Say hello to your next chapter.
They say writing a novel is a marathon, not a sprint, and as someone trying to run that marathon in New York City, I often feel like I’m one step away from falling flat on my face. But hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere, and it helps when you don’t have to do it alone.
I feel like some of my best writing stems from reading and reflecting on my own lived experiences, and not gonna lie, I’ve been slacking on that first part. That’s why I want to stuff this newsletter with links to essays, short stories, novels, articles, whatever I read during the week that excites me both as a person and as a writer. I want NBD to be a place where writers and non-writers alike can feel inspired by the stories themselves, or the ways they are written.
The Internet is a trove of information though, and there’s no way I can find every brilliant set of words on my own. Readers like you can share some of your own reading recommendations in the comments, as well as any tips and tricks that have helped you throughout your own journey. There’s always a chance a piece you recommended could make it to the following week’s newsletter. My hope is that this will be a positive community where we can share ideas and motivate one another while we work towards creating something spectacular.
The format of these bi-weekly posts will be broken up into four sections that’ll include the following:
I.) A snippet of creative non-fiction. These vignettes are a few short paragraphs that may illustrate a moment or experience from my life in New York City that resonated with me. It’s mostly a way for me to play with my creative writing skills and see them evolve over time since I won’t be sharing my novel snippets here. It’s also a way for you to get to know me a bit better so I’m not just a random talking head spewing links at you every two weeks. (Ahem, it also lets me live my fantasy of being a Black Carrie Bradshaw, but I digress!)
II.) A novel status update. Details on how many pages I wrote, what I’m struggling with, what I’m proud of, strategies I’m trying out, things like that.
III.) A handful of links to stories I read that inspired me in some way. My eyes light up whenever I read something that gives me ideas to include in my novel. Other times, the writing itself is just so damn good, I can’t possibly keep it to myself! I’ll have a line explaining why I chose to include each link in that week’s roundup in case you also want to check it out.
IV.) A takeaway from something I’m currently reading long-term, like a book or something. It could be something the author said or did that really stuck with me, something new I learned, whatever. Just a little somethin’ somethin’ to end things on a good note before you’re on your merry way.
About me.
I am a 20-something-year-old Nigerian-American writer that just moved to New York City from Washington, D.C. I’m also a journalist, and these days I spend most of my time writing about personal technology for The Wall Street Journal. (That said, the views I post in this newsletter are my own and not that of my employer.) You can find some of my previous work in roughly 10 other publications, including The Real Deal, The Washington Post, The New York Times’ Student Journalism Institute and a handful of other places as seen here.
I’ve dedicated most of my life to journalism but I fell in love with creative writing first, which is probably why I minored in it in undergrad. Growing up in my hometown of Macon, Georgia, I spent my childhood writing stories with both original characters and cringe-y renditions of those I’d seen on TV (yes, this includes a Peter Brady fanfic). I also journaled, a lot. It was journalism that helped me better understand real people beyond myself and my TV screen, though, and I believe it continues to aid my creative writing to this day.
I’ve yet to have any of my creative work published yet, unless you count a literary magazine award for a college I didn’t attend, and a personal essay I wrote for the Online News Association’s Student Newsroom and Innovation Lab. These past few years have been a mix of hella rejections, unfinished ideas and flat out not knowing where I should submit my work in the first place. I know I’m still at the beginning of my writer’s journey, but I’m hoping to change all of that sometime soon.
Let’s see here, what else do you need to know? I love me a mean everything bagel. The last book I finished at the time of me writing this was Lakewood by Megan Giddings. My philodendron Aleafia is the unspoken queen of my New York City apartment. I am constantly enamored by the work of Roxane Gay. I wear my Zillennial and Sagittarius labels with pride, though I rarely feel like I fully fit into any one group. Sometimes that’s a good thing.
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