Poets and Storytellers United is a community of
writers who blog. If you are a creative mind who finds delight in the arts of
poetry and storytelling, then welcome home! Please keep in mind that we are not
a place for advertisement.
The concept of our community is quite simple: we share our
writings (poems, stories,
articles…) and support each other by commenting. The experience is what
you make of it. If you are active and comment often, you will more than likely
find this reciprocated.
Our community is not meant to be used in a negative manner.
We ask that you be respectful of all participants, as each individual is
entitled to their own opinion, style, and path to creativity.
Our
History
The original idea for this community came from Robert (Robb) Lloyd, in June 2010.
At first, Robb slotted people who joined into groups of four, with the idea
that they would support each other with regular blog visits and comments. When
growth made this system too hard to maintain, the quartets united and became one
big group instead.
Eventually, instead of doing it all himself, Robb had help
from feature writers. They included (in
random order—and please let us know if we’ve left anyone out) Kim
Nelson, Ella Wilson, Jacob Knowles-Smith, bkmackenzie, Larry Peterson, Eileen
T. O’Neill, Danny Earl Simmons, Marian Kent, a.m. (Amy) trumble, and Sherry Blue Sky.
In May 2011, Robb said he could not have kept
going without behind-the-scenes help from “two very wonderful and supportive
ladies”: Mary and Sherry. In the same month, the community published an
anthology, The Poetry Pantry: Thoughts That Breathe, which is still
available for purchase in paperback and free as a digital download. Soon afterwards Rosemary Nissen-Wade joined the staff (in October 2011).
When Robb left in 2012, Mary took the helm, ably assisted by
Sherry. A couple of years later Mary, Sherry and Rosemary were joined by Susan
Chast and then Sumana Roy. Early in 2019, Magaly Guerrero and
Sanaa Rizvi joined the team. Near the end of the same year, with various other things going on in their lives, Mary, Sherry,
Susan and Sumana each separately made the reluctant decision that it was time to resign and pursue other activities.
Rosemary, Magaly and Sanaa recruited Rommy Driks, and these four became the new management. A spate of blogging glitches during the same period, affecting both Blogger and Wordpress, and coinciding also with our decision to give equal weight to prose, had us archive the Poets United blog (leaving it still accessible) and create a new one for Poets and Storytellers United, beginning in January 2020.
We do it all for love, and it's a big commitment. Sanaa resigned in August 2020 when other pressures made it hard for her to give this the attention she felt it needed.
Rosemary, Magaly and Sanaa recruited Rommy Driks, and these four became the new management. A spate of blogging glitches during the same period, affecting both Blogger and Wordpress, and coinciding also with our decision to give equal weight to prose, had us archive the Poets United blog (leaving it still accessible) and create a new one for Poets and Storytellers United, beginning in January 2020.
We do it all for love, and it's a big commitment. Sanaa resigned in August 2020 when other pressures made it hard for her to give this the attention she felt it needed.
Today, the team consists of Rosemary (Coordinator), Magaly (Assistant Coordinator), and Rommy (Contributor / Consultant).
