Introduction

Hi, friends! I’m Katie. You might have read my bullet points on the home page, but, essentially, I’m a fantasy writer who bops around in Gothic and historic landscapes and who keeps dropping characters onto pirate ships. I’m about six months from a BA in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University, and, with luck, I’ll be accepted to the MFA program in the fall. Fingers (and FAFSA documents) crossed.

As a New England transplant in the South, I’ve been thinking a lot about community lately, especially as it relates to creatives and their crafts. There’s this overwhelming need to be a part of something (even those of us who feel pretty fulfilled when we’re solitary, a lot of the time), but the avenues required to find those communities can seem so mysterious, even to the point of feeling completely absent. I’ve been writing a long time, moving in creative circles my whole life, and I’d always followed the idea that, if something feels like it’s missing, create it.

It isn’t always that easy, though. Modern social media makes connection feel automatic and easy to take for granted, but how often do you feel like you’re actually interacting with that community? We have follower/followee relationships, but friendly networking is almost non-existent now. We measure success in likes and follows, prioritizing engagement over connection. Don’t get me wrong, engagement has its place in the modern marketing landscape, but I really do miss genuine connection.

So with all of that in mind, I want this introduction to be something more than just a bid for engagement. I want to connect with readers and writers and artists–I want us to feel supported and be able to find points of intersection in the way we interact with one another. For about ten years, between Central Massachusetts and Central Florida, I ran writing groups that focused on critique twice a month, and social fulfillment once a month, drawing people together and building friendships.

I miss that.

With that said, I have a Discord server focused on that exact connection, and I want to invite you to join us. There’s something a little lonely about being a writer when you have no local community, but it doesn’t have to end there.

In the comments, please tell me something about your writing. Tell me what you struggle with and what you excel at. What does success mean to you, as a writer? As an artist? As a person? Community is key and I genuinely want to build one that’s meaningful for as many of us as possible.

With Love,