A New Year, A Millennial Pushing 40, and a New Novella

It has been a few years since my last update—and the main reason for that was landing a writing job in the marketing sector. I have been writing about toilet installations, drywall repairs, and HVAC replacements for over a year—interesting stuff! Umm. I thought I learned a lot, but it turned out that I am still unable to use the toilet plunger properly, nor do I know how to turn on the furnace. While writing informative content and blogs like that, my mind seems entirely elsewhere. I still don’t cheat with AI, so at least there is a personality behind the piece of writing.

I hope you are all well, healthy, safe, and sound. Moreover, I’m glad to see the odd blog post pop up in my Gmail’s social folder. Cherish any minute you get to write for yourself. How many people still post private blogs these days? I remember when creating content wasn’t about providing free information to the reader and helping them solve a problem. I’m talking about the era when journalling first became digital—when blogging was a form of self-therapy. Does anyone remember LiveJournal?

Around that time, my favourite author, Bret Easton Ellis, coined the term Generation Wuss because millennials became the ultimate epitome of victim playing. I get what he means because many Gen-Xers grew up with scarred parents who were too traumatized by war periods. As a result, Gen-Xers had to be independent and self-sufficient. And by the time millennials came to see the day of light, their parents were overprotective, resulting in an upbringing that came with anxiety, sensitivity, neediness, and whatnot. Yes, that was a huge part of me growing up and probably millions of others. What can I say, except that you will learn eventually, even if you think it’s too late? 

I learned there is never a point in attaching blame to anyone, nor is there to hold a painful grudge. You move on because you’re responsible for who you are and how you feel. 

That said, I know many millennials who went through a crisis during the 2008 recession. Up to this day, they never had a stable career unless they implemented a complete pivot to save their financial future. By that, I mean turning from an artist to a coder or going to business school after graduating in film studies.  

The idea of abandoning my passion never crossed my mind, though, especially not in college. The repercussions are the same as any artist’s nowadays—you only get to practice your passion in your own free time—if there is free time.

Here’s the thing: I do not force myself to write stories, novels, or novellas. I write when I feel a sense of remorse or when there is an unfathomable feeling brooding inside. As a writer, it’s OK to say that you don’t write for anyone but yourself. Ultimately, you have something to say, regardless of how sensitive others might react to your worldview. You convey it via art, music, fiction, semi-fiction, etc. What you create will always remain most relevant to you because no one has power over how you feel.

I started writing Plutonic in January 2023 and even put my semi-autobiography on hold because it didn’t feel significant then. I was dealing with something else, a guilt of some sort. Yes, something happened, but it took a while for it to sink in. When your head is so wrapped up around things in life, you don’t pay close attention to what other people—I mean friends—might be going through. I’ve never seen myself as a good friend, but I try to be. The new novella is more about how I see myself in that regard. And that is all I will say.