Welcome!

[re]introduction to Writing Wilder

My one year anniversary of publishing here passed quietly at the end of May! Admittedly, I altogether forgot I had posted my initial introduction before June of last year. It’s hard to believe it’s been so long already. But here we are, and I thought it was time for an updated introduction to reflect the growth of this space and my writing over the last year.

If you’ve been here a while, you likely have a good idea of what to expect from me, but I think you’ll still benefit from reading to get a feel for where we’re at and where I’m hoping to go.

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Welcome!

Photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash

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If you’re new here, you might enjoy this snippet from my About section, which details what you can anticipate from Writing Wilder:

This newsletter is a love letter in equal measure to all of the great loves of my life, including my children, my partner, my community, the realm of possibility, the joys of reading and writing, the journey of learning, life, and love, and to my own self; it is a sharing of hope and hurt and healing, and everyday magic.

On most Tuesday mornings, I will share a personal essay; it might reflect on a poem I've written, delve into my writing process, recount a memory, unravel a thought, or explore an idea in progress. My essays often focus on my unlearnings as well as new growth I'm experiencing. Some days I may also share a poem on its own.

At the end of each month, and some mid-months, I will share a roundup of mundane magics, links I loved, and/or books I finished.

Most of you have likely found me through community poetry writing here on substack, or from my monthly roundup posts. I write about a variety of topics which tend to bleed into one another, but which may not all be interesting to you. We’re whole human beings here, so I think that’s okay.

To help you navigate to what you care about most, you can now follow these tabs for each page:

• roundups - for monthly roundups, which include personal updates, projects I’m working on, things that brought me joy, favourite links, and books I finished

• reflections - for personal essays, which span a variety of topics

• poems - for any post that includes one of my poems; these may or may not be accompanied by a related essay

• reading - for updates about my reading queue, roundups that include books I’ve finished and my thoughts about them, or reflections about my reading rhythms

• essays on writing - for posts about writing; these include essays about how I approach writing in general, as well as those which delve into my poem writing process

• messy middle - for reflections I share about finding my way through the hard stuff (while I’m still in the middle of it)

• motherhood - for poems and reflections I’ve shared about my kids, and being a parent

• neurodivergence - for posts related to the way my brain processes and navigates the world as a late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD human

• chronic illness/disability - for posts related to the way my body exists in the world as someone with POTS, IBS, and varying amounts of spoons

• rewilding - for reflections related to my unlearning; this originally began as its own section about conservative Christianity from my perspective and experience as a queer, neurodivergent afab person who grew up with those beliefs and has since deconstructed them, and it later evolved with my need to explore the myriad other things I am continuously unpacking and evaluating for my life and family

You will notice there is a good amount of overlap with the different sections, because each of these aspects of my life and writing informs the others, but hopefully this will be helpful in understanding what I offer here and how to navigate it.

I’m so glad you’re here.

-A.

I know quite a few of you are newer to this space, and I’d love for anyone who is willing to [re]introduce themselves in the comments (or by replying to the email/DMing me). You can share as much or as little as you’d like. I’d love to hear what drew you to Writing Wilder, what your favourite thing is about the newsletter, and/or what you’d like to see more of.