I read to feel connected. Reading helps me process my emotions, experiences, perceptions – it helps me build empathy see things differently. I like reading the ways that other writers write small moments, catch small details and make me feel big through them. I read to feel inspired and excited and often, to feel part of something. Sometimes I read to feel like a writer.
Two writers and their works come to mind: Double Teenage by Joni Murphy and Bluets by Maggie Nelson.
All the folks in the writing group that I co-facilitate – Bloom Writers’ Collective – have inspired and influenced me to be a writer who writes regularly, with intention. I am thankful!!
Vannessa Barnier who facilitates Legible Intelligibles and reminds me often that anything can be a poem.
Melina Mehr who created and edits the invisibilities zine series for how she didn’t find a literary community she saw herself in and so is making one.
Queer stories are important. I only have mine and there are so many more. I want to read and share stories from the big, beautiful community that queerness brings us to.