I have enjoyed writing for as long as I can remember. Whether I was lost in the pages of a book, or simply just admiring the way a book felt in my hands, there has always been something about storytelling that has captivated my mind and heart.
Although writing wasn’t my first attempt at being creative, it’s been a passion that has stuck with me the longest. I’ve always said writing feels like a piece of me. Like an extra limb, and if you removed that limb, I don’t think I would ever adapt.
I’ve filled journals with quiet thoughts masked by metaphorical prose to allow safety in my most vulnerable moments. I did this without realizing it was something I could use in my everyday life, and maybe one day reach a reader who will consume my words and find joy in them.
A few years ago, I found myself in the position to dive into the writing world in a way I never had before. I was told pretty early on in my new journey there wasn’t a space for poets, and that was disappointing for me. I’m a writer, but I consider myself a poet first, and since I love reading horror, I decided to try and write it. If you’ve never written a scary story, it can be difficult to write an effective story and do it well. I read a fellow author’s debut novel during that time, and while it was a horror novel, it affected me in a way that brought on genuine emotion. That’s when I learned about grief-horror and found my niche.
Fast forward to notebooks filled with hundreds of poems, and a now unpublished short story collection, I’ve found myself on a new journey. I’ve removed myself from social media and the poison it’s fed my mind over the years, and built this website to share what I want. Not what I was told.
So if you’re reading this and have enjoyed my poems, short stories, or essays, just know it means the world to me. If you resonate with my words and they make you feel a little less alone, just remember there’s another person in this chaotic world who traded the ocean for the desert, and is a little less alone now too.
Yours,
Renee Hargrave