#26: My Lil' Baby is 1 Year Old Now

Feat. 1st birthday celebrations and messy reality TV recommendations

Dec 8, 2021

Hey you!

♪ Do you know what today is? It’s our anniversary. ♪

It’s Oh, Write’s birthday y’all! I wrote my first Oh, Write post on November 30, 2020—which means that it’s been over a dang year since I started Oh, Write.

It’s been a wild year of uplifting marginalized voices, sharing the roller coaster ride of my writing journey, and dishing out smokin’ hot takes on pop culture topics that literally no one asked for.

Me when I woke up the morning of November 30th:

Spongebob Squarepants and Gary the Snail are jumping out of a bed. Balloons are released and confetti goes everywhere. Spongebob is swinging a party favor and blowing into a party horn. Gary has a present on the back of their snail. — Spongebob gif from Giphy

From the bottom of my heart, I want to wish all of you a huge, ginormous thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. I grew up being obsessed with magazines and always wanted to make one of my own. This newsletter is the closest I’ve ever gotten—so it’s my lil’ baby.

I so appreciate that you’re taking time out of your day to read my words. Having someone find value, whether entertainment, information or something else entirely, in my words is something that I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid.

So, literally, you reading Oh, Write is making my dream come true. Thank you.

I have plans to further develop Oh, Write in 2022, including expanding to other online platforms and creating additional Substack content for paid subscribers.

Despite whatever changes in the future, this bimonthly newsletter will always be free.

Evelyn Lozada is standing in a clothing store and saying, "That's a FACT!" — Basketball wives gif from Giphy

Jam out with me to this classic by Tony! Toni! Toné! as we celebrate Oh, Write’s 1st birthday:

If you’re interested in gaining access to a backlog of my Medium articles, poems, and short stories, 190 pieces and counting, consider becoming a Medium member by using my referral link.

I get a part of your membership fee every month, so it’s a great way to support Oh, Write and my other creative endeavors.

If you’d rather just donate, whether it’s once, twice, or a billion times (if you’re, ya know, Mackenzie Bezos or something) I’m here for it! I have a Ko-fi; where you can easily buy me a coffee—it could be a lil’ birthday present or whatever. *smirk*

Writer’s Log #13

I recently won NaNoWriMo plus extra, writing over 72K words throughout November. As I massage my sore fingers, questioning the odd warmth that December has brought to my state, I wonder, “What the heck am I going to do now?”

Writing a novel in a month was beautifully bizarre. I spent most of the month in a blurry writing-induced trance. I only thought of the story that I wrote in that moment. I didn’t worry about the words that came before.

It’s what comes after that scares me: editing, rewrites, formatting, feedback, feedback, more feedback.

That’s why I’ve never taken a novel-length draft past its second draft. There’s so much work that takes it from the mound of clay you scavenge for during the drafting process and the vase that you present to the world.

What I can promise myself is that I’m going to try to make my NaNoWriMo 2021 project better. I see so much potential.

Every large goal seems so massive until you start. Each day, you accomplish small pieces of the project. Soon enough, after a blur of consistent, incremental progress, it’s done. Getting into that rhythm of productivity, like most things in life, is easier said than done. But, by golly, I’m going to try to make this project better.

Right now, in the month of holidays galore, I’m toying with the idea of serializing a different novel. I’d be able to bring one of the other NaNoWriMo projects that have been collecting dust on my Google Drive to life.

I’m in the super early stages of that process. I’m doing my first reread on one of the novels I’m considering serializing, and I’m realizing that this joint is awful. I’m low-key crying on the inside—but I’ll be iight.

But, there are elements in the story that I love, characters that have interesting backstories, dialogue that makes me giggle. If I mold it, it could be great. But, also, it could fail.

It’s difficult to understand that failure is a part of success. This process of working through my old WIPs is me trying to get over that fear of failure.

Because, what’s fear providing for me? Spontaneous breakouts and anxious spiraling? Ew.

2 Things I Consumed

A wild amount of reality TV:

Since my storytelling brain has been swept in my NaNoWriMo story, I’ve been occupying myself with reality TV. It doesn’t require too much analytical thought and I’m here for that. I’ve been swept up in 90 Day Journey, one of 90 Day Fiancé’s 103929 spinoffs.

I’ve seen most seasons of TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé. I’ve tried to rewatch certain seasons, but I typically spend my time fast-forwarding to my favorite couples anyway.

Since 90 Day Journey focuses on the journey of one couple at a time, it makes a ton more sense to me—and I can easily get my messy reality TV fix. (i.e. I’ve been recently watching Nicole and Azan’s journey. Their scenes are so entertaining.)

I also just finished the recent season of Lifetime’s Married at First Sight: Dallas. That’s messy reality TV at its finest.

The entire @Sidetalknyc TikTok account:

Described as “New York’s one-minute street show”, this account captures the most hilarious interviews I’ve ever seen in my life.

A few of their TikToks went viral, which led me to binge practically every TikTok they’ve got. Time well spent, I’d say.

BING BONG.

2 Things I Created

I created a whole book sis. *does a victory pose* Here’s a free link to my week 3/week 4/final nano update!
I’m currently exploring micro-fiction (100 words or less). I’m trying to write a piece of micro-fiction a day. I was introduced to micro-fiction by Ran Walker, an author that I found through a pep talk he wrote for last year’s Camp NaNoWriMo. He’s got this novel composed of 100-word stories, A Burst of Gray, which is probably one of the coolest ideas for a novel I’ve ever seen. I had to take a crack at the form and see what’s up!

Writing Prompts

I really love this prompt from “25 SCIFI AND FANTASY HOLIDAY WRITING PROMPTS” by writer, actor, and director Justin McLachan, “While hiking in the woods, a man and his partner come across a reindeer that seems to desperately want to be followed.”
This journaling prompt is from Lifestyle Anytime’s “52 Easy Journaling Prompts for Beginners”: “Where do I see myself in 1 year from now….”

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!

Oh, Write