An update for the chismosos out there 🫖
The past few weeks have been like a whirlwind of emotions. I’ve received a lot of support and encouragement for quitting, and that has made the decision feel somewhat easier. After all, I’m not rich and will need to make some decisions soon on what to do for income, but at the same time, I cannot see myself going back to the same work-life of the past three years.
I’m trying hard not to dwell on the logistics of my situation. Again, a Future Cristy problem. Also, I’m not brave. I just have few fucks left to give, and I’m saving those for myself.
Right after I quit my job, I felt an immediate relief — Don’t get me wrong; I still felt very heartbroken over the decision. It’s not easy to let go of the things you’ve spent years dreaming and building. And I cannot express how much I loved my team.
And then they were laid off last week, less than one week before the holidays… so much I want to say but won’t. But if the board of directors are interested in knowing the reasons why I left, I’m happy to oblige.
But I digress.. This was supposed to be about writing after all.
Ah, Yes. The Writing Updates I Promised Earlier…
I was in the middle of writing an article on why sacrificing the arts for STEM degrees was not the answer — and why it’s important to have both — when I received texts and calls about the layoffs. I still plan on finishing that story and publishing it here, because that’s some of the kind of writing I would like to pursue professionally and would like to have some clips to showcase those skills, but the events of the last week have made it hard to go back to that story right away. It’s tainted with sadness right now. I will return to it though. I promise! I’ve been doing a lot of research on the topic going back to ancient civilizations (really!) that I can’t wait to share.
Screenwriting
Aside from that, I’ve pretty much finished the outline for my comedy feature (woohoo! 🥳). It’s a complicated storyline with specific events that need to happen at certain times, and I was having a really hard time putting it on paper. So I used a foam board, index cards, and tiny sticky notes to get a visual of the timeline and relationships. You can catch a sneak peak of that in my Insta video below.
Side note: I had never really thought of or used the word “dawdle” until I was looking for a song for that video. Now I keep hearing it. And yes, I have been dawdling some. Hint taken, GOD!
Standup
Our class showcase is just a couple of weeks away. I plan to have a rough draft of my set ready for my class tomorrow to get some feedback, then work on the performance part so I can get a couple of run-throughs down to feel comfortable with the delivery.
It may surprise you to know that I find improv way less scary than performing written work like sketches or standup comedy. I’ve always struggled with memorization so it gives me more anxiety. But I feel comfortable enough in my improv skills to know that I can recover if I really do goof up badly. Plus, it’ll make for a good story later.
Journaling
This morning my hand was cramping because I’ve been journaling so much. It’s not really journaling; it’s more like free-association writing inspired by morning pages, except I’ve never read that book.
You know how you suddenly feel the need to clean and declutter your place when you have something important to do, like write? Journaling does the same thing for your brain. Or at least it works that way for me.
As a perfectionist, it’s very important to me to have a place to write without self-judgment, without worrying about if I’ve noted everything in my day, without thinking about paragraph breaks or whether I’m using the correct word to describe something, without worrying about spelling or missed words. I have also found it kind of meditating, and I’ve discovered things about myself and my feelings because of journaling. In fact, I rarely write about what happened that day so it’s not even a good documentation of my life at the time.
If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend free-association journaling.
(Before I forget: Zach, if you outlive me, please burn everything. There’s nothing good in there. I’m not David Sedaris. These are ramblings of a mentally ill and neurodivergent person. My handwriting isn’t a code either. It’s just that bad.)
Blogging
I plan to write a post about all of the things I’m watching, reading, and listening to, but that will have to wait a bit. I’ve fallen back in love with reading, both with my eyes and ears. And I would love to know what everyone else is watching, reading, and listening to too.
Writers Group
I’ve been procrastinating on this but after Thanksgiving I will go back to setting that up. Let me know if you’re interested in joining by filling out this form right here.
What This Writer Is Grateful For
Since Thanksgiving is this Thursday, I figured I’d share some writing-related gratitude. I’m grateful for the freedom to write without any requirements or restrictions, though I’m very well aware that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.
I’m also grateful for the opportunity to write without worrying about…
- doing any SEO keyword research. (What is Ahrefs again?)
- vocabulary or reading level. I love specificity, but sometimes English doesn’t quite cut it. Spanish has a lot of words that truly capture the intention and meaning. For example, calling someone “bitter” feels less impactful than calling someone “amargada,” even if the translation is the same.
- (Don’t get me started on the misuse of thesauri. It’s been more than 20 years, and I still stand by my argument from 11th grade English class: “patience” and “tolerance” are not interchangeable.)
- word counts or quotas. I was never super strict on that though. A text needs to be as long as it needs to be to get your point across. (And this one feels just about done.)
- punctuation or lengthy sentences. I love em dashes, semi-colons, and the occasional emoji. 💁🏻♀️
And of course, I’m super grateful to have this opportunity to take a break. This was years in the making and can’t believe it’s already been 34 days.
“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Cristy writes. 