It’s been a long time since I posted anything here, because I’ve been incredibly busy with school. (School’s going great, by the way!) In my spare time (ha!), I’ve been hard at work building an online literary journal called the Same.

I didn’t set out to start a literary journal. Instead, after an afternoon spent talking to a recently widowed friend and encouraging her to follow her inclination to write and tell her own personal story, I spent some time praying about what next step I should take with my own writing. With my friend still on my mind, I thought about how, even though she’s plenty old enough to be my mother, we had a lot in common. Even still, our stories were so very different. As women, we were very much the same at the core of our hopes and dreams for our lives, but we each had our own unique stories to tell. This train of thought began to gain speed and the idea of the Same was born.

I initially wanted to start a blog where I would write and invite some of my female friends, whose stories I know deserve to be shared, to contribute to the blog. I thought it would be a good way to get my writing out there more, and also give a platform for my friends to share their stories. Somehow, over the next couple of weeks, the idea had grown and evolved into a literary journal. Instead of writing myself and soliciting work from my friends, I opened up submissions to all women everywhere. The rest, as they say, is history!

I launched the journal on the first Monday in September, and, in only two months, its readership has expanded to 60+ countries. Over 10,000 views! Women from all over the world are submitting their work to the Same! I have accepted work from women in the UK, Canada, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Belgium, etc. By the second month, I needed help running things and hired a Social Media Manager to help with that side of things. I really wasn’t expecting it to take off so quickly. It’s been one of the most exciting and gratifying things I’ve ever undertaken.

The stated mission of the journal is to advance and celebrate the voices of women and girls. To that end, I am currently running two contests . . . a nonfiction contest and a short story contest . . . and 12.5% of the entry fee goes to Care.org to empower women and girls around the world. The rest of the fees will go toward the costs of running the journal.

I hope you’ll take the time to check out the Same, and I really hope you will enjoy the beautiful work of the many women who are contributing. I’m really proud of what I’m doing, and I’m excited to see what comes next!