No one has to care about what you do

One of the biggest challenges as a creator of any kind is to get people to give your work a chance. In a world with such an excess of choices of ways to entertain yourself, getting people to invest time and money in you is quite the challenge, especially because no one at all needs to care about you or what you do. Actually, that’s not accurate. One person needs to care about what you do… and that’s you. 

People talk shop about different strategies to engage audiences, to connect with people, and all for the purpose of sales and success. Quite often you’ll read about the importance of platform and creating your own platform. And true, it is important; but if you’re always focusing on the end goal, metrics, sales, and stuff like that, it’s a recipe for misery, because quite often people won’t care. 

People who you grew up with. 

People who you went to school with. 

People who you worked with. 

Friends.

Family.

A LOT of people won’t care or at least it’ll feel that way. And that’s OK.

I write this not to dissuade you, but because it can and does happen, and in the end, everyone’s approval and validation should be nice-to-haves but not musts. This actually applies to most things in life. You can go on doing millions of things to seek approval and the only guarantee life can offer is that results may vary. Some people will get all the support you could ever imagine (or it may appear that way) while others will face a very lonely road. Sometimes you’ll have that support and sometimes you’ll swim in the silence. That’s also OK. It’s part of the journey and creating is often a very lonely process where you have only yourself for company… which is why that’s the only opinion that should matter.

Should you have a platform? Sure. It’s a savvy move… but never at the expense of your peace of mind or health, be it physical, mental, or emotional. It can start with some recommended steps, but for me, I think platforms work best when they become an extension of yourself and when you enjoy what you do regardless of the engagement. I do countless things on social media and although the likes do offer some sort of validation, the main reason I do what I do is to keep challenging myself creatively and because I try and make it fun. From silly Visual Typo puns and made up definitions in my Teactionary, to SkyThoughts, sock pics, and the oh so popular 00 Bananas, I always work hard to enjoy myself doing what I do and because I think at least one person will get a kick out of what I do. Some of the things I post are to engage people but algorithms be damned, if you don’t tag people, getting a response is quite uphill unless you pay-to-play, something facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and countless other social media platforms are all too happy to put into practice. 

I don’t pay for my posts, something I’ve thought about from time to time to see if I have better results. I know people who swear by facebook ads or amazon paid ads, but to be honest, I’d rather just have fun and in that sense, I’m very successful. What I’ve also noticed is that getting people to care about what you do has less rhyme and reason to it than you’d believe. 

For me, I’ve learned that if you love what you do and I mean genuinely love what you do, people become curious. People will wonder why you’re so happy doing what you’re doing and they’ll give you a chance. Some people might see you at a comic con or a book event and wonder what that person is talking about… and if they sense enthusiasm and see a spark in your eye every time you talk about what you do, then maybe, just maybe, they’ll give you a chance. Then some of those people will read and enjoy and some might even connect to a greater level. Who knows? They might even begin to care… and to care deeply at that. 

I’ve had books out for seven years and participated in events from 2014 until today. I am far from having a sustainable writing career because sales could be better, but as time passes, more people care. They genuinely and sincerely care. They think they pester when they ask about upcoming books, but it’s the kind of thing that makes me giddy. Is it everybody? No. And it’ll never be everybody… and for the third time in this post, that’s OK, because some people care, and that’s where your focus has to go.

Peace, love, and maki rolls

The Healing Power of Music

Ever since I was a teen, I’ve found a lot of comfort in music. When I was feeling something I couldn’t fully understand, there was some artist or band that took that sensation and created something that helped me say “that… that is what I’m feeling.” Artists like Pearl Jam, Blind Melon, Pink Floyd, Soundgarden, Soda Stereo, Tori Amos, Sting, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, and countless others were there for me when words failed me and I couldn’t express what life was throwing my way. 

Music is magical that way. It’s also as healing as it is unifying because that song that means the world to you can also mean the world to someone else. 

