"My favorite part of Written Out Loud is the community we've built." - Saramarie, 14yo storyteller
With a single word - "we've" - Saramarie perfectly summarized the most significant evolution Written Out Loud has experienced in 2024.
Our grown-up leadership (including yours truly) did not build the community that has sprung up inside WOL this year. Our young storytellers built it. Why? Because they simply wanted to spend more time with each other. So they created a group chat. And a D & D Club. And a series of avatars, showcasing themselves as the heroes they now know themselves to be.
This community-building began with the small group you see pictured here. Then it grew. And grew. Today, the group chat is 75 storytellers strong, connecting in the most positive and inspiring language imaginable a 24/7 connection between the most profoundly gifted and empathetic writers and storytellers on the surface of the Earth. I am not exaggerating even one tiny little bit.
Every single day, young writers and storytellers greet each other in our chat with a hale and all-caps GOOD MORNING, from their homes in suburban Chicago, southern Alaska, Clarksville TN, and Abu Dhabi, to name just a few. They share their writing with each other. They share their K-pop and literary fandom. They share their anxieties, too. And occasionally even their grief.
I pop into the chat to say hello every single day. If there is a more supportive group chat happening anywhere else in the world, I'd love to see it.
I do not mind adding: many of these kids (perhaps even most of them) have learning differences. Many are "on the spectrum." Many are dyslexic/dysgraphic. Many feel "othered" by their school and home communities. But at Written Out Loud, they are home.
If you have (or know of) a creative child, aged 8 to 17, I heartily welcome you to register them for a fall WOL storytelling and writing program. Here is the link. Will they become a published author? Yes they will. And yet, I feel confident in saying that their published authordom may be the LEAST important result of their time spent at WOL.
Through the community that our young storytellers have built, they have come to believe, through the welcoming eyes and ears of their peers, in the significance of their own voice. It just doesn't get any better than that.
We would love to welcome your creative child to our community. There's plenty of room around the campfire.
- Josh
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