Dear Top 6 Writing Tools,

You are my first ever guest post. You gave me my first public writing experience. It was magic to see you all lit up with hearts and likes, comments and a couple shares. I sat at my desk all morning watching you work your magic.

I videoed myself in my Insta-story almost crying as soon as it went live on Ink & Grace. (Fun fact, First Guest Post, I hate crying in front of people.) I tagged all my people on Facebook. I Marco Polod (Poloed? Polo-ed? Polo-d?) my cousins, sister, and one of my best friends showing them that it was up and they could read it if they wanted.

I got notification highs from you that entire hour and a half at home I should have been packing for my trip to Los Angeles, and then again at the McDonalds in Madera when we stopped for a cousin and bathroom break. People were commenting and liking you. My sister shared you in her Insta-story (!!!) and on Facebook. There were more notifications waiting for me when my mom and I arrived in LA 4 1/2 hours later. I took the time to reply to comments. I screen shot things. I wanted to remember that day forever.

But I’m willing to bet you know what happened the next morning when I checked social media.

That’s right: nothing.

And logically there wouldn’t be anything new since I had been obsessively checking on you the night before.

To be honest, I deflated a bit. That’s it. It was over. (“Over.”) Looking back on that morning, that’s what I should have taken a screen-shot of: the absence of notifications popping up. Because literally seconds after I deflated that Thursday morning in my uncle’s kitchen, Practical Tracy came through for me (the part of me that was first cultivated by my dad and then for the last 7 1/2-ish years by my husband) and fought the deflation with this thought:

But this isn’t writing. Writing isn’t about the likes on social media. It’s about sitting down and writing the words.

 

And that is so true.

Mostly.

Writing isn’t completely about the likes and the shares, the hearts and the reactions. It’s really about the fact that I sat down months ago and wrote down my top 6 writing tools, regardless of how unqualified I felt.

The fact that you even exist on somewhere on the Internet besides this blog is because of the friendship with another writer and her love for the writing community.

Because without me sitting down and writing the words first, there would be no reason for family and friends to come together and celebrate you on social media.

This letter to you, Guest Post, is my first blog in the four weeks since you went live. And what have I been doing since? The butt-in-chair work of writing the words. (And also working a side job that I love and fighting a cold.)

The week before I went on vacation, I had written every morning before work. However, while on vacation, I lowered the pressure to write every day and gave myself permission to soak up the city and people. A part of the Writing Life is Gathering and living life, so I took it all in–Downtown Los Angeles, Grand Central Market, that beautiful Pacific Ocean, Redondo Beach Pier, all the freeways, the tallest buildings I’ve ever seen, the palm trees, The Getty, the wind and the sun, the salty smell of the ocean, writing postcards, Filipino food, Yallwest, family, Monica, home and potluck food, friends and board games, Oreos and milk with my niece, painting with my sister.

 

My notebook and Notes App have proof that I’ve been writing, that I’ve been doing the behind-the-scenes work that social media often times doesn’t see.

And now, four weeks removed from you going live, from the craziness that is travel, and three weeks removed from the housewife life preview, I’m back at my day job, sitting down at my dining room table in the mornings, doing the work of writing the words.

Thank you for the firework display, but I’m ready for the magic of consistency, the magic that comes with writing a little each day.