I am a writer.

I want to start here because it is true. I want to start here because I cannot keep downplaying myself. I want to start here because I am a writer.

The last several days I began to think about what is my earliest memory of writing. I remember writing in a notebook as a teenager, trying to find a way to understand myself. I remember having my poem published in my high school’s literary magazine about the Darfur Genocide. I remember writing in a journal with grid pages as a college student trying to make sense of my feelings and crushes. Now, I write in a journal annually with hopes of filling every page – I rarely do.

It is late Fall 2020 and I am driving from Greensboro, North Carolina to visit my friend who lives in southwest Virginia, among the Appalachian Mountains. I am listening to writer Roxanne Gay’s guest spot on the podcast “Why Won’t You Date Me?” hosted by the ever-hilarious Nicole Byer.

She is talking about writing and I am listening. In talking about how many people ask for advice on how to get started with writing, Roxanne says, “Yeah, there are some challenges you might face along the way. But, have you written a book? And 9 times out 10 they haven’t even started to write anything. They are just worried about publication and I’m just like, but you have nothing to publish. Go write.” (Listen to the episode here)

Go write, Roxanne Gay said. This stayed with me. As I was driving north on I-77, driving into Virginia, with the valley to my right, I thought, Well, time to write.

I purchased this domain in mid-December 2020. From December to today I built this website. There were plenty of weeks where this website laid dormant. This website and this first post will go live on 5/5 at 5:55am. 2021, thank you for this gift.

In creativity 1 plus 1 can equal 2 but it can take 10 years to equal 2, Nicole Bryer says responding to Roxanne’s advice to new writers. How long will it take for me for “it” to equal 2?

Go write, Roxanne Gay said. This is what I will do. I will write because I am writer. Truthfully, I am excited. Truthfully squared, I am nervous. I can hold both. My creative approach this past year (especially with my food instagram @GoEatGSO) has been to do and to create. As much as I can, I try not to restrict myself. I move forward. One step and then another and then the next one. This will be my same approach here.

I do not have a plan for my blog and for my writing. There are topics swirling in my head. Some newer, some older. More than anything, I want to push myself. I want to see what type of person I become through this process.

There are moments, in my car, driving, where I can feel a dam. This dam holds and contains the water of my being. I can feel this dam starting to crack. What happens when it breaks? May I find freedom in writing. May I find all that scares me in writing. This blog and my writing is aligned with my highest good.

At the heart of my work is uplifting and decentering whiteness from my own life and the lives of others. Here are writers who have written pieces I frequently think about:

  • “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong” by Ocean Vuong via The New Yorker – one day I will memorize this entire poem
  • My dear friend and comrade Kimberly Williams’ piece for Slate on being a Black queer woman in Appalachia
  • Cody Charles writes on their blog Reclaiming Anger on various topics. This piece on Drag Race legend Chi Chi DeVayne is beautiful and left me in awe
  • Speaking of Drag Race and drag queens, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal’s piece on Valentina eloquently put to words what excites me about this drag queen
  • Have you ever read something and you felt so seen (read: called out – in a good way!) that you threw your phone across the floor? Daniel Yo-Ling’s Letter #4 made me do that by invoking Audre Lorde’s words on writing and it being dangerous.

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