There’s an event here in Nashville every year around Valentine’s Day called Heartbreak Happy Hour (HHH). It’s put on by The Porch, Nashville’s writers’ collective. Last year when I was beginning recovery for disordered eating, I wrote an essay on breaking up with jeans. At last year’s HHH, I helped manage the social media for the event, and in turn, Susannah read my essay on jeans. She lol-ed and asked me to read it at next year’s HHH. I was like, sure, that’s a year away, you’ll never remember this. But then a month ago, I got an email reminding me that I was one of the HHH readers and asking for my headshot and bio. What do the kids say? And I, oop?

So two weeks ago, I did my first public reading in front of a million people (ed’s note: it was like 140 people). A lot of people have read my work over the years, but I’ve never stood in front of a microphone, two beer-drunk, and read to a crowd. Reader, it was exhilarating!

Turns out, most of my friends know I write - um hello, this blog is twelve years old - but they don’t know how much I’ve developed as a writer because of The Porch. After the reading, someone said, “I knew you were taking all those classes at The Porch, but I didn’t know you got, like, a finished product out of it.” First of all, I get a finished product out of everything I do, because, hello, have you met me? The day I learn how to quit things is the day I can walk into therapy, shake my therapist’s hand and say, ‘Thank you for your service. I can take it from here.’

I’ve been writing since I was little, and I’ve always fantasized about being a capital A Author, but I’ve mostly funneled it into this blog. Something shifted a few years ago and I wanted to start taking my writing more seriously. I believe it was my friend Amanda (also a writing teacher) who asked if I knew Susannah Felts, that she thought we’d be a good match. So I found Susannah, found The Porch, and signed up for my first writing workshop. It was the same day as the Women’s March in January of 2017. I left that workshop elated. I thought, omg, I might not be bad at this?! At that point, it was on. I took Susannah’s eight-week personal essay class, took a class on how to get published and how to submit to publications, a class on the business of creative writing, and most importantly, I went to the monthly draft chats and write-ins all last year.

My writing has improved so much because of The Porch, Susannah, and Lisa Bubert, who leads the draft chats. They’ve taught me how to edit, how to critique, and basically, how to be a writer. If you’re in Nashville and this sounds appealing to you at all, take a look at their website and sign up for something. I’ve honestly done every version of class they offer: multi-week, one-day, brown bag lunch, draft chat, lit mag league, and I recommend them all. If it’s out of your budget, they offer a scholarship program. They also offer gift certificates, which, protip, you can ask for as gifts. That’s what I did.

Shout-out to everyone who came to my reading a few weeks ago. It meant a lot to have you there. I’m worried that reading awakened my inner Attention Monster™️, so I’m going to start looking for more opportunities to do live readings. Stay tuned!