The End of An Era: Saying Goodbye to Windrose

Hi friends,

Announcement (sounds so formal, doesn’t it?):

It's the end of an era.

I’ve decided that, after nearly 8 years of telling stories of navigating life, this season of Windrose is drawing to a close.

Don’t worry — I’ll still be writing (more on that later) — but Windrose will no longer publish new posts.

The website will, for now, remain online. After all, that’s 8 years of rich storytelling — can’t give that up just yet!

It’s always hard to let a good thing go. But if the last year has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes, as my friend Erika has written, it’s necessary to let go of the good for the new.

And y’all, what a good thing we’ve created here.

Because that’s the thing: this has been a collective contribution of all of us. More than a hundred writers have written thousands on THOUSANDS of words for Windrose (then called “That First Year”) since its start in December of 2014.

And thousands on thousands of people have showed up to this li’l Internet space to read the words shared by our brave writers — words that tell the truth of what life can be like when the walls are down, the filters removed. I’ll never, ever get over what we’ve created. (And Y’ALL — we made two print magazines along the way! Like wut!)

This blog gifted me with so many friendships; I’ve met incredible people over the years, our lives threaded together by the simple act of reading or writing for Windrose. I’ve had the pleasure of walking alongside some wildly talented ladies in our writer’s group for over a year now. I’ve found a book club — and authentic friendship — here in Phoenix thanks to a Windrose reader being kind enough to invite in the new gal in town.

Running Windrose for almost 8 years has brought me so much.

And I hope this blog brought you something, too: the gift of knowing that, whatever you may be experiencing in life, you are not alone.

So thank you — for writing, for reading, for being a part of creating something good in a world that needs more and more and always more good.

As for me, I’ll continue writing my usual essays — and I’d love for you to be a part of that.

My writing will now live on my own personal blog. I hope to continue writing weekly.

I want to say what an honor it has been to allow me to show up in this li’l Internet space these past 7.5 years. A few words tapped onto a screen are not enough to convey my actual, feel-it-in-my-soul gratitude.

Thank you. Always.

— Ally

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