Taking Flight

The Intro

It feels like several eons ago that my friend, Adrian, declared 2020 the beginning of “The Reign of Ravynn.” The declaration was almost immediately followed by the onset of a global pandemic and I spent the next several years hidden in my childhood bedroom as I tried to finish my dissertation. Needless to say, I did not believe those words at all.

Fast forward about three years and things are significantly different. I have a job teaching media studies as a visiting assistant professor at a small liberal arts college in Virginia. I have a book deal for my debut YA novel, forthcoming from Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan. My shorter writings have been published in midnight & indigo, Greatist, Shondaland and Catapult (may she Rest In Peace). For a time, I sold my art in an Etsy shop that did quite well, as far as Etsy shops go. I was the keynote speaker for two writing conferences. And now sometimes, the coolest opportunities seem to just fall out of the sky and into my inbox.

Adrian could see the bigger picture, even then. It was a new era. It just didn’t feel like that to me because of all the work I’d have to do see things unfold the way I wanted.

I’m starting to see it, the Reign of Ravynn. And for me, a new phase of life always necessitates a new blog.

I can admit I don’t always know what I’m doing. I don’t always know how I’m going to get from point A to point B. I am always willing to spend time figuring it out, and a good way for me to problem solve is to reflect and externally process. Et voilà! This means you get to bear witness to my journey. I hope you don’t mind that I’m not entirely sure where we’re going; but I can promise you the flight will be scenic.

This space might be a lot of things. I might share musings, critical essays, lists, recommendations, illustrations. I might talk about writing, or art, or comics, or books, or music, or teaching, or some combination of them all. I might write weekly, or monthly, or when the mood strikes, which could mean three days in a row at 2 AM—unlikely; I tend to be sound asleep at 2 AM most nights. But you get the point.

I have always been, am, and will always be a digital girlie. A Black girl that finds solace in self making on the internet for the world to see. No matter what I end up writing about, the best part is that it will be me. It will be me as I am, the girl I was, and the person I am becoming. You get to witness the evolution. You get to witness me take flight.

But I’m asking you to fly with me.

These journeys never succeed alone.

Come. Let’s take flight.