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Essays on Being a Poor Kid in Wealthy Spaces
A collection of bitingly funny yet touching essays on surviving around the wealthy and privileged as an inner-city Latina who fought her way into private school and the entertainment industry.
Share Tweet LinkedIn Embed https://pszr.co/IkOGy| Memoirs essay collection | |
| 30,000 words | |
| 25% complete | |
| Los Angeles, California | |
| 6 publishers interested |
The book is a collection of short essays about being poor in wealthy spaces. It's funny; I keep ending up around rich and privileged people when I am far from both. I grew up living paycheck to paycheck with parents who are immigrants from a third world country; as a child I didn’t think much of it, but once I hit my tween years I finally realized our situation was much different from that of my friends.
Immigration is a hot topic right now, especially in this political climate, but we don't hear much about what happens after the dust has settled. How do first generation kids navigate the world? How do they handle the culture shock that happens when they're often the first in their families to attend college and have opportunities no one else in their families had? How do they live with one foot in one world and one foot in the other? What happens when the American Dream becomes a reality and you're still a scrappy misfit?
This book is a unique look at reaching those goals while simultaneously having no idea how to handle it. It's about being the odd person out and coming to terms with it in a funny, nuanced way. It's for anyone who has worn their own rags from time to time.
This book is my life, and it is all true. It is told with my voice that thousands of readers regularly tune into on Medium and Huffington Post, among others. It is a funny, irreverent, refreshing look at inhabiting the same space as the rich and glamorous while saving my pennies to pay for gas. And I wouldn't have my life any other damned way.
1. What’s Poor?
The moment I realized my family was poor.
2. Me, The Child Actress
The weird process of how I became a child actress while being broke.
3. Window Shopping
Being out with friends who can afford anything while you linger at the clearance section.
4. The American Dream and Me
Ugh. College.
5. I Can't Live With Them
The roommates I had back in college.
6. My Knight in Shining Aluminum Foil
An equally broke boyfriend.
7. You Better Work
Insight into the odd jobs I held in college.
8. Oops
The excruciating tale of how I ended up at an event to mingle with the cast of Argo by accident.
9. Whitewashed
Two cultures collide.
10. Where I Come From
This essay is a love letter to my parents' background and my childhood situation.
This book is, broadly, for anyone that's ever felt like a misfit. More specifically, it's for young people who are first generation college students or first generation Americans. It's for people who don't feel like they fit in, or like they are consistently fighting against the status quo, and so they will find solidarity and some levity in the book.
My main audience that I've connected with in my writing career is comprised of people who regularly read short essays and stories spanning across several genres, mostly personal narratives and humor. They're people who keep up with what's going on in the world as they regularly tune in to online writers.
My audience is liberal, and they are always willing to learn more about people who come from different walks of life. My audience is also comprised largely of minorities, which means they can identify with often being underestimated by the world.
From my time writing and the trends of my most successful stories, my audience is mostly looking for an authentic take on something they fight in their own lives. For example, my pieces on workplace woes, eating disorders, sexual assault, and heartbreak are my most popular. My audience is looking for something and someone they can relate to, and my writing has struck a chord with them.
My audience are working class, normal people who do a 9-5 and either go home to be with their families or ruminate on their own dreams. My book will be a welcome addition to them: it will be a story of how this weird little scrappy Latina kid continuously worms her way into spaces that are clearly not meant for someone like her, and it will make them smile at the humor and envision themselves as the little go-getter that could. They will align themselves with the underdog, which is me in the book. It will also be a welcome, funny relief to their hectic lives.
I've had thousands of people stick with me through my work, whether it be serious essays or humorous takes, and I could assure you they would love the book. What matters is the voice, and the voice is mine.
Ellie is a writer living in Los Angeles. Since her first piece took off on Medium in February 2016, she's amassed thousands of followers and her work has been published on websites like The Huffington Post, The Towner in Italy, Mamamia Australia, and others.
Her work is diverse and has been successful diversely as well; her satirical and humorous pieces have done just as well as her serious and personal pieces. She's consistently connected with thousands of readers on pieces spanning multiple topics and genres. She is also the creator and editor in chief of the satirical publication Lady Pieces which itself has several thousand followers and regularly publishes feminist and hilarious content.
Ellie likes wine, dogs, comedy, science, and healthcare. She used to be a notetaker in an emergency room before she began working for a TV show. Because of this, Ellie regularly chimes in on the current state of American healthcare in an approachable and understandable way.
Ellie tackles it all in her writing: from breakups to eating disorders to healthcare to pop culture. And she keeps people reading throughout.
First, I'd send out an email updating the people subscribed to my mailing list as they are guaranteed exclusive content by subscribing. I would also post about it on ellieguzman.com, my website.
The next morning, I'd post about it on Medium with great excitement and engage a lot with my followers to drum up the volume. Medium is where I have the most followers (over 10k as of June 2017) and so I'd frequently post updates there. I would go back to my more popular pieces which are still generating daily views and add a link to the campaign with a blurb at the bottom of each piece.
I would also post about on the publication that I am the Editor in Chief for, Lady Pieces on Medium, which has roughly 4k followers. The publication is a women's satirical magazine and I feel that the tone of the book would go hand in hand with what we're doing at it, a funny look at real problems.
