The Calm After the Spiral (CTRL-ALT-SHE Is Coming In Hot)

What Happens When I’m Not Spiraling? I Start Organizing.

Hi Besties.

Let’s address the elephant in the inbox: Yes, I’ve been quiet. Suspiciously quiet.
And no—I didn’t get kidnapped or fall off the face of the planet.
(Though I did briefly consider faking my death to avoid answering one IT ticket—kidding. Mostly.)

Here’s the truth:
Life has been calm.
Life has been quiet.
Life hasn’t been one chaotic spiral after the next and, if I’m being honest… I’m grateful.
I’m happy.

Usually when I come screaming onto this page, it’s because my brain is overloaded and overheating. I need a place to vent, to scream, to angry-type into the void like it’s my job. (Is it my job now? TBD.)

But lately?
There’s been no screaming. Just soft hums.
Just small joys.
Just… me.

And for someone who usually writes in the middle of chaos, that’s been... confusing.

Maybe—just maybe—I haven’t been writing because I haven’t needed to.
Which feels wild. And kind of beautiful. And a little bit scary.
Like… what do I even say when I’m not spiraling?

Maybe writing was the therapy I needed all along.
Maybe you were the therapy I didn’t know I needed.
Maybe the silence wasn’t absence—it was peace.

But here’s what I realized:
Just because I’m not spiraling doesn’t mean I don’t want to write.
It just means the writing might look a little different.
Less “emotional landslide,” more “here’s a weirdly funny guide to fixing your BIOS fan.”
You know. A classic pivot.

And so—CTRL-ALT-SHE is officially coming to Behind the Buzz.

I built CTRL-ALT-SHE because I was drowning in IT problems and no one was talking about it like a real human. So now I am. I’m documenting it all—every ridiculous, rage-inducing tech moment—and turning it into an e-book for the rest of us. For the ones googling error messages while crying. For the ones just trying to make the printer work without screaming.

I’ll be posting chapters here, one at a time—for your reading pleasure (and hopefully laughter + catharsis). And yes, more chapters are coming. Because, of course, there’s always another IT crisis waiting to be immortalized.

So here’s what you can expect from Behind the Buzz going forward:

🎉 No more separate newsletters
📬 No more double posting
🧠 Just one chaotic-brilliant brain dump of all things Erica:

• Emotional spirals

• Random rants

• Unhinged book reviews

• CTRL+ALT+SHE e-book chapters (IT survival for real humans)

• Lessons from work, life, burnout, and beyond

If you’re here for the emotional whiplash—don’t worry. I’m still me.
Still loud.
Still occasionally feral.
Just now with a little more clarity, a little more strategy, and a whole lot of caffeine.

Behind the Buzz is now your one-stop shop for all things Erica:
Chaos
Creativity
Ctrl+Alt+She
Soft moments
Spicy rants

Thanks for being here—through the spirals and the silence.
I’m just getting started.

Erica.
Still writing. Still spiraling. Now with structured documentation and version control.