New blog who dis?

Hey look—New Digs! Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. JustMyInkblot, the blog, has become Taina Writes!

Times they are a changin’, and my life has not been an exception. It’s been a few years since I’ve blogged consistently (if I ever actually did). That’s not to say I haven’t been writing, just that I felt a block when it came to my writing platform. Part of it had to do with the state of our government. My name played a huge role, as well. The biggest truth, and one that is harder to admit in writing than I’d expected, is simply that I got lost. 

I got lost in the unexpected realities of the progress I’d thought we’d made as an American culture. I got lost in discovering how many people in my life truly had no understanding of racism, American history, and science overall. Worse was the discovery that these same people have no interest in learning or healing these ignorances. The investment so many people have made in superiority and hatred has been an incredible loss of innocence for me. Although it is worth mentioning that I am humbled to still be able to get so shaken. Looking back at the woman I was when I’d started out in my writing career, it’s hard not to laugh at how much I thought I knew about the world, and people. Through this new lens my purpose has never been more clear. We artists are responsible for shaping culture. Silence equals complicity, and my voice has never been more necessary. 

I got lost in the idea that I had to have some kind of public persona as writer, too. I was afraid to alienate people to the point that I’d literally erased my own name from my site without realizing the supremacist conventions I was caving to. If I’m being honest, I was also kind of scared to expose information to people who were always trying to manipulate me or my family. It sounds paranoid, I’m sure, but life in a blended family isn’t always easy. My blog is supposed to be a place where I share insights, and lessons I’ve learned, but not being able to be honest about the private battles being fought behind the scenes was a drain on my creativity. I also got lost in the idea that I was only supposed to be writing my novel, and nothing else, until I finished. I found myself creatively constipated, until my cousin told me about The Artists Way, and I discovered that only through engaging my inner artist, and allowing her not just to breathe, but to fully indulge the creative impulses, will I ever be able to call upon her on demand( Clearly, I've learned very little about run-on sentences). 

I got lost in life. This one isn’t such a bad thing. After my Great Depression of 2016, I got help. I went to therapy, and began making decisions. I decided that I would focus on achieving goals I’d put on my bucket list as a child, like being kissed under the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and moving out of state.  I decided that I was going to be intentional about my time, and when I was ready to come back to blogging I was going to do it with my own name, and my own thoughts. I decided that I was going to turn the page in my life, and my career. I decided to start a new chapter. 

And so I have. 

I invite you to join me here, in this new space, Taina Writes --a blog. Come back in the weeks to come, and hear my stories. Read about the dilemma of a name, and where I’ve been these last years, or about my epic trip to Paris, and what it was like to get that kiss; how I learned to love watercolors; what the heck the Sketchbook Project is, and where you can see the one I submitted.  I’m dying to tell you about my move, and why I chose beautiful Baltimore as my new home. Let me share the insights I’ve learned, and when you’re ready, you can share yours with me. Follow me on this journey I call life, as I navigate my new city, finally finish my novel, and rediscover who Taina really is.