The Struggles Of Being A Writer & What Could Be Next For Me

Hello everybody!

Let’s go back in time a little bit right now!

In May 2023, I graduated from SUNY Purchase. While most people probably have everything figured out at this point in time, and know what they want to pursue, the same could not be said for me. 

I figured that I would take the summer off, and then try to figure something out in the fall. At this time, I went to a variety of places with my family and took a lot of pictures of these places, in hopes that I would want to pursue photography as a potential career path. Unfortunately, I found that it wasn’t that exciting, and my posts to social media got fewer and fewer likes, so I didn’t pursue this any further once the summer ended.

Around the time Fall 2023 started, my dad encouraged me to start writing. I didn’t know what I was going to write about, but that didn’t last very long, as I remembered one of my classes that I enjoyed at SUNY Purchase involved me pretending to run a business that promoted concerts, so through the encouragement of my dad, I chose to write about the various upcoming events in the area. And then, I chose to also branch out to include cool and interesting places as well. And, I enjoyed it a lot, and learned about so many things I knew nothing about. 

At the same time, my dad encouraged me to also start writing about my favorite show, The Masked Singer. I initially started by talking about where various past contestants had upcoming shows, but then I switched over to something that is infinitely better: Talking about celebrities that could potentially be contestants on the show. Through my writing and my research, I have noticed that there are a lot of celebrities that could realistically be on the show, and many of the celebrities that I have written about have ended up as contestants. 

By the time Season 11 rolled around, I began doing something that was just as fun as coming up with celebrities that would be perfect for the show: Doing write-ups of the episodes after they had aired. I enjoy doing this, because it feels like sharing a part of my world with my friends, and for my friends who don’t watch the show, I feel that doing this allows them to experience the show without actually watching it. 

For a little while, I worked under this mindset. I would do write-ups of The Masked Singer whenever a new season was airing, and then I would write about celebrities that would be great for the show during the hiatus time, which wouldn’t be that long, as the show would have a season in the spring, and a season in the fall. 

So, for several months, I would alternate between writing about places and events, and writing about The Masked Singer, and this format proved to be great for me.

Unfortunately, much like everything else in the world, things changed, and I found myself trying to change along with them. 

When it comes to writing about events and places, I have written about so many of them that I have basically run out of places and events to still talk about.

Then, The Masked Singer decided to switch to a format of one season a year, which means that I would spend much of the year just trying to come up with anything to write about with regards to the show, and it would almost certainly give me burnout. 

Last summer was a good summer in terms of shows for me to write about, but I probably went about it in the worst way possible, as I chose to write about three shows at the same time. This proved to be too much for me, as I ended up quitting writing about MasterChef before the season even ended. But this attempt at an experiment was not a total loss, as I got to write about Match Game again, and I was having about as much fun as I possibly could while doing so. But this didn’t last, as Match Game did not return this summer.

These past few months have also been difficult for me in terms of writing blog posts, as I have had numerous false starts for numerous blog posts that I ended up deleting. I mean, I haven’t written about any upcoming events or places in the area in months due to the fact that the amount of events in the area dies down at a certain point in time, and I have written about basically every place you can think of already, some even more than once. 

Initially, I figured that I would write about MasterChef this summer to occupy the void that The Masked Singer left, and it ended up being a smart decision for me at first, but as our good friend Corinne Bailey Rae says, the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same, as I chose not to write about last weeks episode, and I have no desire to write about the remaining episodes this season. And I also chose to write about older episodes of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares to occupy my time when I wasn’t writing about MasterChef, but again, the desire to continue writing about either show has disappeared at this time. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s the fact that these shows aren’t really cooking shows, but trashy reality shows masquerading as cooking shows. 

So, yeah. I can’t find any events or places to write about, it’s hard for me to come up with creative posts about The Masked Singer when the show is on an extended hiatus, and writing about the cooking shows I have written about just doesn’t seem to be that enjoyable for me.

This is also hard for me for numerous other reasons. 

First of all, there are times where I am embarrassed that I don’t have a job. I mean, I have applied for numerous jobs in the area, but I either never hear back from them, or they turn me down in favor of someone way more qualified.

