It’s been a few weeks now into 2024. As the title of this post suggests, it has been a slow but steady start. Not much has happened.
Well, in a way, that’s not true. I wrote near the end of last year that I was planning to transition this Substack account into more of a newsletter. That is, these posts will be more to inform y’all what I’ve been up to and how things are going. I’m happy to say that things are feeling a little different from the dreadfulness of last year. Part of it has to do with opportunities just popping up for me. New Year’s Day itself was bad, but what came after was some pretty good news. Some of it is still in development, so I can’t share it all with you yet. But I’m relieved to have some good news coming my way right now. That’s always nice, don’t you think?
In the same vein, here are some publications, experiments, and other news that have occurred for me at the start of this year.
New Personal Essay on Reclamation Magazine:
On the very last day of 2023, a personal essay of mine went live on Reclamation Magazine. As a contributor, I had sent my editor the article a while back, but I had mostly forgotten about it as we neared the end of the year. I had enough going on in my life, after all.
That said, the essay went live at midnight on December 31st, 2023. The essay—titled He Who Considered Himself a Failure and not a Playwright—was about my experience of seeing my one-act play performed at a showcase last year in August. I have mentioned this experience a little too many times now, but this is the first time I wrote about it. Of course, it found a home with Reclamation, where I have been a contributor for years now. I couldn’t have asked for a better publication for it. Feel free to click the link and give it a read if y’all want. Thank you again to Reclamation Magazine for their support always.
Experimenting with Medium again:
Four scores and seven years ago—kidding, it’s only been a few months—I was writing and posting on my Medium blog. I discovered Medium around 2019, made an account, and started writing a few articles for it. I had a good streak going until around 2021. I just stopped writing in it as much. Since then, I haven’t posted much on it. Just a few things here and there. It’s mostly been a barren wasteland for my little account.
This year, though, I want to try writing articles for it again. Now that I transitioned my Substack to a newsletter, I can use my Medium blog for posts that can’t find a home in other publications. I intend to be more consistent with the blog.
So far, that hasn’t been the case. I have written one short article and posted two poems. None of them have reached many readers thus far. But I’ve barely started writing here again. I can’t expect things to blow up overnight. Either way, here are the three posts I have made for Medium this year:
Poem: on saying goodbye
Interview with Creativity Café:
Possibly the most exciting news for me this year so far. Poet and writer Sofía Aguilar invited me to an interview on her podcast called Creativity Café. Sofía and I have known each other for a while, and she sent me an invitation in January. The interview took place just about a week ago through her Instagram Live on Feb 4th. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun. We talked about a lot of cool and important topics, I got to read a dear poem of mine, and I even got to make some pretty cool announcements about my plans this year. Here’s the link to anyone who wants to listen to the interview, and thank you so much to Sofía for having me on. (By the way, y’all should also follow Sofía’s Substack here. You won’t regret it.)
And I believe that’s all for now. I have lots of exciting plans for the rest of the year and I can’t wait to share them with y’all when they’re ready to be unveiled. Until then, please keep in touch by following me through any of these links here.
If you wish and have the means to financially support me so I can keep pursuing my writing career, you can always sign up for a paid subscription. You can also visit my Bookshop page where each purchase you make will earn me a small commission alongside supporting independent bookstores across the country. Otherwise, feel free to treat me to a cup of coffee. Of course, my writing will remain free on my Substack always—including the Medium articles above. But a little bit of help is always welcomed and appreciated.
Until next time! Stay awesome!