I would use Twitter to promote the book as well. I'd regularly post updates and of course, also share with my supportive friends and family.
I'd emphasize my background to show that I have a voice that is not often heard and I'd be 100% willing to work with whatever plan any publishers have.
I would say that my biggest competition are funny women and people of color writing collections of essays, because that's what I do.
1. We Are Never Meeting In Real Life: Essays, by Samantha Irby
From Vintage, 2017. We're similar in that we both got our start in blogging and her book is a collection of funny essays about her life as a woman of color. However, different in that hers is about her life in general and mine focuses more on wealthy surroundings versus a poor life.
2. One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter: Essays, by Scaachi Koul
From Picador, 2017. There's many similarities to my book: hers is her debut, it's about being a child of immigrants in Western culture and it addresses stereotypes. Nevertheless, our books are different in the cultures portrayed (hers Indian, mine Latino) and the topics (hers about life as a woman of color, mine more about poverty rather than race). We both look at modern life in our circumstances but through very different lenses.
3. All the Lives I Want: Essays About My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers, by Alana Massey
From Grand Central Publishing, 2017. A book of essays comparing celebrity women and the everyday woman. Similar in explorations of privilege from an outsider's curious point of view. However, my book is different in that I don't single out celebrities and it's more about my personal experiences than the concept of celebrity.
4. Bad Feminist: Essays, by Roxane Gay
From Harper Perennial, 2014. Another author I very much look up to. We're similar in that her collection of essays touches on feminism and current events, but we're different in that her essays are more focused on culture and how we consume it. She also touches more on politics while mine are more attached to a personal narrative
5. Why Not Me?, by Mindy Kaling
From Three Rivers Press, 2016. Mindy writes essays on various aspects of her life, including being a woman in Hollywood where no one else looks like her or comes from her background. I idolize her honestly but our books are different in the socioeconomic aspect and the fact that my book focuses more on the financial disparities between me and my surroundings.
A sarcastic but honest take on millennials' economic situations: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
That time I was weird around famous people:
https://movietime.guru/that-ti...
An honest, gut wrenching piece about heartbreak:
https://byrslf.co/the-death-of...
A satirical point of view from a man who hits on a plus size woman:
https://medium.com/@ellieguzma...
The silly piece that started it all as a writer on Medium:
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The author hasn't added any updates, yet.
Ellie Guzman is a first-generation American, first-generation college student, and first-generation dog owner. She's a small Latina obsessed with comedy, coupons, and Cheetos.
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Best of good fortune for you Ellie!
All the best, Ellie.
Go Ellie!! Love your video haha. Wishing you success ahead! :P
Looking forward to it Ellie ! No pressure, chill. I would put money towards a husky university in Canada, if it comes to that ! Love your writing.
Just keep up the good work and we all eventually get there
Every single damn piece of your writing I've enjoyed more than you know...this isn't really a pay-it-forward, but more like a pay-you-back for allowing me to read your work for free. Plus, you're like my spirit animal. Don't let the doubts get you down...you can SOOO do this Ellie!!
Thank you all so much! <3
I'm looking forward to the book.
Ellie, being in Canada myself, I have to warn you that if you 'run away to Canada' that won't free you from writing this book. I love your outlook on life so much that I would track you down at your new astronaut university, drag you away from the dog pack and force you to finish it ;-) I love who you are and how you express it in words as I know thousands of others do so please, keep writing and above all, keep smiling.
Hugs,
John
Follow your dreams despite the attitude of men, I have a son and I have determined it's gotta be in their genes to view us as needing protection even though I was the only one in the house earning the money to keep us together. Listen and learn ways to get your ideas across to men, just takes a little longer for them to process --Maria Rose
Keep following your dreams! I wish you great success!
go! :)
Hey Ellie!
I stumbled upon your Medium page and loved your story on how men should not have a monopoly on vulgarity. I fell down the hyperlink rabbit hole and eventually landed on your Publishizer page.
I love your voice and am SO looking forward to your book. As enticing as a husky dog astronaut university sounds, I hope you'll do the Right Thing (TM) and share more of your writing with us, your eagerly awaiting readers.
I hope you're doing well! Greetings from good ol' Mexico.
Jules
Way to go, Ellie! You can do it!
Write on, Ellie!
Ellie Guzman is a brilliant writer and the world queen of sarcasm. She can scorch your paternalistic, racist, body-shaming foolishness into a dry little cinder with her blasting blowtorch wit.
Her high-impact prose demonstrates that she has mastered the art of writing truth that connects with universal experiences PLUS she's hysterically funny.
She's made me laugh out loud many, many times and yet, when I've stopped laughing, I find that I've learned from Ellie.
I want you to learn from her too.
Buy her book.
Now.
Buy a couple of copies, like I've done.
Buy ten.
Buy twenty.
Buy a hundred of them and give them away as gifts, like I'm planning to.
Support Ellie's unique voice - you'll have done something truly worthwhile today if you do.
Good Luck!
Much love and best wishes from another, as yet, unpublished writer. Enjoy your stuff. A former resident of the Valley, I enjoy the L A references and your take on that world. Keep up the good work. (How's that for banality?)
I love your writing and relate to your stories. I wish you all the best with your book! :)