Also, and I know this is going to sound very dramatic, but there are so many days where I miss all my friends and my cousins, and some days are harder than others. Here’s the truth: Almost all of my friends and cousins have moved to New York City or some other state entirely, and a lot of them are even getting married, while I have done none of these things. It also gets even harder when I haven’t heard from some friends or cousins in months or even years. I know that I should not be reaching out to friends I never hear from anymore, but it’s just difficult because I have so many great memories with all of them, that I keep reaching out to them in hopes that they will want to talk to me, or even that they just remember me. My cousin described this problem as me being too nice, which I feel is an accurate description. I have also found myself getting blocked on social media by people I thought were my friends, and the worst part is that at times, I feel they were absolutely in the right to do that, even though all my friends have sided with me. And with all my friends leaving the area and getting married, I feel it’s only a matter of time before I stop hearing from them as well. 

Yeah, so I’m worried that I won’t find the right job for me, I miss my friends and cousins a lot of the time, and I don’t know what to do next with my blog posts. This is especially hard for me because I always assumed that writing blog posts would be something that would lead to me figuring out what I want to do with my life, and also sort of connect with my friends by sharing them on social media, so if I’m unable to find an actual job or not have my blog posts read by all my friends and cousins, then what am I doing? 

I know that this sounds very dramatic, but sometimes, I just need to vent about things in hopes that it will help me feel better. 

I don’t know how to solve everything, but I do know that I still have some ideas with writing blog posts. The only concern is obviously whether or not I am able to continue with the blog posts, or if I will lose interest and give up like I have done with so many other ideas for blog posts. 

As of right now, I have no desire to write about the remaining episodes of this season of MasterChef, or any more episodes of Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, and that might continue once Hell’s Kitchen actually returns for its next season. I’m going to be completely honest with you guys right now, I only really like the creative side of the cooking shows. What I mean is that I like seeing all the unique dishes the chefs create. Kitchen Nightmares is not that show whatsoever, so writing about it is not the most fun thing in the world for me. Hell’s Kitchen is only this kind of show for at best the first half of every episode, so that makes talking about episodes slightly enjoyable, but when it comes to Dinner Service, it’s basically a completely different show entirely. And MasterChef typically is almost always this creative cooking show, but this season has almost been leaning away from that, in a way that has made the season almost uninteresting to sit through.

If I’m being completely honest, I’ve been watching and really enjoying a number of shows on the Food Network. I just love seeing the various creative dishes that are made there, and some of the incredibly unique and bizarrely specific rules that chefs need to follow when making these dishes. These shows that I am talking about include Beat Bobby Flay, Tournament Of Champions, Alex Vs. America, Bobby’s Triple Threat, and Wildcard Kitchen. Another thing that makes these shows so great is that for the most part, judging is completely blind, which removes the risk of bias influencing any decisions. I have been considering writing about any or even all of these shows, but I just keep worrying that I will lose motivation as soon as I start writing about them, and then I’ll be right back where I started with no idea what I am going to write about next.

I have also been considering doing blog posts about past Masked Singer contestants and their journeys on the show, but again, I’m worried that writing about that won’t be fun for me.

So yeah, as you can see, I have a few ideas for blog posts, but I just worry that I won’t enjoy writing them, and then I will have nothing. I have also decided that I am not going to hold myself to such a strict schedule for certain blog posts, as trying to get blog posts done by Friday for a show that has aired on Wednesday is too much pressure for me. I will still continue publishing certain blog posts on Fridays, but if I feel too much pressure to complete a blog post by a Friday deadline, I will hold off on it and finish it later.

I know that this is not the most optimistic or upbeat blog post I have ever written, but that’s kind of how things are sometimes. Maybe we need to vent about what’s bothering us in order to move forward. I am certainly ready to move forward with what’s next for me, but unfortunately I don’t know what that is. And I’m okay with that.

I would like to thank all of you who have continued to read what I have written during this journey, and I hope that you will all continue to support me with whatever I write next!