What does it mean to write "in community?"

Amelia's 2024 Freelance Writing Wrapped

My daughter and I chalking our parking spot on a rainy day.

2024 Freelance Writing Wrapped

In 2024, I published 43 posts here and 10 articles/essays/short stories elsewhere.

Do write to me with any questions about these magazines and/or opportunities, and I’ll try my best to answer.

• WORLD Magazine » City gives neighbors a say in helping the homeless

  • I have no formal training in journalism, so I’m always looking for professional development opportunities. I did the reporting for this article during a WORLD Journalism Institute course this summer. The instruction, on-the-ground practice, networking, and editing process—I can’t praise it enough.

• Medicinal Media » From Anxiety to Action: Coping with Election Stress in 2024

• Medicinal Media » The Magic of Live Performance (forthcoming online)

  • Medicinal Media requires you to interview three experts per article, which has been good practice. Their word limits are small and strict. They pay well. And they pay an artist to illustrate each article!

• Ithaca Times » DreamCycle Circus

• Ithaca Times » Fairy Fest

• Ithaca Times » Daffodil Dash

  • I enjoyed writing for the Times because it served as an opportunity to get to know my town. Unfortunately, I had a falling-out with them over delayed payments (almost had to sue them) and then quit writing for them.

• Clayjar Review » Panic in The Valley of Dry Bones

• Ekstasis » The Stained Glass of Our Lives (forthcoming in print)

• School of The Unconformed » “Leaving Social Media” featured in “A Library of Unconformed Lives”

• Ithaca Luminaria 2024, a hyperlocal literary ‘zine I published in order to share the work of some local Christian writers with our very secular town.

What does it mean to write “in community?”

Most of the writing I did starting last year was for the sole purpose of proving that I could publish—and so that, if, in the future, I find myself with more time on my hands, I’ll have honed my skills enough to qualify for a full-time writing career.

Amelia's 2023 Freelance Writing Wrapped

But these days, I’m thinking about the community-building side of writing. In our culture, there’s a real need for people to give their hearts, souls, and minds to weaving the social fabric. Without these people making it happen, even churches struggle to facilitate meaningful connections between their members.¹ I’ve been convinced for a while that my generation needs to start stepping up as the veterans step down.

Hospitality can be intimidating when we stereotype it to only fit within certain skill sets. But we don’t all have to be gourmet chef homemakers hosting enormous dinner parties. Community-building takes as many forms as there are people. And when we combine our individual skills to plant little seeds of love and care, we never know what they will become.

As far as writing in community goes, I’ve had some outside-the-box inspirations and opportunities this year. The Doomer Optimism conference in the Catskills (aka the Luddite Conference). The Ekstasis Inkwell event in NYC. Gathering together and writing a hyperlocal ‘zine with some friends (yes, these friends). Workshopping one of my teenage sister-in-law’s blog drafts (psst, Ketzia, this is your reminder to finalize those edits). And, in 2023, taking part in my friend Emma’s Monkey Warrior Fellowship, a goals accountability group. I also help facilitate a monthly Zoom call for WJI’s journalism bootcamp alumni.

The possibilities are endless, but realistically, it’s best to start small without grandiose expectations. As Elise Granata of GROUP HUG! writes in her essay “It doesn't have to last forever to be worth doing:”

We should still do it even if we’re not sure we can do it forever, because chances are we’ll just get so amped on the feeling of doing anything that this itself will become the motivation. Or inspire other sister efforts, spin-off projects, ripple effects of many new volunteers and groups and gatherings. Our beginnings become compost for something else.

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A question for you, dear readers:

How do you write “in community?” Or what are some ways you’ve found to be hospitable in both expected and unexpected ways? How do you get over the perennial problem of human flakiness?

Off-the-wall ideas:

• Start a publication that takes the form of back-and-forth essay conversations

• Combine Substacks with other writers so we can edit each other’s work, create a consistent publishing schedule, and pool subscribers

• Continue to foster local creative collaborations

• Host salons, dinner parties², or skill-building classes in the style of Keturah Lamb’s Living Room Academy³

1. Making Connections: What Homemakers Do

2. On Hosting Dinner Parties

3. The Living Room Academy