Today marks 2 years since my first newsletter went live. I should be celebrating this milestone but, in all honesty, I feel like I have not lived up to the literary promises I made for my sophomore year. I let other projects get in the way and, perhaps, I tripped over my own feet too.
I had big aspirations—like writing a book in public, or sustaining myself with my art—but I channeled them into other avenues.
I started a creative studio, a directory for football creatives, and a hybrid football-fashion platform that’s garnered big acclaim since its launch.
These things seemed unattainable just a few years back, and I am slowly growing into my new “business owner” boots. At the same time, my head is constantly spinning with audacious new ideas, but I am learning to curb them and take one step at a time.
Sometimes abundance isn’t the way to go, despite “many things all at once” being my favorite tagline for a long time (so much so that I titled a lecture about my work as such.)
Overall, I am pretty proud of what Things I Thought About turned out to be. It has inspired others to start their own writing practice or to ramp up their production.
It’s generated some interesting conversations around contentious topics and it lent words to people who could not come up with their own.
Above all, I now have enough material to publish a collection of my writing. It is quite amazing.
Just last weekend I walked into McNally Jackson’s to pick up a fresh read and I thought I could stock my pamphlets on their wooden shelves soon.
Suddenly an unexpected title popped up in my head: could I now define myself as an essayist?
Well, why not? I fit in the category of people who produce short compositions with grammatically correct language that are nonfiction works. The word essayist evokes maturity; it’s way more intriguing than the general blanket term “writer”.
Imagine being at a party and introducing yourself as an essayist. I am sure the interlocutor would be immediately blown away by the level of intellectual intricacy the word itself evokes.
If I close my eyes and fantasize about the scene, I see myself holding up a martini glass while wearing long lacey gloves and a sleeveless mock neck top, hair slicked back in a tight bun, lips painted in a deep shade of red. If I smoked, I’d also be holding a gold cigarette holder.
Anyway, I painted this vivid image to say one very simple thing: I think this platform has served its purpose and it can no longer exist under its current rule. The weekly format I started with has reached its expiration date and I think I am ready to let it go.
Writing my thoughts on the internet is the modern iteration of the olden diary days and it’s a great format, but I have been feeling the need to concentrate on other literary categories.
I want to see my words on paper, I want to experiment with layouts and print techniques. Plus, I need to keep my creative juices for the editorial branch of Nonsense.
Last but not least, I want to pick My Father’s Project back up and finally find a title for this damn thriller-biography.
I would also like to spend some time refining my screen-adaptation skills and eventually collaborate with a filmmaker to create a series of storytelling visuals based on very mundane things that happen to all of us but are rarely showcased in an artsy way.
I digressed from the original point AGAIN.
As you probably have guessed by now, this is a farewell. Things I Thought About will cease to exist.
I will leave the archive up but you won’t be receiving my emails anymore; at least for the foreseeable future. Maybe I will change the name to Life As Nao and keep that going, but I have not decided yet.
If you just recently subscribed, I am sorry to let you down but all good things come to an end and sadly you arrived at the end of the party. If you have been my reader since day one, thank you for following my journey to literary emancipation. If you paid for my writing, you are a legend and you helped fuel and boost my confidence.
Here’s a bunch of great essays you can read and reference (the grammar isn’t always great, but I was trying my best to juggle writing and editing back then):
– Thoughts About Personal Projects
– Thoughts About Quitting Your Job
– Thoughts About Space & Human Interaction
– Thoughts About Choice Fatigue
– Thoughts About Grief (my personal favorite)
And here’s a list of people you may want to read to fill my absence (lol):
– Maria Falbo writes about creating a new life away from the city and rural regeneration
– Zoe Allen writes about sports and girly things
– Emily Hubbard writes about life and things in English and Spanish (!!!!)
– Sam Diss writes about football & culture
– David Eardley writes about design & pop culture
– Paul Graham writes about business and how to be a productive person (not the best in literary style, but great for idea generation)
Before I go, here are a few things that have brought me joy during the bleak times we are living in (yes, most of it is food):
So happy for you and all you're doing! It's a big leap you're making into the new businesses owner role, but i'm happy you have the clarity!! You will be thoroughly missed, but wishing you the best on this new chapter, Naomi!
Oh wow, that Systemarosa crewneck is fire!!!! I hope they’ll be available for purchase!!
And I have two more things to say to you. The first one is thank you. Thank you for your constant support and shoutouts, I appreciate it so much🫶🏻 and the second thing I want you to know is that I’m honestly a bit sad I’ll no longer be receiving your essays, but I’m also a proud observer of what you’ve accomplished and I really wish that your projects go great and I’ll be cheering from the sidelines!
I wish you all the best Naomi xx