Welcome to The First Creator’s Roulette post – What a better way to start a series about creatives by spending sometime with some of the most creative people I know? I have been involved with WriteHive for almost a year now and, if you remember, I had posted my conversation with Joshua Lee Ronin, the Executive Coordinator of the WriteHive back in November. Today is a very special day in the history of WriteHive. For the first time, they will be having an open office so that anyone who has access to the discord channels can come visit! Keep an eye out on Twitter because they will be posting links to the office there so you know where to go.
My good friend, Elsa Wares, actually visited WriteHive and this is her story about what she found there. So go find a comfy spot and some coffee while you explore WriteHive with her.
My Time with WriteHive
by: Elsa Wares
It is impossible to describe what it’s like to teleport, so I won’t even try. But the person I’d jumped with didn’t seem fazed at all. He just winked from the space between his mask and beanie.
“You all right?” he asked with a chuckle.
His name was Joshua Lee Ronin, founder and Executive Coordinator of WriteHive — a brand new, all-digital writing collective established for the #WritingCommunity.
I collected myself and got to my feet. “Yeah, I’m fine. That’s… quite an experience.”
“Nothing like it!” Joshua said. He was patient with me while I tried not to hurl. “Anyway, this is the place.”
He motioned his arm toward something in the distance, and it was then that I finally took stock of my surroundings. Joshua and I stood at the end of a bridge that led to… well… nowhere. Just open sky and clouds. A railing was put up to stop travel-sick teleporters from falling into the abyss that hung below us. It was enough to make me queasy all over again. But I fought the urge to chuck my lunch and followed Joshua’s gesture toward the building from which the bridge extended.
It was a huge, black and gold cathedral. It was also the only thing in this infinite expanse of sky besides us and the bridge. The cathedral shimmered in the sunlight. Inspecting it closer, I could see its façade was decorated in a beautiful, geometric pattern.
WriteHive.
It was like looking at El Dorado.
“Woah,” I said, whipping out my notebook and sketching what I could as quickly as possible. “You weren’t kidding. It really does exist in a space of its own…”
A moment earlier, Joshua and I had been sitting in a local coffee shop.
Joshua nodded and tucked a teleportation device into his pocket. “Shall we?”
I’d been investigating WriteHive for weeks, eager to learn more about the collective and the free convention it’s holding in April. I’d heard about the collective through Joshua’s post on Kriti Khare’s Armed With a Book blog, and I’d been obsessed with how it worked. Joshua has mentioned just about everywhere that the collective exists in a space of its own — it isn’t tied down to any particular place. And that’s by design.
Joshua founded WriteHive with the intention of making it accessible to everyone with an Internet connection. And he wanted to put on a convention for writers, editors, publishers, book designers, and anyone else who want to attend a con but just can’t for whatever reason. It’s a genius alternative to normal writing conventions, because WriteHive’s convention will exist all-online. Anyone can experience WriteHive’s convention and see amazing panels and presentations from writers all over the world.
As a journalist, I was naturally interested in covering this story. So, I managed to wrangle Joshua into a sit-down coffee session.
I hadn’t expected him to ask me if I wanted to see WriteHive… because… it wasn’t a place, right? And I definitely didn’t expect him to pull out an alien-looking device and transport me to what must have been another dimension.
A pod picked us up at the end of the bridge. It was cozy inside. It played elevator music. There was no driver.
The main doors to WriteHive—that floating sky-cathedral looming above me—were plastered in chalkboard. Signatures from people all over the world were scrawled on them in various languages and colors. I was astounded by the sheer immensity of the collection.
“Those are our supporters, members, partners, and friends,” Joshua said, pointing to the scribblings. “They’re amazing people. I’m excited and honored to know them all.”
The pod dropped us off in a courtyard and zoomed away. The chalkboard doors closed behind us. People of all sorts were roaming about underneath trees and along a small stream. Some of them were scribbling into notepads of their own. One stood on a bench and acted out some old play I’d never heard before. Another was dropping some wild slam poetry.
“How do all these people get here?” I asked.
Joshua grinned. “Everyone gets the keys. There are no secrets here. Check your pocket.”
I did, and I found the same transporter device Joshua had used in the coffee shop earlier. “How—?”
