{Insert Clever First Post Title Here}
755 words | 3 min read
The obligatory first post: these never get easier, whether it’s the first post on an instagram account, first tweet after a long hiatus, or a first blog post. “Hello, I’m [NAME HERE] and I’m here! Here’s why!”
What is a first post but a whisper or shout of “Hello World!” The first step towards carving out a little online space for your ideas and opinions. Every social media “How-to” tells you to just write or talk directly to your audience even if they aren’t there yet. I think that’s why first posts can be difficult. It’s weird to throw your voice into the void of the internet as though you know that someone will hear the echo.
But in the spirit of first posts...
Hello! I'm Kaitee and I'm here to talk about stories.
I love stories in all their various and wonderful forms. Movies, plays, puppet shows, musicals, books. I think right now books are my favorite. My relationship with reading is a common one: I read so much as a kid. You couldn’t take me anywhere without getting a books along for the ride too. Leaving the house often looked like this scene from Gilmore Girls.
Then college happened. I still loved books, but as an overextended overachiever, I didn’t have the time to read anything that wasn’t assigned. I studied literature and theater so I was surrounded by stories. I somehow got it into my head that there were certain kinds of books worth reading (classics, ground-breaking new work, classics) and everything else was a waste of time.
Even post-college the bulk of what I read were plays, constantly in search of the perfect audition monologue. Somewhere along the way, I forgot what it felt like to read for fun. So I didn’t read.
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Five years ago, I started to listen to audiobooks on my commute, on walks, as I crafted. I revisited old favorites: Tamora Pierce’s entire collection (both Tortall and Emelan), A Series of Unfortunate Events, Sabriel, the Harry Potter books. Then a good friend recommended The Lunar Chronicles. Another raved about The Raven Cycle. And those two YA fantasy series sealed my fate. Books were back in my life. And not just books. Fantasy books. Books written by women, by people of color. No more books by dead white men.
Then came 2020. With isolation and quarantine came an urgent need to escape. In the year of COVID-19, books were integral to my survival.
My first ever cosplay, Sirscha Ashwyn, to celebrate the publication of Broken Web, book two of the Shamanborn Trilogy..
In 2020, I read so many new-to-me books and reread so many favorites. I started a small bookish business. With that small business came a marketing instagram. Which quickly became a bookstagram. Which has completely changed my life. Here’s why:
ONE: I didn’t know there were so many of us out there. Us being people who love books with abandon and read like our lives depend on it.
TWO: I started talking about books rather than just thinking about books.
THREE (and most importantly): I started to see all of these books written by authors of color featuring characters of color.
I’m a mixed race woman of Asian descent and I had never seen myself in a fantasy book. Never. I was blown away by how many authors were working to give kids (and adults like me) heroes that looked like them, loved like them, thought like them… heroes that looked like them both on the outside and on the inside.
Earlier this year, I read Lori M. Lee’s Forest of Souls. The main character, Sirscha, was exactly like me in every way that mattered.
I cried. I laughed. I sighed with relief. 32 years and I finally feel seen, AM seen in so many ways. I have books with Asian-coded main characters and mixed race main characters on my bookshelf. There are so many women of color on my shelves, both inside the book and behind the book. It brings me so much joy.
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I’m carving this space out on the internet to talk about books, stories, and ideas that matter to me. There will be book thoughts and book reviews, reflections on diversity in books and in the publishing industries, silly stories about me and books, and maybe a bit about my own writing.
This blog is a bit of an extension of my Bookstagram account. A place to keep reviews that contain spoilers, or topics that I want more that 1900-ish characters to explore and discuss. Which is my very long way of saying…
Hello, I'm Kaitee! The only thing I love more that stories and representation is talking about stories and representation.
I can't wait to start a conversation.
Follow me and make sure you never miss a post!
I talk about mirrors in books a lot. And Lori’s books were where I found my first mirrors.