Season 6 Whats The Dream? Blog 23: A Writer's Place

 A Writer's Place

Crimson Cup is a coffee shop in Clintonville that has popped up sporadically in this series. Its first appearance was in Season 1, and it was the setting and the namesake of the Season 2 installment, “Coffeeshop Surprise.” One of its most recent appearances was last season when I spoke at the visual conference, OCALICONLINE from the location.

As a refresher, last year, OCALICONLINE was held from November 15th-18th, and I had taken off work for each day of the conference so that I could enjoy it in its entirety. All of this to say, I spent that entire week at Crimson Cup. On the first day of the conference, I got to the coffee shop 15 minutes early to get my drink and set everything up. I immediately recognized the cashier when I walked in.

“Hi Lydia,” I said to her when I saw her.

“Hey Mitch,” she replied, “what have you been up to?”

Lydia and I went to high school together, but she was a grade below me. I told her about OCALICONLINE, she asked how I got that gig, and I explained this series and that I had published one book and was working on publishing my second. She said she wanted a copy of The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child, and after, I told her that I would get her one.

Now as I explained when I announced my second book, my plan is to have four books in the Greattastic Adventures series. Since those books are about my childhood, I wanted to get them done before I turned 30. As a result, I was always working on two books. When The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child was my main project, Once In A Lifetime: A Song For Sam was on the back burner. When Once In A Lifetime was my main project, Greattastic Adventures 2 took its spot on the back burner.

About a month before OCALICONLINE, I woke up at 8:30 on a Saturday morning in a really good writing mood. Since Once In A Lifetime was in the editing phase, I got on my computer and wrote all day, only taking breaks to eat and go to the bathroom, and I wrote about 75% of Greattastic Adventures 2!

Now Greattastic Adventures 2 and 3 could have been one book, but I didn't want to make it so big and overwhelming, so I split the narrative down the middle. However, I still wanted them to come out during the same year. When I wrote most of book 2, I came up with a new plan.

1. Finish Greattastic Adventures 2 by spring break 2023 (I succeeded).

2. Start writing Greattastic Adventures 3 shortly thereafter, and finish it by the summer of 2024.

3. While working on Greattastic Adventures 3, run Greattastic Adventures 2 through editing and formatting.

4. Once steps two and three are completed, run Greattastic Adventures 3 through editing.

5. Published both books in 2025.

This was all before Paige and I started dating. That's important because while Paige did not hinder these plans, at the beginning of our relationship, I was spending a lot of time with her that I would usually spend writing. As I've explained before, over the summer, I didn't see her for a month because she went on a cousin's trip, and then another family trip, and I went to Colorado. While she was on the cousin's trip, I decided to start writing a little more seriously.

Because doing OCALICONLINE at Crimson Cup had been so successful, I decided to start writing there. On my first day there, I got like seven chapters written, and I realized that writing in a coffee shop is a stereotype for a reason! When school started back up, I would go to Crimson Cup multiple times a week after work, and I am proud to announce that I am ahead of schedule. As of September 14th, 2023, I have finished writing Greattastic  Adventures 3. 

Because editing has not begun yet, I think I am still going to stick to my plan of aiming to publish by 2025. I will let you know if things change, but I wanted to write about this now because I’m really proud of myself! Yes, this is a project I've been working on for 6 years, but the fact that I've written three books within two and a half years of publishing my first, I think, is pretty impressive! Also, I'm planning on taking these two years to write more books so that when I finish The Greattastic Adventures series, I can just start pumping out new books.

Have a Greattastic day, and be safe

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 6 Whats The Dream? Blog 22: Electric Night Ride

 Electric Night Ride

Every year over Labor Day weekend, there is a Greek festival hosted at a Greek Orthodox church in downtown Columbus. My “sisters” and I went multiple times in our childhood, and Kid and I have continued the tradition since the other girls moved away. This year, one of the friends that Kid made in California over the summer was in town with her boyfriend, and they stayed at Kid and Paige's place. I knew that Kid and her friend were going on Saturday, September 2nd, and I was planning on meeting up with them.

September 1st is my cousin Austin’s birthday, so my Aunt and Uncle flew to Pittsburgh to celebrate, and my parents and brother joined them. I stayed at my parents' house and watched our cat, Sammi. At 6:30 on the night of the 2nd, I ordered a Lyft so that I could drink at the festival if I wanted to.

As I walked into the festival Paige (who was doing homework) texted me and told me that Kid and her friend had made it back to the apartment. I had missed them! Fine, I thought to myself, I can have fun by myself! I don’t need anyone. I knew I was lying to myself. It’s not that I don’t enjoy my alone time, but I definitely enjoy time with people more!

By 8:00, I was ready to go. I decided to walk to a nearby bar called Brother’s because it was far enough away from the festival that it would be easy to find the Lyft. However, there was construction on my route. With my original plan foiled, I decided to take the bus. The closest bus stop I knew was the Nationwide building. When I looked at the schedule, I realized that there wouldn’t be one for 40 minutes! I was a bit angry at this point, but that wouldn't last long.

As I looked around, I saw a Lime scooter right next to the bus stop. I knew the bus route back to my parents' house by heart and thought this would be a fun adventure. I got on the Scooter and began riding down the street. The scooter was working at first, but after one block or so, but then I entered a “no ride” zone that lasted for the entirety of the OSU campus. With a ton of perseverance and honestly a little more effort than it was worth, I made it through the “no ride” zone and was allowed to take full advantage of the electric scooter's capabilities.

