The Diary of Aaliyah Anderson

Letter To The Reader

The Diary of

Aaliyah Anderson

By Randall Barnes

Update (11/2/14):

"The Diary Of Aaliyah Anderson" is now available on Amazon! One click it today or get it in paperback form! Don't forget to leave a review family! Let your friends know about this movement I'm trying to spark too. :)

Just a quick rundown of what's already in place with the Randall Barnes brand

-The paperback version of "The Diary Of Aaliyah Anderson" is available at Frugal Books in Roxbury, Massachusetts

-I debuted the first t-shirt in my TDOAA Apperal line on Friday October 31st at my school's homecoming! (Order details coming soon)

-"Riverview High: Circumstances" reached #2 on Amazon and was close to overtaking Zane's eBook on the day of the release of her movie "Addicted" (can you believe it?) (Available now!)

-Search "The Diary Of Aaliyah Anderson" on Shelfari.com and dig deeper into the city of Willowsfield and my motivatoins behind writing the story. Get up on the slang and vernacular too! They have a story glossary!!

I'm making moves so you make sure you support the movement! Don't forget to leave Amazon reviews! :) ;)

Enjoy the story,

Randall Barnes

Letter to the Reader

"And to think this all began with $3,000 and a dream! Stop dreaming your dream and live your dream."

-Michael Baisden

If you're reading this, I'd like to say thank you for reading my book! A lot of time and hard work was put into this project. I tried to make this book as perfect as it could be. In the course of writing this book, people would always ask me, "Why are you writing this story?"

Well, for one, I wanted to prove to myself that I could actually pull off publishing a novel. Seeing my name on the front of a book cover has been my dream ever since I learned how to read. In my five years of seriously writing, I always challenged myself to step up my game. This is actually the first story that I've finished since 7th grade! The Diary of Aaliyah Anderson has an aspect of every story that I've produced in the past few years that I decided not to finish because I felt as if it wasn't good enough.

Secondly, I wanted to prove to everybody that we (my generation) isn't a waste. I got tired of hearing about how "violent" and "misguided" we are. I've gotten tired of not seeing a clear representation of black youth in the media. Gone are the days of Moesha, Smart Guy, Soul Food: The Series, That's So Raven and other somewhat positive representation of young black men and women. R&B and Soul Artist Erykah Badu said it best:

"We as Black people have to tell our own stories. We have to document our history. When we allow someone else to document our history, the history becomes twisted and we get written out. We get our noses blown off."

After finally being fed up of seeing a negative image of black youth stereotyping us as unintelligent, misguided, violent, sex-crazed savages that only care about what clothes we wear, what's happening in the streets and what new rap song is hot in the clubs, I decided to do something. I want to create true, realistic stories about the community that both entertain, enlighten and cause a healthy discussion about where we're going as a generation.

Aaliyah Anderson is the epitome of a teenager with a clear vision of where she wants to go in her life. Aaliyah has a certain swagger about her that makes her different from the rest of the females her age in Willowsfield. She strives her best to be different. She wants to succeed by any means necessary, but tends to easily let small things get her angry and off track. Aaliyah has to overcome tons of hardships in her path to finally pass through middle school and get to high school. While still having to deal with everyday teenage problems, she also has to cope with more pressing issues that spring up as the story progresses.

But she still pushes on!!

I made Aaliyah Anderson based on the strong black women I see in my life every day. Black people as a race have it pretty rough but our young women especially have it hard. While young black men have to deal with tough opposing forces in our lives, our young women have to try and overcome even more. The pressure to succeed and not let blind hate get them down. The pressure to live up to the entertainment industries' standard of beauty. The pressure to be everything to everybody 24/7. Seeing what the young black women of my generation have to go through on a daily basis makes me marvel at their strength and beauty.

I also want everybody to realize that not every young black male is a monster with no self-discipline, sexual discipline or dreams for the future. That's why I made characters like D and later on Deangelo. They both are respectable young men that have a plan of what they want in life. We all aren't out to lay with every woman we see. Some of us see more than an attractive body and a pretty face. Some of us aren't looking for an overly promiscuous female. I want a true young woman!!

Speaking of that, we need more "young women" in the community. We need females who know not to give their goodies to everybody. We don't need females that fight and dwell in Facebook drama 24/7. We don't need any more twerking videos on the internet either!! It seems as if the roles in the community have flipped. Now days, we have more feminine males and rugged, tough, hard females. That desperately needs to change!

Once again, thank you for reading The Diary of Aaliyah Anderson. I hoped you enjoyed the story and also took something from it. To all the adults: don't count us out! We're coming to take over!!!

Signed,

Randall Barnes

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