“Trade secret,” Joshua said with a laugh. “Now, would you like to meet the team that makes all of this possible?”
“Yes!”
“Cool! Let’s start with Tyler.”
Tyler — Director of Outreach, Assistant Executive Coordinator
Tyler’s office was accessible through a series of doors and winding passages that seemed simultaneously confusing and easy to navigate. As we drew close, I could smell the unmistakable scent of incense. Groovy jams were playing from behind a beautiful, colorful tapestry that fluttered in place of a door.
Inside, a handsome fellow with glasses sat in the midst of a huge, cozy room. He was sipping casually on a glass of water while holograms of various people moved around him, all talking amongst themselves or to Tyler directly. He seemed so comfortable. And all the holograms were smiling. Everyone—even the virtual people—nodded to us as we came in.
“Hey, Ty!” Joshua said as he walked in. Tyler waved.
It was easy to approach him.
“This is Elsa,” Joshua explained. “She’s doing a feature on WriteHive. Wanted to see the space.”
“Oh, cool!” Tyler said. He sat up straighter in his chair. “It’s nice to meet you, Elsa.”
“Thanks, you too,” I replied. “So… what do you do here, Tyler?”
Tyler smiled. “I’m the Director of Outreach. Basically, it’s my job to reach out to talent or interested parties and spread the word about WriteHive. Sometimes, I coordinate interviews or partnerships with other sites. I also help out with scheduling. Right now, I’m focused on #OwnVoices. We want lots of different voices to be part of WriteHive.”
Joshua chimed in. “We have this huge platform, and we want to make sure everyone gets equal chance to access our resources and attend our convention. Tyler makes that possible. And he’s the best assistant ever. Tyler was the first one to join my cause and he’s been immensely helpful ever since. The WriteHive logo was all him!”
Tyler chuckled. “Yep! I do lots of visual work, too. I have some prior experience that I was able to bring to the team.”
“That’s so cool!” I said. “Pretty sweet office you’ve got, too.”
“Word,” Tyler said. “I love people and I love hearing their stories. That’s why WriteHive is so great. It gives everyone the chance to speak. Actually, I was just about to get my tarot read by one of my new friends in the Weaver galaxy. Wanna stick around?”
“Galaxy?” I asked.
“Well yeah,” Tyler said. “WriteHive’s not just an Earth thing.”
Joshua waved his hands. “We’ll leave you to it, my dude! There’s a lot to show Elsa!”
Tyler nodded. “Cool! Well come back any time! Thanks for stopping by! I’ll see you at the roundtable later?”
Joshua nodded and gave a thumbs up.
We were off again, Joshua leading me through another series of impossible turns. “We’ll visit Jerusha next,” he said.
Jerusha — Lead Moderator
Jerusha’s office was an interesting mix of tech and analog. Huge server towers rose into the sky, vines twisting around them. Stacks of books huddled around their bases. Screens were everywhere. Little drones zipped back and forth, pushing buttons and flicking switches. They moved like hummingbirds.
Past the towers was a lounge with a giant glass wall overlooking the cloudy sky outside. A woman paced in the middle of that lounge. She wore some strange helmet with blinking lights and matching gloves. She waved her gloved hands through the air in graceful, smooth arcs.
She was apparently in the middle of a conversation.
“Great job, everyone! I’m stepping out for just a second. The boss man just came through the door.”
We hadn’t said anything. Joshua just smiled and clapped his hands behind his back. Jerusha took off her helmet and smiled.
“Hey Joshua,” she said. “Hey Elsa.”
“How do you—” I started.
“She knows everything,” Joshua said, pointing toward Jerusha. “Jerusha is our Lead Moderator. She runs a small army of Mods that hold this community together. They monitor the airwaves and engage with our community members. They offer the news of the day. They check in with people. We have such a tight group because of them, and all of them get their direction and training from Jerusha.”
Jerusha gave a bow and flicked a switch on her one of her gloves. She took a step back.
“Check this out,” she said.
A galaxy of swirling, holographic images appeared around us, projected by a ring of light on the floor. I could see a number of text chats on various platforms, all of which were dinging and buzzing and lighting up. There were also videos all over the place of people talking to the camera.
