Birthday 2020

What an interesting day! I had no idea of what to expect and I was shocked at the immense difference between two thousand and nineteen and two thousand and twenty. But this was my year in a recap.

December of two thousand and nineteen was a joyous month. I enjoyed the fun festivities of the month and it was fun to slowly begin building my website. Of course, it was not something serious back then and I would upload at random intervals. But since then, I have devised a plan and schedule to what needs to be uploaded and what can be enjoyable.

January was none other than an enticing but crazy month. It was when the pandemic was just starting to be known. No one could tell me that I was not crazy. At first, I may not have believed that the pandemic was going to grow and affect me, but reality hit me in the face – hard! That was when I began to fear the pandemic. Other than that, it was a lovely month where my website hit forty views in a day and when I began to believe that this website had the potential to succeed. 

February was one to remember. I had many poems written and edited. I began planning and creating my monthly poetry prompts and ideas as well as planning for other events such as Valentine’s Day. It was so fun to tinker around with my video editor which I mainly use for school projects. It was a new medium for me to explore and I love to create poetry videos. This month was also very successful for my website and I was utterly speechless. I was so moved by all the gratitude and it made me want to continue all that much more. I had a community. A community of fellow writers.

March was a crazy month. It was a month of celebrations as well as adjusting. I continued to work on my website, balancing school, and other projects. I also created my Instagram and Tumblr account during this month which was another fun aspect to do weekly. I had finished by now the first two monthly prompts and I could not wait until April came round. My website was still doing well, and I could not be prouder, especially after I have given up on all the other websites that I used to have either for school or passion purposes. I also created an art page, which I have taken down because I was not as content to work on my artistic projects as often and I had no heart to put out something that was bad quality.

April was a hectic month. Being the first month with the prompts, I struggled to keep on top of things and balance it out with schoolwork. It got easier when we had a break, and I was able to work on things as well as online schooling. That helped me so much on getting back on track. Once I was back in the game, I was flying by until towards the end of the month when school returned. I managed through the online schooling phrase well and when we went back as normal, things started to go downhill. Assignments and assessments, exams and quizzes were piling in. That set me back a bit and I could not believe how far I had come since the beginning of the month from having fallen behind to managing to fall behind again. April was for sure a fanatical experiment.

May was a calm month. Nothing happened and I was sad to see my statistics go down. Daily poems were highly favoured, but I needed some time away and to focus on my studies. I would love to work on poems every day, but I have commitments which take my time away as well. I had started gaining a following which made me want to continue and not disappoint, so I tried to create a new schedule which has not been going so well. Two thousand and twenty-one still has no updated schedule. Anyhow, my social accounts were starting to grow, and I tried very hard to think about what I could upload weekly. Life was constantly being thrown around.

June was another hectic month. It was the second month with the daily prompts, and I had kept on top of things until we neared the end of the month. I started feeling unwell and unmotivated to continue working. It was a struggle, considering it was winter and I had taken on a few other things. I created my podcast as well. That was a fun change, and it was exciting to do something with audio after loving editing the video. Plus, I missed doing things with my voice since singing is now off the table. Well, that is June in a wrap.

July was a simple month. I followed the same routine, keeping up to date with everything and trying to keep on top of my studies as well. Towards the end of July, we had another break, and I began writing my novel. I did not work on it sacredly as I try to now, but it was a fun side project when I felt inspired to write something. I did not take it seriously until the beginning of August.

August was a crazy month. I had created an authoress account where I would share milestones for my novel. It is updated weekly or whenever I can and we were nearing September, meaning another month of daily poems. Yay! I continued to primarily focus on my novel, trying to meet my deadlines and research more about the publishing world, which I have done for a while now. Still do not know if I want to be traditionally published or self-published.

September was another month. However, this time around, I was able to keep on top of my studies and daily poems. I managed to get through the first half of the month pretty strongly and then I started to struggle when I had to finish “The Big Game” and continue to complete schoolwork. It was a juggling act once again. There were also some assignments and quizzes which took up time and being the beginning of Spring, allergic rhinitis was back. Just great! Anyhow, despite all the struggles, I managed to get through the month and finished a few other projects in the background.

October was a fun month for sure. I enjoyed playing around and working on my website layout and design. It was a new but worthwhile experience. I was able to get more songs out and finished many things. I also started trying to create another plan for two thousand and twenty-one. Scratch that. It failed again. Oh well, at least the month went by smoothly.

November was an interesting month. The final daily-poetry month of two thousand and twenty. Wow, what a weird feeling. At the start of the year, I did not believe anyone would care or even read my writing. But I was proven wrong. I am so thankful for everything and everyone who has clicked, read, et cetera on my website. I am overwhelmed with joy and here is to another year (hopefully). Cheers!

I love you all so much. May the rest of the year be epic.

So, why don’t you join me in my adventure?

Until next time, stay positive, work hard, and make it happen!

~Issy Juanita