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Well, here are my 2019 writing goals… with a twist [#yearofwriting]
Please subscribe to my newsletter: Self-Care For Writers. Well, as you’ve probably read about in my December 2018 writer’s life, last year did not go as wonderfully as I hoped. I did not make my financial goals for the year and I felt extremely burnt-out at the end of the month, which I am still kind of dealing with. However, I also had a lot of personal stuff happening (new marriage! shoulder surgery! bought a house!) so I think it’s okay. I’m ready to tackle 2019… But first, I wanted to do the math on how much I actually wrote last year. How many stories I wrote in 2018: 299 That’s 18 in…
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July 2018 Writer’s Life: Writing about recovery… and more [#yearofwriting]
Please subscribe to my newsletter: Self-Care For Writers. Last month, I finally hit my goal of making $5k a month… And I am thrilled that this month was even better. It was a difficult month, however. Despite my financial goals, I want to pause and acknowledge that financial success doesn’t necessarily mean that things are going fantastically well. To be honest, it has been a bit of a struggle lately. I’ve had anxiety come up more than once due to stress outside of work (my husband and I bought a house, AHH!) and it’s been a struggle. I’m really grateful for the work that I have, and that my husband is such…
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June 2018 Writer’s Life: Great (full) month back at it! [#yearofwriting]
Please subscribe to my newsletter: Self-Care For Writers. Well, I finally had a month that went pretty well! My writing goal since the beginning of the year was to make $5,000 a month and I FINALLY did it. I’m really excited about this, to be honest, because the past couple of months were difficult. I had shoulder surgery in April and May was difficult because I just couldn’t be 100% back to work… So June going really well has been very, very encouraging. Want to know how much I made and what I wrote? Here’s what happened: How much I made: $5846 A good chunk of my earnings came from my regular job…
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Why I’m quitting my pro-immigration memoir (Moscow Chica) for now
Please subscribe to my newsletter: Self-Care For Writers. Last year, one of my major writing goals was to write the book proposal for my pro-immigration memoir on being half-Russian, half-Cuban, and ALL American. The name of the book is Moscow Chica: How Growing Up in Russia and Cuba Made Me an American and I’ve been talking about writing and thinking about writing and trying to work on writing this book since I was 25 years old. I am 32 now. Well, although it didn’t go as quickly as originally planned, I had a big spurt of memoir writing towards the end of the year and it felt GREAT. Since I had been talking…
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I fell for my “starter boyfriend”
Note: This is an essay that was written for and published on The Frisky in 2011. However, the site has since shut down and my essay has disappeared… But the internet gods allowed me to find it in its entirety, so I am re-posting it here since a) it was fun to write & b) this piece was an important part of my emotional development so I wanted to continue to share it. Enjoy! I met Omar* at a New Year’s Eve party shortly after graduating college. He was 6’2″ and built with dark brown eyes and black wavy hair that fell below his ears. I was a 5’2″ chubby bookworm who had recently…