There are plenty of songs that have helped me overcome a lot of things and these change depending on the point in my life we're talking about and what I was facing at the time. After Mom’s passing, I decided to make a playlist in her memory and chose 17 songs that mean something to me and have helped me during these months. She was born on a 17th, hence the 17 tracks. I’m sharing this because although it already has songs, I’m sure a lot of people have songs that have helped them through tough times and I want to open this list to others so people can recommend tracks to include here. Feel free to leave a comment here or contact me wherever it's more convenient to give a listen and add to the list. 

So consider this an invitation to listen to this playlist as much as an invitation for you to share songs that have helped you during times of sadness and grief. Songs that have brought light your way and that either express what you feel or give you comfort. Right now it's my list... but the idea is for it to be our list. Who knows? It might help us all out when we least expect it.

Thanks for reading and listening and til the next time we connect though words.

Peace, love, and Loud Love.

Cheers in Heaven

It’s been seven months since I don’t have to worry about my carrier signal to talk to Mom. Seven months where I continue to think about her, look at the phone, miss her voice, yet opt to smile rather than cry (maybe a tear comes through here and there, but hey, I’m Only Human^®). 

I smile because I have the choice to smile when I think of Mom, because if smiling is an option, then why not? I smile because Mom was so abundantly generous with the love she gave me that it helps to see the good in life, even when things go bad, even when the inevitable happens, even when the course of time outlasts a will. I smile because she had such a beautiful smile that she would light up a room and that light still warms me from within. I smile because she wasn’t just Mom to my brothers and me, but because she continues to be our Mother, and continues to be Mother to many people. I smile because I have so many good memories of her and we shared so many good talks. 

I could focus on how easy it is to miss her, how intense the longing is, or I can breathe and smile, knowing I carry her with me. It’s not that I don’t allow myself the space to cry, it’s that I let go of that and then focus on all the good she left me… an ocean of love as it were. I think that’s the perfect analogy because if you think about it, even with all the technological and scientific advances we have, we have no idea what lays down deep in the oceans… that was the love of my Mother. Boundless, reaching to the horizon, and with depths unlike anything else. It’s also perfect because the ocean has waves and each wave is a gift… and if anything is clear, it’s how generous Mama Estrada was in giving. Her time and counsel were sought by many and treasured by those who dropped their pride in favor of listening to someone who took the time to listen to them and speak to them from the heart, only wanting to help. 

I continue to toast to her good health because even if she’s not here in the physical plane, her journey has gotten way more interesting. She was spiritual and was quite in tune with her intuition, calling me up when I was having a bad day and asking what was wrong without me saying one thing. She would often catch me off base like that and then we would chat, because we talked from before I was born to this day. I’ve said before that people wouldn’t come in the room at the hospital when she delivered me because they thought there was someone visiting. And there wasn’t. It was just me and her, chatting, as we always did, as we always will. We did a lot of talking and some of my best memories would be downing a bottle of wine between the two of us and just waffling on. She is probably the reason why I’m so chatty, or at least one of the reasons why I love conversation and having a heart-to-heart with someone. She talked to me not in baby talk or goo-goo ga-gas; she really talked to me, before I was born, when I was a newborn, and throughout my entire life. She knew I could hear her so she talked to me. So I took a cue from her. When she couldn’t respond, I talked to her normally, chatted with her, told her how much I loved her, read to her, and kept her company in the best way I could, basically doing anything I could to make her smile, because I knew she was learning a new way to smile and I was happy to help her in these new steps. Now that’s she’s passed on, I still talk to her normally, tell her jokes, make sure to embellish my stories as best as possible, and chat with her, like always. 

Being a writer, that means I’m a man of words. I find meaning in life through the symbols we use to convey the magic of story, the beauty of an emotion or feeling, or the soul smiles contained in the contact that happens when one message is shared from one human to another. She is with me and she shall always be… and that makes me smile.

I miss Mom. 

I always will. 

But I also love Mom. 

And I’ll also do that always and forever, either because I don’t know any better or because I know best... and she just happened to raise me. 

Salud, Mama. Te amo hoy y siempre. 

Peace, love, and sauvignon blanc.

Humans 4 Puerto Rico – Earthquakes on the Island

So if you’ve seen the news, depending on where you are, maybe you’ve seen that our Island has had a series of earthquakes during this past week starting on January 6 and continuing until today. The strongest shock so far has been 6.4 off the South coast off the town of Guánica. 

