fiction

August 22, 2025

🥷 HOOD CHRONICLES – Streets are wiser than we think

Word on the street is silence. The Hoover boys got pinched—indicted. Papers say the blade’s gone dull, the avenues gone cold. But the streets don’t stay empty. Not for long. That’s when Miss M steps out of the smoke—cigarette glow catching her face, heels striking concrete like a headline nobody prints. Lit only by that… Continue reading

Journal

fantasy, fiction, human-stories, los-angeles-or-city-of-angels, narrative-nonfiction, noir, romance, south central, true-crime-vibes, writing
August 19, 2025

🥷 HOOD CHRONICLES – Running in the Cool Breeze

The night is cool— but cool don’t last. It can turn quick, quick like a viper bite snapping your cardiac veins. On the Blade, daylight calm flips to heat the moment shadows stretch across the strip. Streetlights hum like spotlights, waiting for their performers— hardworking people crawling home in traffic, immigrants siphoned from Mexico, El… Continue reading

Journal

american-dream, fiction, horror, immigrantvoices, narrative-poetry, short-stories, street life, urban, urbanrealism, writing
August 16, 2025

The Ten-Minute Return 🥷 — A Hood Chronicle

From South Central to wherever the pavement runs — snapshots of life, raw and uncut. Hollywood. The place where dreams get chased — few caught, most lost. The lights of L.A. shine so pretty, so untouchable… until you drift closer to the strip known as the Blade… B-L-A-D-E. There, the ladies of the night shift… Continue reading

Hood Chronicles

blade, fantasy, fiction, romance, south central, street-chronicles, the-blade, true-grit, urban-stories, writing
August 16, 2025

From South Central to Wherever the Pavement Runs 🥷 — A Hood Chronicle

THE BLADE South Central – Past Ten A strip of Figueroa that, in daylight, is just another stretch in South Central — schools, mechanic shops, liquor stores. The women — ladies of the night, the blade’s own night shift — are there too, scattered like shadows in daylight. At night, those shadows grow and overtake… Continue reading

Hood Chronicles

fiction, hood, life, LifeInLA, mental health in the hood, short-stories, shortsStories, south central, street life, the-blade, urban, urban-stories, writing
August 14, 2025

First Kiss Remembered

Written and illustrated by Roberto Sánchez From my memoir-in-progress, “I Am He” The bathroom light was too white — the kind that stings your eyes. My father’s favorite color. His mistress. To me, white has always felt like emptiness. I stood in that glare, facing a trifold mirror. Tilted the side panels to catch my… Continue reading

Journal

blog, books, faith, family, fiction, god, love, mental health in the hood, music, romance, writing
August 11, 2025

“Asthma tried to take my breath — so I learned to breathe life back.”

A story about memory, sickness, and survival. Written and illustrated by Roberto Sánchez 📓 August 11, 2025 — 2:52 p.m., Monday The MacBook Pro beside me still looks brand new. I remember when I only dreamed of owning one. I take care of things — at least I try. Right now, I’m parked at the… Continue reading

Journal

blog, childhood memories, creative-writing, faith, family, fiction, god, life, love, memoir, mental health in the hood, music, personal-essay, writing
August 6, 2025

“Stillness — I start the day with reinforcement.”

📓 Wednesday, August 6, 2025 · 7:25 a.m. This morning, I sit beneath the patio umbrella, sipping the heat of last night’s Starbucks tea—warmed in my dented microwave. Last night, I didn’t want to be home. I needed to escape. My thoughts were racing—fast, fast, faster—the acceleration roared. Too fast to sit with, too heavy… Continue reading

Journal

blog, faith, family, fiction, god, life, love, mental health in the hood, music, writing
August 5, 2025

“Shit was not good today — shit happens sometimes.”

📓 Tuesday, August 5, 2025 – 6:47 p.m. Today, I woke up positively, like I’ve been doing lately. A little tired, since I’ve been having a hard time sleeping at night. Don’t know why. Some might say it’s the past on my mind. Or maybe I’m overthinking the future. Sometimes it feels like something touches me.… Continue reading

Journal

blog, faith, family, fiction, god, life, love, mental health in the hood, writing
August 4, 2025

“Sketch with Your Soul — I Am the Alien”

Version in English 📓 Monday, August 4, 2025 – 10:26 p.m. Illustrated & written by Roberto Sanchez Today, I woke like I’ve woken many days before. Everything feels like it’s on repeat. What am I gonna do today? Am I hungry? What am I gonna eat? Blah, blah, blih, blah… The day becomes a beat… Continue reading

Journal

blog, CulturaUrbana, Escritores, EscrituraCreativa, faith, family, fiction, god, Inspiración, life, love, mental health in the hood, music, narrativa, NarrativaUrbana, PalabraViva, Reflexiones, RelatosCortos, spoken-word, WordPress, WritersLife #CreativeWriting #SpiritualWriting #Narrative #Storytelling, writing
August 4, 2025

“Yes, two entries for the same day… why? Because I’m finding my voice.”

📓 Sunday, August 3, 2025 – 10:36 p.m. I’m learning the importance of author-ship. Why? Because author-ship is your fingerprint— No, not the one stuck to your fingertip digits, But the soul of you. I author this ship. You are what you say you are. But in truth? You will always be who you see—in… Continue reading

Journal

faith, family, fiction, god, life, love, mental health, mental health in the hood, writing

About Me

I’m Roberto Sanchez — illustrator, writer, and delivery driver in Los Angeles.

By day, I sell plastic bags out of a van across South Central.

By night, I draw, write, and build my life brick by brick.

I graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 2022 with a BFA in Illustration, but art has never been just school to me. It’s survival, reflection, and expression. My illustrations come slow — patience is part of the work.

I live and create out of a converted garage.

That small room became Echoes of the Garage — the place where I put words, drawings, and the pieces of a life I’m rebuilding one step at a time.

Here you’ll find journal entries, Hood Chronicles, and visual experiments that try to capture the absurd, the painful, and the human in everyday life.

This is where I put it all: drawings, words, and fragments of a life in motion.

This site is where I put it all: drawings, words, and fragments of a life in motion.