I was in the bike lane for the entire time I was on the road, but there were still some drivers who were experiencing road rage. It was getting dark, so to stay safe, I took a detour through the local library parking lot, past the tennis courts, and down some side streets. When I passed the tennis courts, I saw my childhood neighbor Melody and her new fiancé Rob. I rode up to them, they asked me what I was doing, and I explained the situation.

“Wait, you rode that thing all the way from downtown?” Melody asked, with a look of shock on her face.

“Yep!” I said.

“Wow, that's impressive,” Rob said.

After saying goodbye to them, I continued my journey home. As I was about to reach my destination, I thought about how shocked Melody and Rob had been. I decided that I had, in fact, reached my goal for the night. No one was with me, and yet I still managed to have a fun night and an impressive adventure to add to my resume!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 6 Whats The Dream? Blog 21: Mitchmas (26) Part 2: Birthday Tipping

Mitchmas (26) Part 2: Birthday Tipping

On August 18th, Mitchmas Eve, I finished packing, picked Paige up, and drove to Lanesville, Pennsylvania. We got to the Airbnb at around 11:15 that night and went to bed shortly thereafter.

The next day we woke up at 10:00, and after Paige, Arden, Marshall, Aspen, James, and Kid wished me a happy birthday, we went out for a late breakfast. After breakfast, we changed into our bathing suits and went to a nearby lake.

Arden, Paige, and Marshall got single kayaks, Aspen and James got a double canoe, and Kid and I got paddle boards. Paige and Arden’s were closed, while Marshall’s was open. “I think you need a birthday tipping,” Arden said after we had been on the water for 10 minutes.

“Huh?” I said just as Arden and Kid dove into the water and flipped my paddle board.

From there, it became very chaotic, trying to flip everyone we could. After I couldn't manage to tip anyone, I just started swimming around. Aspen had taken control of my paddle board so that it didn't float away. As everyone was leaving, she asked, “Do you want a ride?”

I hopped on the back of the board, and Aspen and I balanced our way toward where everyone else was. “And, do you want to try to tip Arden?” I whispered in Aspen’s ear. She nodded, and we slowly moved toward Arden. Arden was right next to Marshall, and as she saw us slowly moving up to her, she got suspicious. 

“Go, go, go!” Aspen yelled.

I jumped off the back of the paddle board and attempted to flip Arden's kayak. She pushed me, and I lost my grip. To keep myself afloat, I grabbed onto Marshall's kayak and tried to pull myself up. Before I realized what had happened, Marshall's boat was underwater and sinking fast!

“Crap!” Marshall exclaimed, swimming under to hold the kayak up. I helped, but it was super heavy, and there was a good 2 minutes where Marshall and I thought we were going to lose it! Luckily with some effort and help from the girls, we managed to save the kayak. Now there was a man in his 60s who had been fishing on a boat, watching this entire thing play out. He was laughing at our antics, and I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when he got home and told his wife about what he saw!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Before I end this installment, I just wanted to congratulate Marshall on finally graduating from college! I’m super proud of him because he’s been in school the entire time I’ve known him, and I’ve seen him go through the ups and downs! I can’t wait to see what’s next for you, man!

Season 6 Whats The Dream? Blog 20: Mitchmas (26) Part 1: Best Laid Plans

 Mitchmas (26) Part 1: Best Laid Plans

 On March 12th, 2020, Governor Mike Dewine instituted a statewide lockdown in response to Covid-19. Marshall and I had just gotten back from a spring break trip to Colorado. Now Marshall worked at Columbus State, when he was in school there, he had left stuff in his office. It kind of felt like the beginning of a zombie movie… I know that sounds dramatic, but it really did feel like society was about to collapse. In our panic, when Marshall and I got to Columbus State to pick stuff up, we didn't plan it very well and didn't get everything he had there.

On August 11, 2020, Marshall, August, and I decided to return to Columbus State to collect the things that Marshall and I had left behind back in March. We rode our bikes down the trail and, within an hour, made it to the campus.

After Marshall had collected his things, we started to head back home. We decided to ride through downtown as opposed to the trail on the way back. About halfway through the ride, August said that she was hungry, and Marshall and I weren’t opposed to food, so we masked up and entered a Chinese restaurant.

For years I have called my birthday (August 19), Mitchmas because I think it’s punny. For Mitchmas 21, August,  Arden, Marshall, his friend, Ricky, and I went to Toronto. As we were eating, August, Marshall, and I discussed some adventures we had been on before masks, quarantines, and social distancing.

“…and remember when we went to Canada?!”  August said.

“Yeah, it was really fun!” I replied.

“Yeah… except that I got food poisoning,” Marshall grumbled. After a little more discussion, we decided that we would make another trip to Canada once the border opened.

With Mitchmas 26 approaching, my “sisters,” Paige, Marshall, and James, were asking me what I wanted to do. I thought back to the plan August and Marshall had made, so I suggested a weekend trip to Canada. That didn’t work out as Mitchmas was coming up too fast, but we decided to go to a lake town in Pennsylvania.

Mitchmas fell on a Saturday this year, so we took a trip over the weekend. On the night of my birthday, however, I always have a birthday dinner with my family and, for the last three years, Noah. So on Wednesday, August 16, my family, Noah and Paige, went to Buca di Beppo. After dinner, we went to my parents' house for cake and presents. I know I say this about this dinner almost every year, but I’m thankful that I get to spend it with my friends and family!

To Be Continued…