When I was in my late teens/early adulthood I was something of a writer here on Tumblr.
I had fans asking me for my next chapter, people asking me to beta read their stories, and an incredible community of writers behind me.
Sure, I was never going to be as popular as the likes of Veronica or Sadie (absolute prolific writers) and I came to accept that.
I quit writing in either late 2016 or early 2017 (the dates all become jumbled these days) and deleted all my stories off the site when writing became too much and too personal. Especially the affect of the constant feedback of the drone of social media.
Back in 2022 I thought about publishing a collection of poems I’d written over the years and fear stopped me. I had only picked up writing poetry again at the start of the pandemic and felt inexplicably alone- it felt too raw, too real, too intense to publish.
I’ve been in Morocco the past week, which has given me time to pick up my unfinished draft of a novella I was writing called “Yearbooks are not meant for the Sober-“ this was the last piece of writing I was working on before I quit. The contrast of the two main characters bares such resemblance to who I was then and everything I am now. Feels like a cross between a dream and a manifestation. I never imagined I would become the character I was so deeply infatuated with writing at the time.
All I wanted to be growing up was a writer (and more practically a journalist). I’ve been paid for my poetry here and there, contributed to the odd article or podcast and it was never enough- I could never get that feeling Tumblr writing fame gave to me years ago. I’ve been chasing that feeling in every job or course I’ve taken.
So, I’m coming back to writing, to finding my path and falling in love with words and worlds and make believe.
And, I can’t be more excited.