Although 6.4 is not as high as some other high profile earthquakes like the ones in Chile, Japan, India, or Mexico, they have caused significant damage and unfortunately PR isn't well equipped to deal with earthquakes. This means people have lost their homes and that entire communities are being displaced. The main affected areas are on the Southern part of the Island. This includes towns like Lajas, Guánica, Yauco, Guayanilla, Peñuelas, and Ponce (map pictured).

I'm doing my best to offer any updates and information but for something much more official, feel free to follow David Begnaud, who once again is doing a topnotch job of covering the situation and getting hard to find people to answer hard to answer questions. 

The quakes have been felt throughout the Island and it’s been that way all week and they’re still ongoing. So this means there are two types of efforts: the ones that will respond to basic needs right now (water, shelter, food, medical equipment/first aid, etc.) The other will be for the aftermath, where people will be affected for a long time. If this were an isolated case, this would be enough, but people are actually still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Maria. So people need help and will need help for the foreseeable future. 

With that, I’m letting you know that any royalties or money I make off my books and other creator and author related events and efforts shall go to help the people back home. 

This means, that if you buy a digital or physical book off Amazon, any money I make will go to help people. If you buy an Estrada Crate, I will take any money I make off the books and use to help local efforts that help my sisters and brothers on the Island. If you want to cut away the middle man and donate directly to any of the causes I'm supporting, take a screenshot, share it on social media with the hashtags #Humans4PuertoRico and #PuertoRicoEarthquakes, and I'll send you an ebook. 

After a couple of days, I’ve been able to identify some local efforts that are making and will continue to make an impact. What does this mean? I have contact information of individuals who are making local grassroots efforts to take aid directly to people. I am not referring people to most organizations, foundations, or any government officials because I saw what happened after Hurricane Maria. If I recommend a cause or effort, it’s because I’ve seen the work and know the people. Period. I will share personal information of one effort and have the information of other people whom I trust but will not disclose publicly for safety reasons. I shall offer an explanation of who each group is but if you have more questions, use the wonderful comment section down below and I’ll address any question you have or contact me privately via social media on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Now for the efforts:

Tito Auger

Tito is best known as the front man of a Puerto Rican band called Fiel a la Vega but beyond that, he’s a standup guy and there’s no nonsense where he is concerned. He’s helping out and going directly to communities and sharing receipts and being pretty transparent in how he’s using the money they receive. He is accepting donations via ATH Movil or Paypal. If you donate either way, use the message “donación al Sur”. It is a very committed group of people who don't want or care for the limelight. They just want to help. 

ATH Movil: 787-409-5190

Paypal: wmorciglio@gmail.com

For the Facebook page with written and video updates, receipts, and information, visit www.facebook.com/TitoAugerCantautor/

Zaida Burgos

I know Zaida personally and worked with her for over 7 years at a previous job. She is a selfless person and I was able to collaborate with her after Hurricane Maria for #Humans4PuertoRico efforts. Here’s the blogpost where I show pictures of what other people’s generosity was able to achieve. https://jdestradawriter.blogspot.com/2018/12/humans4humans-yabucoa-edition.html

She is looking for materials to help people cope with anxiety. This includes: coloring books, sketch notebooks, pencils, coloring pencils, crayons, or any other materials to create. This is to offer people of all ages an outlet and to help cope with anxiety. Unfortunately, mental health is something that will need to be addressed all around. I have her personal information and do require you to contact me personally to share this information to send her materials or donations directly. For her first effort, she’s picking up materials until January 17 to deliver them on Sunday January 19, but I suspect this will be the first of a few. 

Students from Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola, Class of ‘98

Several of my high school classmates are making efforts to go directly to affected communities. These are guys I grew up with, people who went above the call after Hurricane Maria, and people I know personally and trust. I have their personal phones for direct donations as well as paypal information but will look for more means of support. The motto of our high school is "men at the service of everyone", and I'm proud to know them and see them putting this into practice yet again. Here are some of the pictures from the efforts they’ve done on their own between yesterday and today.

