This morning, I hit play on the The Ordinary Bruja playlist—both the iTunes and Spotify versions I just finished—and I had to pause my life for a second. Literally stopped mid-song to record this journal entry because damn, I am feeling it.

There’s this strange magic that happens when your story begins to sound like something. When the music captures your character’s heartbeat, your plot’s pulse, your themes, your tension. It’s like the book is no longer just living in Scrivener—it’s breathing.

And y’all, I’m so happy. This book is growing into exactly what it needs to be. But not gonna lie…yesterday I had one of those moments. You know the one: “Is my baby… ugly?”

Like, is this actually good or have I just been gaslighting myself for months with caffeine and ambition?

Creating a book is beautiful chaos. You bounce between “This is trash” and “I’m a genius” so often it should be considered cardio. You second-guess yourself, rewrite the same paragraph twelve times, fight the urge to hide under the bed, and then suddenly—bam—you’re crying because a sentence hits just right and reminds you why you started.

This book isn’t cute. It’s not whimsical. It’s not a soft pastel playlist of cozy vibes. This book is what happens when you rip through the silence. When you realize you were never taught the truth about your own history. When you discover your power was buried on purpose.

The Ordinary Bruja is about uncovering the rot, calling out generational harm, and realizing that the only way out is through. It’s about feeling wildly unqualified to fight a manipulative ancestor who’s been puppeteering pain for decades. It’s about trying anyway.

And yeah… while you’re unraveling ancestral curses, you’re also catching feelings for your best friend. Because life doesn’t pause for magic or mayhem. It stays messy.

So today, I’m celebrating this book baby. She’s intense. She’s layered. She’s me in fiction form. And she’s got a playlist now—because even the heaviest stories deserve a soundtrack.

Coming soon. Read it loud. Feel it deep.

#TheOrdinaryBruja is almost here.

Listen to my unfiltered thoughts

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8M1oqvX/

@acupofjo_hanny What happens when a whimsical Latinx book turns into a reckless reckoning of Dominican identity and what happens when we forget our bones and our soul? This book explores the cost of generational silence through magic. But not a casting a spell magic. It is magic that is in our blood that has been passed down from generation to generation, bursting to be let out and when Marisol uncovers it, at first she’s afraid and then se pone brava. Find out how it all goes down in The Ordinary Bruja—a book for witches and outcasts. #witchesoftiktok #brujasdetiktok #outcasts #notenough #toomuch #dontbelonghere #beleiveinyourself #beleivewomen #magicalwomen ♬ original sound – Have a Cup of Johanny