Hello, Hi, Welcome!

Hello, hi, howdy!

I’ve been going back and forth on whether or not to start a website for a while - I’ve been making up the typical excuses for months. It never felt like the right time, I’m not prepared enough, who will even read it, yada yada yada. Well, one thing I’ve learned the hard way this past year is there’s never a good time for anything, and waiting around for the perfect moment means I’ll just be waiting around forever.

So! Welcome to Poerly Written! (a pun on my last name, Poer, pronounced like “poor.”) I’ll be using this space as a portfolio for my more polished pieces, including film and literary criticism, travel essays, reflections on life, etc. If you’d like more of the fun-and-free content, you can subscribe to my substack, where I’ll put out regular posts, including weekly R.E.P.O.R.T.S., movie reviews, and more of the typical blog posts. I’m trying not to put too much structure into it because that’ll just get me stuck in a rut of perfectionism.

A little bit about myself - I’m a 25-year-old writer based in Austin, Texas. I have a Boston Terrier named Titus. I grew up west of Fort Worth, TX, and have always been a stereotypical book worm. I went to college at the University of North Texas, where I got my double bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and American History. I graduated from UNT in May 2020, and went directly into my Creative Writing graduate program at Wilkes University, earning my MA in Fiction in 2022 and my MFA in Publishing in 2023.

Now, I’m a little over a year post-grad and finally getting over the burnout of staying in school for twenty years straight. I struggled with undiagnosed ADHD throughout college before getting a diagnosis in 2021. Since then, and since graduation last year, I’ve been relearning how to love reading and writing as things of passion, rather than a burden required by school. Slowly but surely, I’ve been returning to writing as an outlet for creative and emotional release. Thank god, or else the three degrees would be a waste!

I absolutely adore movies and watch what some might consider “too many” - I’m well ahead of schedule for my goal of watching 365 movies this year. I try to stay on top of new releases and am making my way through all the classics. I go to the theater usually more than once a week (thank god for Alamo Season Pass!). You can check out my letterboxd and see some of my favorites there. I’ll also be recapping what I read, watch, and more via weekly R.E.P.O.R.T.S. in my substack.

I’m so excited about the potential this space holds! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it <3

Thanks for being here,

Lydia