Black Girl Dreaming

Dreams vs Reality

Yerrrr…I’ve been procrastinating aka anxious over launching this personal newsletter. I know that might seem odd AF coming from me, but it’s true.

Welcome to Black Girl Dreaming.

A newsletter where I’ll share notes on life, lessons learned, my big ole Black girl dreams, and my quest to conquer all of the things. I am excited to get started and to have you all here with me on this journey. If there’s anything you’d like me to discuss, feel free to drop me a line, or hit me up in the comments section.

LIFE COMES AT YOU FAST, BUT ALSO, SOMETIMES SLOWLY…

This is old news, but 2020 went by so quickly, and yet so slowly. I still feel like I’m stuck in March 2020, while simultaneously feeling like time is moving way to fast. Partially because ya girl is getting married in just a couple of weeks in April and everything is officially a countdown to walking down the aisle! If you would’ve asked me if I was ever going to get married one day, my answer most likely might’ve been “if it happens, it happens” or “if God wills it” or my personal favorites between the years 2013-2017: “I’m not dating, so no,” “if I ever stop dating f*%k boys, absolutely” (trust me I wasn’t dating those clowns on purpose), or “sure, when I find the right guy.” When you reach a certain age, everyone expects you to just “settle down,” and when you come from an Hispanic household, the women are expected to just crank out babies, and be a good mother, wife, and caregiver. Thankfully, I sidestepped that stereotype, and have found a man who is in fact, NOT a f*%k boy, but more importantly is everything I imagined and prayed for in a life partner. Basically, I can’t wait to jump the broom! Here’s hoping when the day comes, that time will move slowly so I can enjoy every second of it. xo

PLANNING EVENTS DURING COVID

Is extremely challenging. I planned my wedding about 4x during this entire ordeal. I even thought about canceling the celebration and just getting hitched virtually. But we have already sacrificed so much, we decided our families needed this joy in their lives, doesn’t matter that folks will be six feet apart, and not able to hug up on us, we will be so thrilled just to feel their energy, we’ll enjoy an energy hug. Yes, that’s a thing, if you are a spiritual person then you already know what it is.

A wedding isn’t the only thing that I’ve been planning. As y’all all know, the Bronx community is uber uber important to me, so I’ve greased my elbows making sure that programming was able to happen virtually in 2020, and a HUGE thanks to my mighty team of volunteers for staying the course and doing everything they could to make sure there even was a festival last year. We’re celebrating our 4th year this June, and let. me. tell. you. TBIR crew has been working their book fairy wings to the max to put on for y’all: June 11-13th is going to be fire, and trust me you are going to want to be there to hang with us virtually. Check out the speaker line-up and RSVP today to receive updates and more.

WRITING & EDITING AN ANTHOLOGY

Has been a wonderful, yet challenging experience. In 2019, I sold WILD TONGUES CAN’T BE TAMED to Flatiron, a trade division of Macmillan Publishers. That year was one of the most challenging years of my life, in May 2019, during the middle of BookExpo (a major publishing event), I experienced a loss that I’m not ready to talk about just yet, but it rocked me to my core. I was in a deep slump, but eventually found my way back to the living, and selling this anthology filled me with such joy. I just knew that 2020 was already looking so much brighter for me, afterall, I would be writing—continuing to work through my grief—and also editing several other amazing writers like Janel Martinez, Elizabeth Acevedo, Mark Oshiro, Naima Coster and so many countless others. But then COVID took us all by surprise, knocked the creativity from my bones and I found myself stuck. Not to mention on top of everything else, the ongoing war on Black lives screwed with me mentally and emotionally more so than years past. We were all dealing with a lot and at one point, I didn’t think the book would be possible, but we all pulled through and were still able to produce. This anthology tackles so many things, it’s a YA nonfiction anthology that’s like nothing on the market. It’s definitely crossover though, and something that I believe adult readers should read too. Checkout the gorgeous cover below and feel free to pre-order your copy while you’re at it!

WHAT I’M UP TO THESE DAYS

Reading The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris.

Learning from amazing talent on MasterClass. I recently finished Issa Rae’s course, and currently working my way through Shonda Rhimes’s, maybe I’ll try writing scripts one day.

Binging Grimm

That’s all for now folks, follow me on social media for updates, even though I’m kinda on hiatus, I pop online every now and again.