someone does reach out, be sure to follow up and help them through the sign up process. The fastest way to lose a lead is to not follow up. If Coil is making you money the way it is making me money, you must treat it as part of your business. Creators are entrepreneurs too!

Day 4: Share another Coil post! It's important to be getting the Coil name out there as much as possible and this is a great way to establish the habit of sharing your articles. Don't forget to include a blurb about or from the article.

Day 5: Post about your personal experience with Coil and maybe about how it's changed your life. Whether the community has enhanced your confidence, encouraged you, the payments have helped you financially – whatever it is, talk about it. In our society reviews matter and when someone takes the times to create a post personally reviewing a new product or service, they're much more likely to check it out than if you just shared posts randomly. It is also important to note that when you create this post, you include a CTA. Whether it's “Sign up now!” with the link or “I'd love to tell you more about how you can support creators or become a creator yourself on Coil!”. It's important to encourage people to take action after they've ingested information. Converting someone from a dormant follower to an active follower is a long term process. It's your job to plant seeds, water the seeds, tend to them and continue to care for them until they are grown enough that they take action. Sometimes this is a short term job but most of the time it's long term. Don't overwhelm people by trying to drag them along- the proof is in the pudding, show them the pudding enough and eventually they'll want a bite of their own.

Let me know how your challenge goes! DM me on Twitter and let's chat!

Coming in a little later than usual but here are this week's recommendations!

“if we never met” – JOHN.k

https://youtu.be/UhFcmCeBo9Y

Genre: Pop

JOHN.k pulls the title of his new EP from this song. With beachy pop vibes and chill beats I can easily listen to his smooth for hours on end. This song really connects as it tells the story of meeting someone and all of the things that have to happen to meet that person. It reminded me a lot of the story of me and my husband meeting and I've kinda listened to it 15 times in the past hour so...

Follow him on Spotify, Apple Music, Twitter & Instagram to keep listening!

“Without You” – Violet LaVelle

https://youtu.be/ZlKcoEi_n3M

Genre: Pop

Violet knows how to tell a freaking story! She just released a super fun EP “Afraid to Say I Love You”. The entire 8 track EP is a story of falling in love, struggling through a relationship and the inevitable heartbreak that accompanies most modern day relationships. “Without You” is one of my favorites on the EP and of course it's a good ole fashioned heart break song! Ending the EP on a rather sad note I can't help but want a story of redemption for her future music.

Follow her on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Twitter & Instagram to keep listening!

“Oklahoma” – Josh Kerr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUb7GQ3BIok

Genre: Country

Josh made me cry. End of story.

But really “and what's worse I didn't lose you to a person I lost you to a place.” cOmE oN. 😭 He's got a buttery country voice that makes every girl in the crowd swoon and a sob story to go with it. So thanks Josh for writing this beautiful song & Heather Morgan for the gorgeous harmonies.

Follow him on Spotify, Apple Music, Twitter & Instagram to keep listening!

Keep your eyes peeled for next week's round of recommendations! P.S. My song “No Turning Round” drops on Friday the 13th!

Usually I post on Coil as soon as I get up, but today has been a little different. I have spent all day sitting in the studio writing and recording for a new single. I have been working with my producer to build the track and I thought it would be fun to give you a little sneak peek into what a day in the studio actually looks like.

Most people think it looks like walking into a recording booth, singing the best you've ever sang and walking out with your entourage around you.

I am here to tell you that is the furthest from the truth, at least for an independent artist...

It looks like sitting and discussing the concept of the song for an hour.

It looks like dissecting the first set of lyrics and then replacing majority of them.

It looks like taking the melody you've been singing for week and completely changing it.

It looks like spending an hour banging your head against the wall trying to figure out how the heck to make a chorus line work.

It looks like snapping your fingers into a microphone and making weird noises for samples.

It looks like sitting in a room for hours and hours building art.

It looks like walking out after 8 hours and eating food from the closest restaurant because you're starving.

...and I LOVE every single minute of it.

I can't wait for you to hear this new song I'm working on, it's one of my favorites to date! Keep your eyes peeled for it late October!

If you'd like a little more behind-the-scenes action, check out my last post with a video from the creation of “No Turning Round” my single that drops THIS FRIDAY! 🎉

Dimly lit, the ambience floats throughout the empty campus streets. Voices bounce off deserted buildings, waiting to be filled in the next week. They all gather, coming together in one direction with one end goal.

Change jingles in their pockets, 90 cents, 180, exact change will only be taken- no one dare show their faces in the shadows of the orange grungy walls with a plastic card or paper green. Smiles and joyous laughter present the atmosphere with a hint of joy that wouldn't be found otherwise within the four walls of the Brooklyn-esque shop.

70s plywood plates the front case. Metal trays scraped with prints of circles from days before line the bottom.

He stands, famously hidden behind walls of legend, the creative space, clothed with only his bare minimum. He takes orders like a general, operating under the safety of moonlight, unknown to the outside world and comfortable in his boxers and socks.