Imagine you going to a local Costco or Wal-Mart and taking everything directly to people. That's what we're talking about here. 

Arte Al Rescate

Another good friend of mine is Juan Carlos Baez, and he shared the Arte Al Rescate effort, where ALL proceeds from artwork sold will go to help people in Puerto Rico. 

He had this message to share: “Please consider buying some of the artwork created by my students and students from Puerto Rico and New York. All proceeds will be used to help the people of Puerto Rico as they deal with the recent earthquakes.”

Here’s the link: https://www.artealrescate.org.

World Central Kitchen

Lastly, there’s World Central Kitchen. WCK has demonstrated commitment to helping communities in need and I saw their work after Hurricane Maria and am seeing what they’re doing right now. I know some people have a beef with Chef José Andrés but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s the only org of which I’ve heard of from people from different areas where they have offered meals, so they still get my vote and support. 

If you have other places to donate, by all means, go ahead. It’s a time where a lot of people feel the need to help. For me, these are the ones I’m supporting because I have either seen them in action or know the people involved on a personal level. I shall not relay people to government run centers. Instead, I want to put energy, money, and effort where I see a positive impact and supplies get to where they have to get. I know these people. I trust these people. I won’t get a tax return and I don’t want one. Fear happens and it is natural to worry, though in the end, fear, anxiety, and worry are all energy… and I’m doing my best to use what I feel to have a positive impact. I just want to help and I think I’m not the only one. Thanks for reading and my best to you all.

Peace, love, and maki rolls.

JD

2019 Report Card

A lot of people start off a New Year by saying stuff like, “New Year, New Me.” This type of message comes from a good place or at least a good intention of wanting to be better, do better, and focus on the good. For the last several years, the first blog post I write in a year has been my report card for the previous year where I go over all my goals and how I did with them because I see the value of looking back, seeing what I achieved, and how I did overall. I like that tradition, so here’s to keeping it up.

Another reason of why I do the report card is because it also gives me a sense of accountability. Of course I want to do better than the last year, whatever that truly means since there’s a lot to take into account in regards to what was planned and what the year threw at me… and 2019 definitely did not hold back any punches. There will be new things to go for this year, count on that… but this is still me. Not the good ole me. Not the same me. Just me on my path, evolving the best I can, committing mistakes, having successes, surprising myself, overcoming failures and disappointments, finding plenty of smiles along the way, learning as much as I can, and focusing on the path ahead. 

If this is your first time to this blog, what I do is copy and paste the goals I’d written in January of last year and comment on each part and how I did. I also give an overall assessment and dig a little deeper where I think it’s worth to explore. I don’t sugarcoat things, I do my best to own up to my mistakes, and I also do my best to recognize the victories I had, because too often we focus on the bad and forget the good. 

Last year had a lot of things happen, most notably the passing of my Mother in June. It happened near the halfway mark of 2019 but definitely shaped a lot of what happened and what I did. I traveled to Puerto Rico to be with her and give my best to her and my family. It was a hard time, but one that beyond the grief of losing a loved one, brought good things. Communication, unity, selflessness, generosity, kindness, support. Those are one word blurbs of the amazing things I was able to see while going through some of the hardest experiences in my life. Mom shall always be a pivotal part of my life because so much of who I am comes from what I learned, what she nurtured, and how free she allowed me to be in defining who and how I am. She always criticized my report cards, saying I was too harsh on myself and that I should have given myself a higher grade. But to me, I always keep it honest. If I got a B, it was a reflection of the effort I put in combined with the results I obtained. Still, let’s go over last year’s goals before seeing what my grade was.

Publishing Goals

1.Book 3 of the Human Cycle. This has been an intense write and it’s taking longer because a lot of things have changed in the development of the plot. The Human Cycle hits home deeper and more personally than probably anything else I’ll write in my life and it is shaped by what I live… so naturally, there’s a lot going into this book and it took a long while for things to settle so I could see and feel the plot clearer. 

