New Year's Special: One Life To Write One, Two Years To Repeat

New Year's Special: One Life To Write One, Two Years To Repeat

As I explained in my installment "How This All Started," my original plan for my book "The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child" was to write about my time getting ready to go to college, and some of my college experiences, as someone with autism, but I would write the chapters shortly after the event depicted happened. The problem was that I didn't know what to write about because I didn't know what was necessary for the climax because the climax hadn't happened yet! So the solution was to start a blog (and eventually a podcast) to replace the college/adult timeline and write THREE books about my childhood experiences!

I did run into one more problem. I knew I didn't want to just write about my autism journey; I also wanted to talk about my grief journey. I realized when I was working on the master outline including my grief journey in the same binding, would cause a constant struggle between both stories. So I decided to write a spin-off book that follows my grief journey with S.M. (and a few others, including Elizabeth, who died ten years ago tonight) and how I accepted it all! The two best parts, all of the proceeds go to Sam's Fans, and I planned not to tell S.M.'s family until Thread of Hope in October 2022. For context, I've been writing this book since 2018!

I ended up telling S.M.'s mom, Nikki, in September 2022 instead since I'd kept this secret for four years, and quite honestly, I couldn't do it anymore. So it is with great joy that I announce that my new book, Once In a Lifetime: A Song For Sam, will be coming out this March for her birthday!

Now the person who edits my books, Amy, is actually a family friend I know through my "sisters." The system we developed for editing my books is I send her the rough draft; she leaves comments/suggestions on the Google Doc, and I go through and accept them. Then we do that whole process a second time. Her daughter got married the weekend after Thanksgiving, so Amy couldn't go through Once In a Lifetime the second time until the weekend of December 10th.

When I published my first book, I also learned that self-publishing is stressful, and I don't handle that kind of stress well! With that plus Amy not being able to read the book earlier, but me still wanting to hit the deadline of S.M.'s birthday week…I am about to become a very horrible human! To alleviate some of the stress, until the book is formatted, I will not be posting anything to Rules for a Greattastic Life. I'm hoping to start season 6 in Mid-February which I think is realistic. If something changes, I will let you know.

Mat Kearney is S.M.'s favorite artist. I'm telling you, this man wrote the soundtrack to her life. I don't mean she listened to him all the time (though she did that); most of his songs have lyrics that seemed to be catered to her story. For example, one of the lyrics in his song "In the Middle" is, "Twenty-five here I am with freshman LPs one life to write one, two years to repeat."

That makes me happy because that line is the best way to describe this situation. I'm 25, it took my whole life to write Miracle Child, and now two years later, I'm publishing Once In A Lifetime: A Song For Sam!

I hope you have a Greattastic 2023!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Before I go, I want to congratulate my friend Jane, who got married earlier today (New Year's Eve)! I can't wait to see what's in store for you next!

Christmas Special: Night Before Christmas (Greattastic Edition)

 Christmas Special: Night Before Christmas (Greattastic Edition)

Twas two days before Christmas when all through my town, the temperature dropped, and snow floated down. Ryan had come home from Chicago, you see, to spend the holiday with my family and me! We played tons of games, and good times were had, but none were outside cuz the weather was bad.

On the day before Christmas, we mapped out our day to try to keep stresses far, far away! We cleaned up a bit cuz "Santa was coming" and headed to church at 5:30 something. We sang Christmas carols all throughout Mass, and everyone there was dressed with some class. We couldn't stop singing as Dad drove us home; we're a very musical family, don't you know?

He parked the car, and we dashed through the snow, for my brothers, and I knew exactly where to go! With me on piano and Josh on his drum, Ryan and Luke grabbed their guitars and started to strum. We played "White Christmas," and I'll tell you this, with a bit of practice, man, it was bliss!

When dinner was ready, we went and said grace, and when we had finished, we filled up our plates. We ate and told stories, and like Christmases past, we hoped that this holiday season would last.

I'm telling you this for one simple reason; in fact, it's at the heart of this holiday season. Love those around you and enjoy their company, cuz to be happy, that's really all you need! For if we choose to love and to be kind, we will all indeed lead Greattastic Lives! Before I go, I just need to say Rules for a Greattastic Life will Return on New Year's Eve day!

Season 5 Blog 30 (Finale) True Confidence

 True Confidence

Back in mid-October, I got a text from my ex-girlfriend Gabby, in which she asked me if I wanted to meet up. I told her I would think about it, but quite honestly I forgot. On Thanksgiving night, after dinner, Gabby texted me again to check back in.

As you might know, I broke up with Gabby on my family vacation last summer. I'm not going to go into detail about the circumstances of our breakup, but basically, neither of us were emotionally ready for a relationship, and it had to happen over vacation because the situation was not good for either of our mental healths. When I first mentioned our break up, it was at the very end of the installment I made about that family vacation. Narratively speaking, the breakup came out of nowhere, because I wasn't going to write an installment every time I questioned the relationship. Thinking back on it now, in a way that was art imitating life. While there were a few fights leading up to it, I was trying to put the breakup off, so when I admitted to myself that it had to happen and did it, I think it blindsided her. All this to say, I felt like I owed her a meet-up.

Last Saturday, December 3, we decided to get coffee at Crimson Cup, but she said that there was a location closer to the middle of both of us. She gave me the address and when I pulled up, I was slightly freaked out because it was effectively a warehouse. We got out of our cars and we tried to get in, but the doors were locked.

“Excuse me,” a man said, “who are you looking for?”

“Just trying to get coffee!” I replied.

“Oh sorry!” he said, “This is the Innovation Lab… It's not a coffee shop.”

For a little more context, I found out later that Crimson Cup is really interested in helping people start up their own coffee shops, so they have this lab to teach people how to make professional coffee and make a business plan. “Ah,” Gabby said as the man walked away, “Silver Oak College is a couple minutes away, do you just want to walk around there?”

My first girlfriend Caroline and I had a very on-again-off-again relationship. And while she is the only ex I have ever officially gotten back together with, I would be lying if I told you that I hadn’t thought about getting back together with some of the others shortly after the break ups. I bring this up because as Gabby and I were walking around the campus, nothing happened because I think I’m finally confident with myself when I’m on my own!