Hey everyone,
I'm super excited to share something I've been working on – a new anthology series, and it's the first of its kind for me. It's a collection of writings, photos, and thoughts from 2013 that never really got their moment in the sun.
Picture this: It's 2013, and I'm leaving everything I know and love in New York City to start fresh in South Beach, Miami. I was opening a new spot for work, but honestly, I didn't know a soul there. It was just me, on my own, in a brand new city (feeling a bit of déjà vu these days, minus the new city part).
Looking back, that year was a huge turning point for me, especially creatively. Here's a sneak peek of what was going down:
- Fell in and out of love, not once but twice.
- Tried my hand at a screenplay (which is now lost, bummer).
- Upgraded from iPhone pics to a DSLR, and hello first paying photography gigs!
- Got into music big time – wrote, produced, and recorded three whole albums (also lost, thanks to my hard drive crashing, ugh).
- Dreamed up a whole 20-30+ year plan for my art (still on track, believe it or not).
- Got the beginnings of maybe 20-25 short stories and novellas down.
- And started putting together my very first anthology, "A Poet’s Dream."
After a lot of thinking, I've decided to launch this series on Substack, but for now, it's just for my paid subscribers. It wasn't an easy call to make.
I've been gathering my writings and pictures since I was 15, and there's so much I want to share with you, stuff that's a bit more personal and different from the usual 'The Year I Became' things. I'm putting a lot of heart into this, so I feel like this is the right way to go.
I can't wait to show you what I've been up to! And don't worry, there'll still be plenty of free content coming your way. Huge thanks to everyone who's been reading, commenting, sharing, and supporting all this while. There's a lot more awesome stuff coming up.
Stay tuned and stay poetic!
E. A. Bland
P.S. And guess what? I've still got a half a shelf of old papers, songs, and actual photos – and that's not even counting all the digital stuff I have. 🫨