happy holidays friends,
since I last wrote earlier this month, morning brew added my list of 23 things I learned in 2023 to their list of 2023 which is the most ridiculous thing because 2023 was a Rough Year For Me but seeing that on christmas eve (eve) felt fake and was the most imposter syndrome I have felt in quite some time. my IMMEDIATE reaction was to take it down because I hadn’t put much thought into it and did not expect more than like, 5 people to read it. I don’t write on substack much so I don’t know how morning brew even FOUND it. the only reason I wrote it was as an exercise for a collaboration my friend emily asked me to do (you can read her substack every little thing here). timing is so funny because my past couple weeks have been absolute CHAOS with my cat in the hospital for a week (we are $6,000 down and counting) and then this newsletter with 4 million subscribers casually used something I WROTE in their learning category:
LIKE WHAT? It’s just absolutely mindboggling to me that 23 things Karlie Flood learned in 2023 is a sentence in one of the most popular newsletters on the planet on their BEST OF 2023 LIST. like literally, that post is just nonsense spewing from my mouth.
but according to my substack statistics, that post got almost 4,000 more views than the previous post, so I wanted to say hello to any new subscribers and thank you for wanting to read more of my words?!!!?? here is a little reintroduction:
my name is karlie and I am 26 years old. I live in kingston, ny where my family runs a thrift/book/art/vinyl/vintage/gift store called rewind kingston. I lost my nineteen year old sister in 2020: it still feels strange to include this in a description of myself, but it has become the core of my identity, so I will include it. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in english and communications but I didn’t start writing or creating until the pandemic hit in 2020 when it felt like I was dying of boredom. at first, it was mostly for fun, but when my sister passed, it became a lifeline. I’m currently in the editing stage of my first book of poetry and prose called you look like you’re looking for something. I am hoping to release it this spring. it is a love letter to my sister, but also for anyone working through any kind of love or loss. in the meantime, I post my writing, art, and poetry on an instagram called reminders to my future self.
my sister’s name was cassidy. she was my very best friend. anyways, I rarely see or hear her name because it’s not the most common name, but my friend who first sent me the morning brew newsletter last week told me to look at the name of the writers of the newsletter.
the day before, I called a random vet I picked from a list of about a dozen, and the person answered the phone with “this is cassidy.”
there are signs if you look for them.
wishing you the best 2024.
love,
me
you're incredible karlie, i love you
This is everything 🩷 congrats to you my beautiful friend!!