Find Your Bubblegum, Chew It and Make It Bigger

Do you remember the New Kids On The Block bubble gums? Here you go, just in case…

This morning, as I was going through the New Kids social media, I saw Joey laughing at an IG story Griffin had shared with a photo of one of those little cases, saying, “Does your dad have his own bubble gum?” And I thought, “Ha!”

That “Ha!”, was my brain recalling yesterday’s episode of The Wood Works, “A conversation with Donnie Wahlberg,” in which Donnie shared an annecdote about bubble gums; a gum-ball machine actually. He said that – when they were kids and he would go over the Wood’s house for dinner – he was obsessed with two things: Betty’s desserts and “I can’t wait to get some of those gum-balls.”

The thing is Danny Wood’s family had a gum-ball machine and Donnie used to think they were “rich” because of it. And then what happened? Not so many years later… What happened? He had his own Bubble-gum.

Today I was going to write a post about that episode; how Danny and Donnie came to be the men they are know, all the struggles they went through and how much they worked to get to where they are now. But I couldn’t shake off that “Ha!” of my brain… So, that’s how this post came to be.

You know, when I was 10 years old a teacher wrote to my parents – on a short story I had written – something like, “take this girl to a workshop because this is how writers begin.”… But my parents, foster parents, didn’t pay attention to it…, to me…, and I entered Law School at 17. I enjoyed it; the knowledge, the college experience, but I was a writer and I knew I had to make it somehow.

In fact, I had a mission. I needed to tell the story of the seven year old girl I once was and who, after having gone through one of the most disgusting traumas a little girl could experience, stood tall and said to her self,

“My life is going to be like a movie; I’ll be the hero and it will have the best ending ever. It’s going to be so amazing that not even I can imagine it. And I’ll tell people about it!”

Laly (2019) “How Having ADHD Saved Me From a Lifetime of Traumas“. Neurodivergent.

A childhood dream is not something people should take lightly…

In my early twenties, a Law Firm that was also a publisher offered me a book deal; they had seen one handbook I’ve had written and they wanted me to write another one for a 10% of the sales. I thought,

“Nope! I don’t want to write about law; I want to write a movie, my story! I don’t want my name to get known for a Law book, I’d get stuck in that path forever! I’ll find another way; something will come up.”

In 2004 I developed a website (still don’t know how) and I started working as free-lance writer in Spanish for 12 to 16 – or more – hours per day; as a ghost writer in fact, writing thesis for all sort of professionals (lawyers, psychiatrists, accountants!… geez… don’t even ask….)

Then, long story short, WordPress showed up in the World Wide Web, I opened a “free blog” and I starting sharing my humor monologs in Spanish (in 2009); and so I learned about blogging, coding, how to edit videos, how to edit images… and I made so many mistakes! Eventually I started writing in English – which I always felt it was my language – and now…, now I am a full-time blogger… praying for time to finish that freaking script, but still: I am finally “doing it.”

What I want to say is… if you want to be successful, if you wish to live a fulfilling life, find that thing that makes you truly happy and go for it with all your might. It may take you a couple of decades; you may have to count the cents to see if you can have a coffee or if you need to keep them for the ride home; I’ve had. But you’ll get there, … just like I did.

Well, actually… I feel I’m half-way there… But who can tell if tomorrow someone will read my “43 Reasons Why You Should Read My Blog (And Netflix Should Buy My Show)” and say, “send me the script!” I know I’m gonna say “fuck!” because it’s not finished but!… Seriously, you know what I mean?

My guts and my faith tell me to keep going; they tell me that as long as I’m happy, doing what I love, for the right reasons, I’ll make it.

There’s something Donnie posted on 2020, on his IG Stories; he wrote, “When I was a kid… If you would’ve told me I’d be in New York making movies one day, I wouldn’t have listened to you because I’d be too busy working my ass off to make it happen. #NoQuit”

That’s something to keep in mind… Don’t you think?

#NeverQuit

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