2. Collaboration with UK author Cate Evans. This project took a small break because of what I was going through but also what Cate is going through. She’s an amazing friend through and through, someone whom I hold in the highest esteem, and as she finishes her cancer treatment, we’re both plotting for the next steps in this project. First things first though. To health and then to plotting. 

3. Daydreams Vol 2. – Wasn’t able to finish this one either… but finally getting to a point where I can freely go back into the world of Draem. 

4. Blanc Comics in book form – I was able to publish Tricks and Ladders and Raining Dead in book form. Very little movement in regards to sales, but they’re in physical form. We’ll see what I can do to get this project to the next level. 

5. Philosophy coffee table book – I love the artist responsible for the other part of this book like he was a brother, because he is a life brother… and he has a deadline of April of this year. :) 

Writing Goals

1. Poetry. I did continue writing and working on several collections and the second half of this year will bring news… and books? We’ll have to wait and see. 

2. More consistent blog writing. I wrote in the blog but this took a backseat with everything that happened last year. 

3. Story arc for 3 series. I worked on these story arcs a bit, but decided against investing too much time in this, because concentrating was quite the challenge. 

4. Historical paranormal fantasy story. Didn’t work on this and will put this in the queue after I finish other projects. 

5. Concepts for Spanish fantasy middle grade books. Still working on those Spanish books, but they’ll get done eventually lol. This is the part of the list where I chuckle at my over ambition. 

6. Contemporary comedy set within the advertising industry. Ideas have continued and it’s interesting what’s developing. VERY different from what you’ve read from me so far. But hey, if you know me, you know I’m far from a one trick pony. 

7. A special project with mom. Life has other plans and I began another project. Will do more in tribute to Mom and will also be doing more things in life to channel her spirit. 

8. My Noir Novel. Did I mention something about over ambition?

9. Greek mythology project. Read above; rinse & repeat. Lol. 

10. More songs. Actually have worked on several but the real progress will come this year… stay tuned. 

11. Book Events. I was able to participate in 2 of the 3 events I wanted. Jordan Con was a no go for 2019 but maybe 2020 is the year? We’ll see. Did participate in the Atlanta Comic Con and Puerto Rico Comic Con, which I’ve written about. I also tried to get in contact with Barnes and Noble in at least 3 ways, got the runaround and the cold shoulder, oh well. Wasn’t in the mindset to contact the other bookstores but it’s a new year. 

Other Goals

- Get more reviews. I got some… but can always use more. A LOT more. 

- Website… I shall stop making promises in the hopes I make progress lol. 

- Be on the best of year list of at least 10 people. Didn’t get on this list. No idea how to get on any sort of list. Help will be happily accepted. 

- Get nominated for something lol. Any help will also be accepted for this one. :D 

- Estrada Crates. Sold a couple but didn’t make the 12. We’ll see how I do this year but feel free to contact me to find out more about Estrada Crates or order your very own. 

- Humans 4 Humans. I did organize my activities, but among all the efforts, one came from a very honest, very organic place and became one of the highlights of my years. #BooksForMiles feels to me like it was a great success. I didn’t tally the total miles for everyone, but Brad Womack did run/walk/jog over 100 miles to win his very own Estrada Crate and at least 8 people participated. Will organize the second Books For Miles later in the year when people need a boost for the resolutions they are so keen on attacking with fervor in January :)

- Release electronic music EP. Have the tracks but still think I can improve them, hence me not releasing them. Let’s see when I can have some news on this. 

- Record and release music. Didn’t release anything… but hey, it’s a new year ;)

- Social Media. I do feel I was more organized, consistent, and did take a couple of breaks during the year. Will be doing more of this. 

All in all, it was a very busy year, there were hits, there were misses, there were challenges… as in everywhere: in work, in health, in family, in book events and sales, etc. But we got past it. We made it through.

When I was a kid or just younger and I flunked a test, mom always asked me, could I have done better? Could I have done anything else? Could I have tried harder. It was her way of letting me know that there’s always more to give… though when it comes to last year, I sincerely believe I gave it my absolute all… for her, for my family, and for myself. So Mom, it took me a while, but I made the grade… and I’m just getting started. 

Peace, love, and maki rolls