“That’s the HiveMind,” Jerusha said. “These are all the conversations going on in our communities right now. And those videos are test panels my Moderators are recording. During the convention, the Moderators will be recording and broadcasting every conversation. People can show up to the event live, or they can see the recording later. Either way, everyone will get to attend the convention.”
“Incredible,” I said. “This is so much to handle.”
Jerusha shrugged. “Sometimes. But we work as a team. That’s what makes WriteHive so great!”
“I’ll let you get back to what you were doing, Jerusha,” Joshua said. “Thanks for giving us some of your time! Hey, remember the roundtable later.”
“You bet! Thanks for stopping by!”
Dakota — Administration and Operations
There was not one Dakota. There were hundreds.
All of them were busy at various stations throughout Dakota’s office—a giant room with lots of ledgers, whiteboards, clocks, and bookshelves. Every Dakota looked up from their work and waved at us when Joshua and I walked in. It was an incredibly creepy thing to see, but Joshua didn’t seem unsettled in the slightest, so I tried to be the same.
One Dakota, wearing a black hoodie, approached us from the rows of her identical workers.
“Staying busy I see!” Joshua said with a chuckle.
“Always,” Dakota said. “Lots of orders today!”
“That’s a good thing!” Joshua said.
“Who’s this?” Dakota asked, nodding to me.
“Ah, this is Elsa! She’s doing a feature on WriteHive.”
“Oh, cool! What’s up?” Dakota asked.
“What… is all this?” I asked.
Dakota spread her arms. “It’s me! I run operations and administration for WriteHive. We might be a collective, but we need to have a shape. So, I’m charge of keeping it all together. I keep everyone organized and on track, and I do most of the scheduling as well. When you see timeslots and scheduled participants, that’s my doing. I’m also designing a digital program book for our participants!”
“Dakota has a lot of experience with non-profit organizations and she’s an excellent resource when we need to make business decisions,” Joshua explained. “We’d be a mess without her.”
Dakota laughed. “I don’t know about that, but I love helping. WriteHive is an important project, and I’m so glad to be part of it. Hey, the roundtable is still good for tonight, right?”
“It is! I was going to show Elsa through the sound lab and the social studio. We’ll link up with you all right on time.”
“Awesome! See you there!” Dakota said.
The Roundtable
Joshua showed me through several other rooms in WriteHive, some of them still under construction. Scaffolding and tarp crowded some of the interior halls.
“Sorry for the mess,” Joshua said. “We’re expanding our focus right now. We started out as just a convention, but we’ve seen the potential for more. We want to be a resource portal for industry professionals and amateurs alike. So, we’re adding on some stuff piece by piece. We’ll make more announcements on that in the future.”
He led me past a wall of pictures, all featuring various people and websites. I recognized one name and face immediately.
“Oh, that’s Kriti Khare!” I said.
“Yep! She’s great! This is our Partners wall. We like to promote the people that are going the extra mile to help us out. Kriti and her blog, Armed With a Book, have been instrumental in our success so far. These other people have too! And more are being added all the time.”
We visited several distinctive rooms as well. We met Jessa in the sound lab, where work was being done on The Buzz, WriteHive’s official podcast. Jessa edited each episode and even created original music for the podcast! We stopped in for a moment to listen to one of the newest episodes before continuing on.
Next was the social studio, where Liz was busy running the WriteHive Twitter page and engaging with the huge community that WriteHive has grown over its short life.
We even went into a room where seemingly anything was allowed. There was paint splattered everywhere, a few unguarded fires, and a number of wild people just… screaming.
“That’s our test server,” Joshua said, ushering me along. “We don’t go into the test server.”
Eventually, we wound up in a beautiful room. The windows showed the inky, star-dotted vastness of outer space. A round table sat in the middle. Tyler, Jerusha, Dakota, Jessa, and Liz all sat around it. Joshua took his place as well, even pulling up a chair for me. One thing I noticed: his position wasn’t prominent. He was the founder, but it seemed like everyone had an equal seat at the table.
“Elsa, welcome to the round table,” Joshua said. “This is where all the magic happens. Where we brainstorm, chat, and build WriteHive. Each day, we meet here, and I lay down a set of priorities for the team. We dish out the responsibilities as necessary, according to our individual strengths. That’s how we run WriteHive. Together, one task at a time.”
