I would like to reflect on my favorite blog posts from the past year. So if you're new here, these posts are worth checking out! Let's get out the champagan (remember Futurama?) and celebrate!
One Year Later: A Letter to Hospitalized Me from One Year Later Me
Summary: This was a poem/letter I wrote to myself on the anniversary of my 2024 suicide attempt. It's a raw and emotional piece. My favorite line was this:
All of your struggles will not be in vain
Your voice is heard and you matter
Last week, I had a pity party because I shared something I wrote from The Breaking Strain on Instagram and my personal Facebook page. No one commented. Not even a "this sucks". My books don't have many reviews, not even 1-star reviews. I should be grateful for no negative feedback, but silence is a writers worst fear. More than rejection. More than criticism. Silence means nothing landed. People felt indifferent. And this was exactly the same type of silence I was experiencing before my suicide attempt on the night of June 13, 2024. The only thing different is I am not lighting the fuse to self-destruct. I caught myself before spiraling. Eventually, I found solace in Neely O'Hara (Patty Duke) in Valley of the Dolls and picked up my copy of Valley of the Dolls novel and started reading it for the first time. I cried, and then I went to sleep. The next day, I felt better. I woke up to good news on my blog that confirms the last line about my voice being heard. My voice is being heard!
How My Elementary School Teacher Inspired Me to Become a Writer
Summary: In this blog post, I talk about how my elementary school teacher, Mrs. Jill Welch, encouraged my writing and made me notice the author career path. Mrs. Welch is still my favorite teacher and person to this day. This is the most popular post I have ever written to date on this blog. When I showed this blog to Mrs. Welch, she felt elated and flattered. She told me it made her morning when she read it. Mrs. Welch is one of those special souls kids are lucky and blessed to encounter. She makes everyone feel special with her kindness and inclusivity philosophy. She recently lost her oldest son, Logan, to a horrendous murder in November 2025. Here is a special story about Logan and how an anonymous donor donated $20,000 for a scholarship to Grand Blanc / Holy Family students in his honor. This should never have happened to Mrs. Welch, and my heart aches for her family so much. I cannot imagine losing a child, and it's even harder to comprehend a close family member being murdered. In 1993, someone murdered my aunt Angela Tate and threw her body in the Flint River. I didn't know my aunt Angie very well. She was married to my Uncle Mike, who passed away in 1977, before I was born. I just cannot fathom what my cousins went through losing their mom and dad as children.
Letters to People from My Past, Present, and Future
Summary: Okay, I gotta admit these poems were cheesy! But it was a perfect cheese, like mozzarella melted on a pizza. My favorite poem out of all three poems was "A Letter to Almost...But Not Quite", which was written to someone in my past, which my book, The Breaking Strain is based. I got a lot of feedback on this post on Instagram saying they loved the idea of writing letters and turning it into poetry.
Summary: A poem dump of all my poetry about horrible relationships I've been in. Looking back, a lot of these relationships were self-inflicted. Especially the emotionally manipulative ex. The only relationship that wasn't self-inflicted was my rape. I thought he liked me, and I was scared to say "no". He later threatened to make my life a living hell if I told anyone what had happened that October night. By the way, my math is horrible. I thought it was 26 years. It's only been 25 years since that happened to me.
I Look Horrible (and I Don't Need You to Fix It!)
Summary: An essay about how trying to put a positive spin on negative feelings doesn't always work. Especially when concerning physical appearance. This was inspired after I showed my friend Justin the picture of my dad and I that is posted in this blog. I said I looked horrible. He downplayed it and say I was still cute. I was not in the right headspace for a compliment. I just wanted to express how I looked as well as how I was feeling. I wasn't fishing for compliments or trying to flirt (seriously, why do people say women are flirting when they say they look horrible???!).
From Then to Pen: Poetry Pieces from Specific Times in My Life
Summary: This was a prompt from ChatGPT. I asked ChatGPT to give me prompts from specific times in my life, and I wrote poems about them. I wrote about being 17 (my favorite poem I wrote out of these) titled I Thought 17 Would Be Fun, after graduating high school, and being obsessed with social media. So from age 17, 18, and 28-35.
Summary: Another poetry dump. My favorite poem is Life. I wrote it while my dad was in the hospital. It was one of the grieving poems I wrote that I decided to share. Honorable mentions: I'm Lucky I Have Me and Whiskers.
My Journey with Food as an Autistic Woman
Summary: Just some messy prose on what it's like having issues with food as someone on the autism spectrum. I had a tough time writing about this. Fears of judgement and generalization. I didn't want to generalize all autistic people. But I also didn't want to be judged for my experience as an ASD person. I didn't want this post to make me less or more of an autistic person or invalidate other autistic's experiences.
Summary: Happier and romance-filled poetry for my favorite holiday, Valentine's Day. My favorite poem: For Better and For Chaos. Honorable Mentions: Battle Scars, Her Magic Still Lingers, and Fated.
Progress! (+ a couple new poems I wrote)
Summary: I announce my projects I'm working on currently in 2026. And I share a couple new poems I've written. Worth the read! I have since put 90s Child on hold and focusing entirely on The Breaking Strain.
Spirituality Isn't an Aesthetic (hint: it's a way of living)
Summary: I write about how social media spirituality is performative spirituality. And that real spirituality comes from living and realignment. I make a tragic confession and use that as an example of how I realigned myself. Last month, this post exploded on my blog, pushing my views past a thousand and reaching 7,300 views in my first year of blogging. I am most proud of this essay the most because I show the real me here. Not the polished version.
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