In my twenties and early thirties I lived in this building.
It was a very happy time in my life except that I had absolutely no idea how to make my dreams of writing a book happen.
I tried lots of things- wrote so many chapters of novels, started blogs, wrote personal essays and sent them out to magazines. I wrote poetry for myself but never thought it would be something that I would turn into a book.
Eventually I began sending my poems out to poetry journals and magazines, hoping to get published. I was nervous to do this because I didn’t have an MFA in poetry- in fact, I had applied to poetry programs years prior and not gotten accepted. As I was expecting, I got a lot of kind rejections.
In 2020, I started the poetry blog Hannahrowrites. I didn’t know what I was doing, other than I loved writing poems more than anything and I decided I was going to stop waiting for someone to tell me I was good enough to share them.
Since then, I have written poetry almost daily. I have shared new poetry every week, grown the most incredible community of readers who are supportive, loving people who say “same” to me when I share vulnerable, sticky feelings. In my opinion, it is the best corner of the internet.
Yesterday, I released a poetry book into the world. My book is published by Macmillan in the US and Canada and HarperCollins in the UK. I am honored that these two publishing companies chose to publish my work.
But most of all? I’m proud of myself for making the choice to start sharing my writing before anybody told me I should. I’m proud that I believed in myself first, even though it was so, so hard at times to do so.
I hope you love Same. But I hope, even more, that my story inspires you to stop waiting for someone to tell you that you are good enough to do what you want to do.
The only person you have to wait for is yourself.
#same
Tune into this weeks episode with @hannahrowrites
We talk everything from motherhood to creativity and looking at our lives in chapters. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!
Link in bio.
Last minute gift givers don't panic, just grab this beautiful book, a collection of poems celebrating sisterhood and womanhood. Your mom/wife/sister/friend is guaranteed to love it! 🎀🩷🌺
“If nine out of ten people roll their eyes but one person feels seen, that’s worth it.”
I first discovered Hannah’s work about a year ago and it felt so close to my own feelings. She was able to capture how I was feeling about so many things—motherhood, female friendships, conversations over a dinner table that I could never articulate as beautifully or as succinctly as she does.
Hannah’s book SAME is out now and it is so, so worth your time. Listen to our full conversation now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Link in bio. 🤍
I discovered my guest, Hannah Rosenberg’s work about a year ago and it felt so close to my own feelings. She was able to capture how I was feeling about so many things- motherhood, female friendships, conversations over a dinner table that I could never articulate as beautifully or as succinctly as she does. Hannah is a poet for these modern times and is a true light of a human. On today’s episode we talk motherhood, creativity, dreams and looking at our lives in chapters. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!
I am so happy you are here!
xx
Jo
This year, Bailey and I wanted to celebrate female storytelling with our May Day basket, so we threw it back to the January @thefount_co dinner and drew inspiration from one of our incredible speakers @hannahrowrites . 🌷📚🩷
