I’ve been following Annie over at Tales of a Family for a long time. And this year marks ten years of blogging for both of us. So to celebrate, we decided to collaborate and work on a series together. It’s been fun, and will continue to be fun as we explore our milestones and get to know our journeys a little better together. She’s posted this Part One over on her blog, and I’m sharing it, as well! They’ll be a little different from each other, because we’re different people, but we both share a love of stories, family, home, and history. Please give her a follow, and enjoy this series as we post every other Saturday!

MEET THE WRITERS

Annie, Tales of a Family

The Milestone

Ten years ago, I stared at a blank page with a heart full of stories, not knowing where this journey might take me. For as long as I can remember, I have always loved the quiet magic of writing, the way it guides me to gather up the pieces of family tales and history and create family stories. Tales of a Family: Finding My Home became more than a collection of memories; it became a place where my own voice settled in alongside the voices of the women who came before me. 

Their love and encouragement influenced me and touched my life in more ways than I could have ever imagined, and I think of them often, especially when I write. They gently reminded me of the value of our history, the comfort of belonging, and the importance of sharing. 

And over time, as my blog grew, I am grateful to my readers, family, and friends who quietly walked beside me on this journey. Your loving encouragement has carried me through this adventure, page by page. This ten-year milestone isn’t just a number. It feels like coming home again and again, to a life shaped by stories, laughter, and the unexpected beauty found in everyday moments, the beginning of a new journey I never saw coming.

Annie’s Part One: Why We Started 

From a young age, I have always loved to write. I kept journals, wrote poetry, scribbled a few short stories, and even tried my hand at music. Words have always been a part of me, but I never really truly settled into writing until I went to college. 

While working on my English major, I began to find my voice and a real outlet for my writing. I had poetry published in college magazines and chapbooks, articles published in the college newspaper, and an article published in a collegiate book after attending a college conference that included professors from Ivy League schools. During my senior year, I was one of only seven students invited to share my poetry with faculty and students, and I was the only student not currently pursuing a master’s degree. 

That experience should have given me the courage to keep going, and for a while I dreamed of doing just that. But as the years passed, everyday responsibilities slowly moved to the front of my life, while my writing quietly slipped into the background.

After graduation, I worked for five years in the prison system, teaching mainly General Education and Adult Basic Education courses. Later, I found a teaching job at a middle school in a semi-rural community in Colorado. For the past 22 years, I have taught language arts, transitional reading, creative writing, and humanities. I love my job, and I have spent much of my life helping my students find their own voices as they create and write.

During my transition, somewhere deep inside, my own stories kept waiting.

One summer ten years ago, an old back injury put me on bed rest. Suddenly, I had time, more than I wanted, to be honest. But in that stillness, I began writing again. And it felt like an old friend had returned.

And yes, I can type while lying flat on my back! I’m talented that way.

As I rested and recovered, family stories started tugging at me. I thought about the memories passed down through the women in my family, the old tales, the bits of history, the funny moments, the heartbreaks, and the everyday pieces of life that might disappear if no one wrote them down. And I knew I needed to save them.

That is how my blog, Tales of a Family: Finding My Way Home, began.

At first, those stories were simple, heartfelt, and rooted in memory. Some came from family history, some from genealogy research, and others from the voices of loved ones who shaped my life. I wanted to preserve those stories, not only for myself but also for my daughter, my grandchildren, my family, and anyone else who understood the deep pull of family, memory, and belonging.

What I did not understand then that starting a blog would become more than a way to save family history. It would become a doorway back to myself. Page after page, story after story, I began to remember who I was as a writer. And in many ways, that unexpected journey began with one long summer, one old injury, and one blank page waiting for me to begin once again.

Katie, A Virginia Writer’s Diary

That’s me, and you’re here!

The Milestone

Blogging can be a lonely pastime. Or, it can connect you with other creators who inspire you, support you, and encourage you. You’ll read their stuff, comment, get to know them and root for them. And you’ll wonder sometimes, is anyone out there reading my stuff? Should I keep writing and posting? And even though you feel uncertain, you will, because it means something to you, and because you love it. You’ll keep putting your stories out there, sharing your world, and one day you’ll look up and realize it’s been ten years.

Ten years of blogging, and of building your community of writers and readers.

They say tin for ten years, in marriage. But as far as we know, there is no standard gift for ten years of blogging. So, we made one.

When we realized we’d both been at this for a decade, we decided to collaborate and write a series. Over the next several weeks, we’ll be looking back together on our ten years – why we started, what we’ve learned, our best posts and memories. It’s going to be fun, and we’ll learn a lot and hopefully inspire some of our other creator friends and colleagues to reflect on their own journeys.

So enjoy this introduction, and get to know us, Annie and Katie, two writers who value family, home, history, and stories, and who can’t wait to share that love with you.  

Katie’s Part One: Why We Started

I started A Virginia Writer’s Diary back in 2016 when I was in a major transition.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I got a degree in literature and started my working life as a children’s librarian. But we don’t always end up where we expect, and through a series of unexpected moves and turns and decisions of various hiring managers, I found myself instead working in corporate Human Resources. I stayed in that field for almost a decade, and it was killing me. Truly, it was not where I was meant to be, and I think my soul was rebelling.

So I quit. Looking back, it’s the second-best decision I’ve ever made. (Having Lucy, my smart and brave and spunky and mischievous toddler is the best. Marrying Graham, who has supported me every day of our seventeen years together, also ranks pretty high. But I digress.)

I decided to try my hand at writing a novel for a year. I started my blog as a way to just write something, to practice and to keep at it and to hold myself accountable. I wanted to feel connected to myself and my work. And then I took a break for a while. Something just wasn’t working, writing-wise, and Graham and I used that time to find and purchase a 200-year-old home and start building a life out in the countryside. I came back to WordPress in 2020. That’s when I started with short stories and the poems, and I feel like that’s when I really came alive as a writer.

Graham and I have since sold that house, and now my family lives in coastal Virginia and I’m learning to be a beach person. We’ll see how A Virginia Writer’s Diary evolves in this new place, but I know that no matter what, and despite the busy-ness of mom life, I will always keep writing.

Join us in two weeks to read more!

And thank you for reading!