Here at the end of calendar year 2024, we greet you from a threshold. One season ends, and we look ahead to another beginning. The New Year tradition of making resolutions is an expression of hope. At Storyknife, we prefer value clarification. When the Storyknife Board and solitary staff member (me) got together in 2018 to write a strategic plan, we identified cultural impact, validation, support, and openness as our core values. As we move into a new year, please know that we will always be making decisions that reflect those values as we provide women writers the time and space to devote to their craft.
The facilitator of the strategic plan asked us to envision what we wanted to accomplish in ten years, looking forward to 2028. We discussed and considered and finally landed on: Writers who attend a residency at Storyknife say, “I went to Storyknife and my whole life changed.” It’s a lofty goal, and we’re looking forward to 2025 as another chance to work toward it.
Storyknife could not survive without the generosity of so many people. Look in January for our annual supporter page to update, but for now, a HUGE SHOUT-OUT of gratitude to the 288 individuals and foundations that donated to Storyknife this year. A special extra hug of thankfulness to the 145 individuals who donated in the last three months of the year to help us make our challenge match of $50,000! We crossed that threshold just last week and if you couldn’t hear me hollering and cheering in my car at the Homer Post Office parking lot as I opened the mail (and then Dana hollering and cheering when I texted her that through the generosity of our donors we’d made the challenge match), well, it was a loud celebration.
May the new year bring peace, light, love, and good writing. May each of you put words to paper that are needed in this world. May you know, deep in your heart, that your story is important.
Sincerely,
Erin
Storyknife Writers Retreat 