No one is bothered by his appearance or his lack of clothing as they have been pipered into an addiction marked by dough and thick frosting.

Plastic booths, filled with voices and stories and eyes droopy- the week of tragic memories. They gather in the dark hours, committed to the atmosphere to make it what it is. They congregate in ebb and flow.

Reflections of the day's end weaves in and out of the fish tank. Boys and girls glazed over by the icing and sprinkles bite into one after the other caught in a moment of unbelief.

It is groggy, dim, foggy, translucent, and the frost settles on the window, etching the atmosphere into the beams of the building,

To last and build up and up every night and dawn and through every year. Traditions grow and explode and people filter in and out and hobos of education meet in one place where everyone is the same and judged equally by the only point that they are all the same, hand in hand with their quarters and dimes and pennies they collect in jars. Jars they will one day pack up and unpack and they will sit on a shelf. They will be looked at fondly as a symbolism of the nights they can't get back.

*Trigger Warning – Self Harm & Severe Depression*

You tried to call me, I'm sorry I couldn't answer, my phone was in my bed, but I couldn't find the energy to pick it up, let alone answer it.

You invited me to come out, for the third weekend in a row, and ya, I know I told you I'd come this time, but I just can't. My bed has tied me down and the second I think about getting out of it, the sheets tighten.

You told all of our friends I wouldn't give you the time of day. I wish I could explain, but you wouldn't understand.

I'm sorry I didn't talk when we went to the bar last month.

I'm sorry I shut down when you asked me how I was doing.

I'm sorry I missed your birthday.

I'm sorry I never did anything I said I'd do this summer.

I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me.

I'm sorry for all of the things I did and didn't say.

I'm sorry I only did the bare minimum.

I'm sorry you had to pick up my slack.

I'm sorry I told you I didn't think this was going to work out.

I'm sorry for all of the empty kisses and the silent nights.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that when I feel like I'm drowning the world expects me to drag myself to shore and dry off.

I'm sorry that when work overwhelms me I can't just bounce back and be ready to go the next day.

I'm sorry that when my relationships start to crumble, I crumble with them.

I'm sorry that I don't have enough words for all of the excuses to get out of all of the things that I said that I would do when I was doing okay.

I'm sorry that something pulled a plug and drained all of the light out of me, leaving my body dark and hollow.

I'm sorry that I speak badly about myself and make you feel uncomfortable, I'm trying to process the things my mind is telling me.

I'm sorry that I'm not the funnest person to be around, it's kind of hard to have fun when you feel like slicing open every part of your body.

I'm sorry that I told you I didn't want to live anymore, something in my brain told me that it would be easier that way.

Please don't tell me to be rational.

Please don't tell me to get over it.

Please don't tell me to act normal.

Please don't tell me to snap out of it.

Please don't tell me that it's all going to be ok.

Please don't.

Instead, hug me.

Tell me you love me.

Tell me that it's okay not to be perfect and that we all have our down moments, days, weeks, months.

Tell me that one day I will wake up and want to spend time with you and you'll still be there for me.

Tell me that I can talk to you.

Tell me that you'll find me help.

Tell me that the world is better with me in it.

Tell me that you don't understand, but you don't have to.

Tell me that you'll stay in and watch a movie and cuddle with me and we don't have to talk.

Tell me that you'll come to me, you'll get on my level, you will meet me where I'm at.

Tell me that we're going to get through this and the darkness isn't always going to feel so excruciatingly painful.

I know I'm not easy, believe me, I know. One day, I will explain. One day I'll tell you about the times when I went from smiling to drained, exhausted and feeling finished with my life. How I didn't know what I did to get there or how to get out of it. But then I'll smile and I will give you a hug, because you were understanding. You were caring. You set your boundaries with me for your own health but you loved me through my dark moments. You told me there would be hope on the other side and you gave me that hope. You nursed my brain back to health. You cared for me and cleaned my wounds and praised my scars as they all told the story of my struggle and my redemption. So we will smile, we will hug, we will remember and we will look forward, knowing that when my demons creep back in we will have a plan and we will know what to do. I will know that I can take my moments, I will know that I will feel swallowed but I will still be whole. I will know that I don't have to hurt myself to feel something because I know the love that surrounds my empty body.

I will know because I told you and you listened.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression please reach out and talk to someone, I know how hard it is but I know how much better it gets when you open up. If you don't have anyone close to you, please reach out to a medical professional. There are tons of organizations, therapists and counselors who would be more than happy to help you. – xo Riley

“No Turning Round” has been an absolute blast to create!

https://www.cinnamon.video/watch?v=141279229256926481

The song came to me in one night. I immediately knew that it was going to be my next single and I couldn't get it out of my head! After several friends and family members confirmed it as my next single I quickly got to work. I hope you enjoy this little sneak peek of my time in the studio and a bit of work on the promo!

“No Turning Round“ drops in ONE week! You can pre-save it here: https://ffm.to/noturninground

(You'll know you're done when you get a confirmation message and a green check mark!)