Hey you!
Happy May! If you haven’t seen this obligatory “It’s Gonna Be May” meme, let me slide that over to you.
Interested in supporting my career as a writer? Consider buying me a coffee. Every contribution you make, big or small, helps me dedicate more time to creating online content (i.e. Medium stories and this wonderful lil’ newsletter you’re reading.)
Also—here’s a reminder that if you have access to the COVID-19 vaccine, please get vaccinated. For my U.S. homies, the CDC has a VaccineFinder where you can find the closest vaccination spot to you.
Writer’s Log #5
I’ve been posting stories online for over a decade. One of the worst parts about writing on the internet is that if that platform goes down your stories go with it. For example, I posted fanfiction on the website Polyvore for about three years. In that time, I posted dozens of fanfiction chapters and one-shots. In 2018 the site shut down, and my stories were lost forever.
My true history lies in physical notebooks. I have ten of them, the earliest stemming from middle school (the late 2000s). There are so many memories within those pages, whether it was a one-off idea I ran with for a day or a story I dove into for an entire summer.
There’s also something special about physically seeing your writing. Seeing the Google doc say “200 pages” is one thing. But, flipping through those 200 pages one by one is completely different.
One of my favorite childhood stories was structured like a TV show. It was about a group of kids in a psychiatric ward (I think I saw It’s Kind of a Funny Story and just ran with it). In that story, I had written where I’d want voice-overs and commercial breaks to be.
It’s awesome to see that even as a kid I’ve always had this vision for how I wanted to tell stories. My biggest dream is to bring one of my stories to fruition in film or television. And, you know what? I think it’ll happen one day.
I still love (most of) my ideas like I wrote them yesterday. I wish I could high-five my younger self, tell her she’s moving in the right direction. It was all building the foundation of who I am.
Today, I still make time to write in notebooks. 35-year-old Nia would get her life from the things I’m writing about now. And—who knows how long these platforms will last? But now, I save everything. I email everything to myself. I always keep a paper trail, just in case everything explodes tomorrow.
5 Things I Consumed
Noisey/Viceland’s docu-series about BROCKHAMPTON, American Boyband [the entire series is on YouTube, btw]
Played 3/4ths of The Simpsons: Hit & Run on Gamecube
The dramedy short film The Morning After
Casey Aonso’s YouTube video deconstructing the history of content houses
This classic, hilarious episode of Kenny Beats’ The Cave w/ Vince Staples
3 Things I Created
I turned a list of my natural hair products into poetry, because why not?
My first collaborative article series with fellow Medium writer Maria Garcia!
This failed re-design of my Medium logo, using this nostalgic Word Art generator:
Writing Prompts
One of my favorite places to find writing prompts is Reddit. So, today, I’m giving y’all some surprise links to the coolest Reddit writing prompts I find. Check them out below!
Conclusion
Thank you so much for reading Oh, Write!
For more Oh, Write content, check out the Medium publication.
Have any questions, comments, or concerns? Hit ya girl up!
Subscribe if you haven’t already. If you’re interested in supporting the publication/newsletter, consider buying me a coffee. Follow me on social media on Instagram, Twitter, and Medium. And, above all, keep creating!
Love,
Nia