“Why the round table?” I asked.
Joshua shrugged. “Because this isn’t built for me. I’m not here to turn a profit or boss people around. All these amazing people volunteer their time to this project. All of them have built it into what it is today. Without them, there’d be no WriteHive. So, I might be the ‘face’, but each of us are the hands.”
“You’re all volunteers?” I asked the group.
“Yep,” Jerusha said. “So are all of our Mods.”
“Earlier on in the tour, we passed the vault,” I said to Joshua. “It looked pretty busy. WriteHive is taking in money from places like Ko-Fi and Patreon, but where is it going if it’s not going to you all?”
“It’s going to someone who needs it more,” Dakota said. “We use a little of the proceeds to do things like set up a real web domain and get a P.O. Box for the business. But the rest of our money is going to an author in need at the end of the convention.”
“What? Really? You’re just going to give away money?”
“Yeah,” Tyler said. “Whatever we collect right now is pooled into a fund that will go to an author in need. We’re going to help pay for editing services, book design stuff, and even cover art for a lucky author. Literally, our donors are helping make someone’s dream come true! Applications for winners haven’t started yet. But we’ll be opening them up soon.”
“That’s right,” Joshua said proudly. “Like I told you before: this is for everyone. Now, to the topic of discussion for today… Elsa, I think you might like this one.”
Dakota pulled out a manila folder and slapped it on the table. “WriteHive’s Open Roundtable,” she said.
“What?” I asked.
Joshua turned to me. “For one day, we’re going to open up every door WriteHive has, and anyone who is curious can come see what we do. We’ll be offering unfettered access to our round table for any interested visitor! They can see what it’s like to run a non-profit writing collective and convention! For free!”
I blinked. “Why are you doing all this?”
Joshua shrugged. “I just thought it would be cool for people to see what we do—”
“No,” I shook my head. “I mean all this. The whole thing.”
“Because it matters,” Tyler said.
“Because people deserve it,” Jerusha said.
“Because we can,” Dakota said.
Joshua nodded. “There are people out there right now who are more talented than anyone you’ll read on the shelves. There are people telling stories that need to be heard. There are people you should know about. WriteHive is all about bringing those people together, amplifying their voices, growing stronger as a collective, and putting out transformative art that can represent a better, more united version of humanity.”
“A hive…” I said.
“Exactly. So, now that you’ve seen it all, Elsa, what do you think? What are you going to write about us?”
I smiled. “The truth.”
The group nodded. Joshua spoke. “Dope. Spread the word. If people are looking for a place to belong, they should check us out. The keys are free. The community is ready. The space is more than big enough.”
“Thanks,” I said. I fished the transporter out of my pocket. “So, how do I—?”
I hadn’t even finished my sentence before I found myself back at my seat in the coffee shop. It was closed. The lights were off. There was no one around.
I stood up and made my way to the door, shaking my head in disbelief. A yelp broke the silence of the space as a night manager turned a corner. She dropped a notebook on the floor that I swiftly picked back up.
I couldn’t help notice that she was writing poetry.
“What are you doing in here?” the woman asked.
“Uh, fell asleep in one of the booths. Sorry,” I said. “Hey, are you a writer?”
“… Yeah…?”
I smiled. “Have you ever heard of WriteHive?”
Thank you for tuning in to the very first Creator’s Roulette post! Hope you enjoyed this amazing story by Elsa, and felt as awestruck as she did. I sure was mesmerized when she shared her tale.
Looking for a similar experience? As I said before, keep an eye out on Twitter because WriteHive will be posting links to the office there so you know where to go. See you at the open office! 🙂
Connect with the fantastic folks at WriteHive:
| Website |
Banner Photo by Mike Kenneally on Unsplash
Photo of woman taking notes: Photo by The Climate Reality Project on Unsplash
Image of stars and space: Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash
This was wonderfully well written, fun, and, to make things better, I want to know all about writehive. lol. Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Abbi! I put links to their website and twitter at the end of the post. Let me know if you would like me to connect you with them personally – I would be happy to do that! 🙂
Thanks! I just followed them on Twitter!!!