Concerning the About page you are presently reading —
This finds you from the California estate I live and work at: eighteen acres of English-inspired garden wherein lie an old manor, a life-size chess board, secret histories, brick paths, a six-foot-tall hedge maze, a parliament of stone statues, a hill-hewn wine cave. I’ll stop the list before you stop believing me. Canonically I hold the title of Estate Manager (though I prefer Groundskeeper) and in the margins I write for myself. I have just begun the journey of getting my litfic novel past the people who guard the publishers gate. If you have a manuscript or a dream in a drawer or a persistent suspicion you were meant to make something, this might be a good place for you.
This is where the dispatches land. Expect essays delivered fortnightly on our culture and how it shapes the art we make, books and occasionally their film equivalents, and too many takes on the creative process. I also write notes from the estate, like what the garden is doing, what creative endeavors I’m hatching, and what it looks like taking care of multiple fifty year old buildings made mostly of crumbling brick. I’ll also soon be querying my contemporary family mystery novel which brings me to my next point — the aim to bring writers together, find long-term critique partners, and ideally form an entire writing cult who meets monthly or bi-annually. Because I’ve never felt more energized than in a room with other artists, and I happen to have the perfect place to host them. Soon the gates open. Small creative retreats are taking shape here under the roses (I’m imagining a few writers, a few days, real work).
Paid subscribers can expect early access to our inaugural retreat and all the rest that may follow. Occasionally, more vulnerable or personal essays will be behind a paywall too.
Credentials, since you asked: I’ve been managing the estate for nearly three years now. I’m also a former English tutor and current college drop-out (I will, given half a chance, still edit your sentences). I read closely and I tell the truth about what I read.
There will be no videos, no ads, no AI, no aspirational bullshit. Just my work, and a witness to yours.
-Carly
