Welp, I did it. Nine years after I wrote a silly little story that became the silly first chapter of The Miami Creation Myth, it’s finally time to wrap this whole thing up. I wrote you hundreds of essays and short stories, created thousands of memes, produced five stage shows, and gave you a whole, 70,000-word novel in weekly chapter installments. Thank you to everyone who joined me on this crazy ride, including the 403 AI agents, 2,388 Russian bots, and all five people who half-skimmed Florida Rising.
This is the end of an era for me. I never thought I’d write a novel, win an International Latino Book Award, or dress as a croqueta on a Miami Book Fair panel, and yet, that’s exactly what I did. I believe I succeeded in making many of my fellow Miamians laugh and occasionally think. For all its infuriating flaws, I love this city, its nature, and its people, so I couldn’t ask for more.
Almost a year ago, I laid out the reasons why I was stepping away from Miami Creation Myth. Basically, it boiled down to an insane posting schedule of daily memes and weekly essays and newsletters. Publishing Florida Rising was just a way to delay the inevitable. Maybe it’ll be on bookshelves one day. Maybe not. Your guess is as good as mine. For what it’s worth, The Miami Creation Myth will continue to live online. I’ll keep the website up for anyone who wants to read through the archives. Likewise, you can still find all my memes on Instagram and Facebook.
Though I’m stepping away from Miami Creation Myth as a satirical outlet, the book isn’t going anywhere. Four years after its debut, the damn thing still sells for some reason. Books & Books just placed its 19th bulk order, making it the store’s best-selling independently published novel of all time. You can still find the book in all its South Florida locations as well as on Amazon (do the world a favor and buy it at B&B if you can). Most gratifyingly of all, The Miami Creation Myth is also stocked throughout the Miami-Dade County library system. As a kid who spent untold hours in my local library branch searching for Miami authors, that’s the real dream come true.
Nor am I done writing. I (finally!) have a literary agent and am currently 34,000 words into Mangrove Man, a nonfiction book that explores why I spent a decade removing 48,000 pounds of trash from Florida’s mangrove forests. Fulfilling my duty as a Florida Man, I write about my preposterous exploits, including run-ins with bank robbers, porn stars, island maroonings, outdoor gay orgies, startled crocodiles, exploding pee bottles, and one-ton sea turtles. The book is also a popular science celebration of mangrove forests’ legendary resilience that makes them a keystone habitat and one of the best defenses against a rapidly changing climate. You can read the first free chapter here or by going to andrewotazo.com/mangroveman.
For those subscribed to the newsletter or who follow Miami Creation Myth on social media, I’ll post updates to the book as well as where and when you can buy my upcoming sexy Mangrove Man calendar. For those wondering, that last bit was not a joke. I’m doing a firefighter-esque calendar shot in the mangroves with trash props. Part of the proceeds will go to local nonprofits supporting coastal conservation. It’s literally in the book proposal (see below).
This isn’t goodbye. I’m not going anywhere. I’m still writing about what I know, which is Miami, what makes it wonderful, and why it makes me want to tear my hair out. For better or worse, I’ve chosen to stay here. If you see me struggling with a 50-pound bag of trash in the mangroves, writing in the Books & Books Café, dancing salsa at ZeyZey, biking down the Underline, or running on the Rickenbacker, please say hi. Let’s talk about the weather, the traffic, or (my personal favorite) how to make Miami better.
-Andrew
