Writer Unboxed Turns 17

[EditorAdmin]

Therese here. Today marks Writer Unboxed’s seventeenth year. Wow. I think that means WU is off to college soon. In other news, I just popped a new gray hair.

A wee bit of history:

Writer Unboxed was founded in 2006 by Kathleen Bolton and me. This was the same year Twitter was founded and Facebook opened its doors to the public. On the one hand, we’ve obviously not experienced the same meteoric rise in success as those social media giants. On the other hand, we’ve never been accused of using our vast influence to try to sway an election or snuff out our competitors, so overall I think we’re doing pretty well for ourselves. (Wink.)

We have over 10k feed readers, and over 5k email subscribers. And while a smaller number of you visit the site daily — and an even smaller number leave your mark in comments — every single one of you matters to us.

Who is “us”?

We’ve grown in ranks since 2006, when it was just Kath and me. In 2007, our next-longest-running contributor, bestselling fantasy author and hero to all dogs, Juliet Marillier joined us.

Over the years, we’ve hosted a plethora of wise voices from the writing world, including over 525 guests, many of whom were debut novelists when we first met them here. (And many of whom went on to become bestselling and multi-published authors.)

We’ve had nearly 100 regular contributors, 45 of whom are now alumni. (For a treat, dip into the archives to read posts authored by those alums. The dates on their posts may be old, but much of their advice is timeless. Start here, with Jane Friedman’s posts.)

Contributors in 2023 include David Corbett, Kathryn Craft, Jim Dempsey, Dave King, Donald Maass, Greer McAllister, Ray Rhamey, Densie Webb, Heather Webb, Kelsey Allagood, Porter Anderson, Yasmin Angoe, Tessa Barbosa, Anne Greenwood Brown, Kim Bullock, Sarah Callender, Keith Cronin, Julie Carrick Dalton, Susan DeFreitis, Diana Giovinazzo, Desmond Hall, Natalie Hart, Kristan Hoffman, Elizabeth Huergo, John Kelley, Jeanne Kisacky, Kasey LeBlanc, Juliet Marillier, Tiffany Yates Martin, Sophie Masson, Kathleen McCleary, Kristina McMorris, Liz Michalski, Rheea Mukherjee, Ann-Marie Nieves, Matthew Norman, Jan O’Hara, Barbara O’Neal, Barbara Linn Probst, Vaughn Roycroft, Victoria Strauss, Liza Nash Taylor, Grace Wynter, Yuvi Zalkow, Tom Bentley, LJ Cohen, Julie Duffy, Kathryn Magendie, and me. (Gwen Hernandez and Arthur Klepchukov, still contributors with the site, are on sabbatical this year.)

It takes more than our regular contributors to make this site shine, though.

Heartfelt thanks to the proverbial wind beneath the wings of this site and its ED:

• Assistant Editors Kim Bullock and Vaughn Roycroft
• Admin/Social Media Assistants VR Barkowski, Chris Blake, Valerie Chandler, LJ Cohen, DD Falvo,  Tonia Harris, Natalie Hart, Brin Jackson, Dede Nesbitt, Deb Peterson, Bernadette Phipps-Lincke and Mike Swift
• All of our advertisers, especially those who return again and again (I’m looking at you,  Jeanne Cavelos / Odyssey Writing Workshops, Kathryn Craft / Your Novel Year, Julie Duffy / StoryADayMay, DiAnn Mills, and Jennie Nash / Author Accelerator)
• Those who currently make monthly donations to WU or made a one-time donation this past year: Mary Adler, Edith Bajema, V.R. Barkowski, Deborah Boone, Gayle Brandt, Susan Breen, Flora Brown Associates, Kim Bullock, Sarah Callender, Nell Campbell, Terrence Cleary, Dani Coleman, Stephanie Cowell, Judy DaPolito, Jacki Delecki / Doe Bay Publishing, Julie Duffy / JD Write, Ann Dunn, Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt, Barbara Elmore / Mud Pie Press, Denise Falvo, Gillian Foster, Rose Gonzales, Nancy Scott Hanway, Natalie Hart, Maurene Janke, Michael Johnson, Patricia Kahn, Brian B. King, Suzanne Lafetra, Rhonda Lane, Susie Lindau, LK Lohan, Dan McGuire, Lloyd Meeker, Jan O’Hara, Barbara Linn Probst, Helen Pyne, Bill Reid, Lorraine Roe, Vaughn Roycroft, Soleah K. Sadge, Susan Setteducato, Patricia Skalka, Carol Stuckey, Kirk Swanson, Mike Swift, Jocosa Wade, Penny Walker, Nancy West, Denise (Dee) Willson, Dr. Steve Yarris, and Elaine Young
  

   

  If you’d like to make a gift to Writer Unboxed, which is used to help with its upkeep and evolution, you can learn about how to do so HERE.

All of you. Every one of you who contribute, from posts to donations to comments. You are the reason this site has been sustainable, especially over the last several years. Never doubt it.

Here’s to a great new year filled with personal growth, good progress on all of your creative pursuits, and of course community. Write on.

What were you doing in 2006? (If you weren’t yet born, please do not leave a comment. I feel a new gray hair about to pop.)

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