Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book

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We're A Year Old Now!
ijeomaoluo.substack.com

We're A Year Old Now!

Beyond the Book: Happy Anniversary to Us!!

Ijeoma Oluo
Oct 19, 2022
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We're A Year Old Now!
ijeomaoluo.substack.com

Wow y’all, can you believe it? We have been substack dating for AN ENTIRE YEAR. Congrats on being like my…..3rd longest lasting relationship ever!

What a year it has been.

I started this newsletter because I wanted a way to write and connect regularly with readers, without having to go through the fancy rigamarole of…you know…editing or spell check.

Seriously though. Many of you know that I’ve been working on my next book for FIVE BILLION MONTHS and when I’m working on a book I don’t usually have the bandwidth to add formal freelance writing - especially since I also pay the bills with regular speaking work. I missed y’all. And I missed being able to go off at length on things that are on my mind. So, I looked for a platform that was more writer focused and landed on this one and I haven’t looked back.

This newsletter has given me so much, honestly. It has helped me connect with people at a time when I feel like we’re all more disconnected than ever. It has enabled me to engage with my craft in new ways. It has been a helpful diary when what I really needed was therapy (laugh/cry emoji), and helped me realize that I actually have to make that appointment for therapy to happen. Y’all have been here through serious family illness, grief and joy, my wedding, and so much more.

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It has been so great to hear from so many of you, not only in the comments here, but in email and in person. I love finding out the different ways in which this newsletter is connecting with people. It sustains my love for writing on days when I need to remember that this really is more than just a job, that I was once a little girl who used to dream of the stories I’d write one day.

Also, it’s been really great to know that I have a way of supporting myself and my family purely from this writing, should I need to. There is a freedom to that in a world that constantly tries to control art. To know that my words - as they come out of my weird brain - are enough, should the books and speaking go away or should that work require me in any way to compromise myself in ways that I’m not comfortable with. It’s the artistic equivalent of “fuck you” money. It’s a privilege that few artists have, and I’m so grateful for you all in making that a possibility for me.

I’m excited for our second year together, and for the different ways in which I hope we’ll be able to connect.

Since we’re feeling sentimental, I’ve decided to randomly grab a few favorite posts over the past year in case you want to take a stroll down memory lane with me. Which posts have been your favorite? What have you connected the most with in my newsletter and what are you hoping I might write about in year two?

Some highlights over the past year:

Your kid is going to find your vibrator.

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
Your kid is going to find your vibrator.
I have been a mom for almost 21 years now. I’ve been a mother longer than I have not. For most of those 21 years I have been a single mother. It is core to who I am in a way that little else is. And yet, motherhood is a role that is always evolving into something new, as our children grow and change. Motherhood is always surprising, even when we wish it…
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9 months ago · 107 likes · 19 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

Black History is Your History

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
Black History is Your History
It’s that time a year again. The time of a year where every white-owned and operated company suddenly has, from the looks of their advertising, all-Black customers. The time of year where politicians who spend all 12 months of the year denigrating and endangering …
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a year ago · 86 likes · 7 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

We Have The Right To Not Be Annoyed

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
We Have The Right To Not Be Annoyed
This is not a think-piece about Will Smith and Chris Rock. I’m just starting out with that because while this piece was inspired by conversations around Will Smith slapping Chris Rock for making an ableist joke about his Black wife in front of a room (and worldwide tv audience) of white people, it’s not…
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10 months ago · 224 likes · 17 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

Some Things My Mom Taught Me

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
Some Things My Mom Taught Me
My mom is very, very sick right now. It’s really unexpected and pretty dire and as a family, we’re in the middle of the nightmare that so many families have been in these past few years - a space where we feel confused and panicked and powerless and can’t even hold our loved one’s hand to provide them comfort…
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a year ago · 201 likes · 56 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

Crying on the Basketball Court

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
Crying on the Basketball Court
In case you missed it, Behind the Book is filled with reflections on writing and writing life. Beyond the Book are my thoughts on…everything else! Welcome to the first installment of Beyond the Book. It has been a rough couple of years. My f…
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a year ago · 116 likes · 19 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

Love at Forty

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
Love at Forty
I was near forty when I fell in love for the first time. 37, to be exact. I had loved people, been infatuated with people, felt emotionally tortured by people - and at times I thought that was being “in love.” It wasn’t. Right now my love (Gabriel…
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a year ago · 55 likes · 14 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

We've Got To Stop Lying To Kids About Their Future

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
We've Got To Stop Lying To Kids About Their Future
Hey y’all - I’m on a very last-minute trip to Paris right now, after having to cancel a work trip to Germany at the last minute. I’ll make a paid subscriber-only post updating y’all on that later this week. It’s been a ride! So be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already or reach out to me if you want a scholarship (paid for by you great founding subscr…
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7 months ago · 130 likes · 26 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

Okay Fine. I'll Get A Therapist

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
Okay Fine. I'll Get A Therapist
I’m currently 4 days into a 10 day writing residency that I’ve been looking forward to for the better part of a year. This is not my first time here (in fact, I finished my book proposal for So You Want To Talk About Race here and the idea for MEDIOCRE came to me the last time I was here) but this is the longest I’ve been able to stay. It’s a truly wond…
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8 months ago · 104 likes · 19 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

I Suck At Friendship

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
I Suck At Friendship
I have written quite a bit about the need for community in these times. I have written about my relationship to community. All that I’ve written is true. Holding community, being held by community - I’m pretty good at all that. But friendship? The one on one thing, the small group…
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a year ago · 99 likes · 35 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

There are different types of safety.

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book
There are different types of safety.
Few things make you more aware of what it means to be Black in the world than travel. Our little family is a week into our little familymoon/honeymoon. We started out in Paris and arrived in London today. In a few days the kids fly home and Gabriel and I will spend the remainder of our trip in Portugal…
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5 months ago · 122 likes · 18 comments · Ijeoma Oluo

Thank you for reading. If you liked this newsletter and want to support my work, please consider subscribing here:

Ijeoma Oluo: Behind the Book is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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We're A Year Old Now!
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8 Comments
Jenni
Oct 24, 2022

Congratulations! I love this, and you were my first paid Substack subscription. It's been so great to read your thoughts, behind-the-scenes ruminations and wedding celebrations for the last year, and I so appreciate you sharing this with us.

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Gayla Gray
Writes SoNovelicious, Books & Reading …
Oct 21, 2022

Congrats on a year; an accomplishment for sure. It's hard showing up week after week and I've enjoyed reading your posts. Here's to many more years!

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