💔 NEW CHAPTER: The Text Matt finally hears from the daughters Kristina hid from him for nearly two decades. Unfortunately, the emotional reunion begins with him losing a fight against a Gen Z acronym. #TheUnmakingOfKristinaKelley #Booksky #AmWriting #fiction open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

💔 NEW CHAPTER: The Letter She Never Gave After Kristina Kelley’s death, Matt finds the one thing she never had the courage to give him while she was alive: the truth. And it changes everything. #booksky #AmWriting #WritersOfSubstack #LiteraryFiction #trilogy substack.com/@katkennan/n...

Matt visits the only place Kristina still exists in silence. Some loves don’t end. They just learn how to survive grief. New chapter from The Unmaking of Kristina Kelley is live. 🖤 #BookSky #AmWriting #LiteraryFiction #trilogy open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

This chapter hurt to write. Not because of the memorial. Because of the version of grief that happens quietly, privately, underneath all the public performance. Chapter 3: The Ghosts Left Behind is live now. 🖤 #Writing #LiteraryFiction open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Most people here know me through poetry, trauma essays, or empathy-led storytelling. Today, I shared the prologue to The Unmaking of Kristina Kelley — a literary novel that begins with the death of an Oscar-winning actress at the height of her career. #fiction open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Final poem of the month: Worship. Thirty days of poetry, grief, longing, softness, rage, hope, survival, and tiny beautiful moments. Thanks for reading along. 🤍 #poetry #writing #poemaday open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 29/30: Longing 🌊 A poem about subway heat, exhaust fumes, touch that lingers in your skin, and wanting the ocean badly enough to ache for it. NYC is equal parts seduction and suffocation. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 28: Angels & Demons A poem about grief, inherited silence, survival, and becoming your own light after years of dimming yourself to survive. 🕯️ #poetry #writingcommunity #poemaday open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 27. Not every morning is a breakthrough. Sometimes it’s just choosing to show up anyway. That’s enough. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

This is climbing fast today. Not because it’s polished. Because it’s true. “How do you live with it?” 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/katkenna... Subscribe if you’re tired of people pretending this doesn’t exist. #trauma #writing #substack #survivorstory

Day 26: The Candlelight Between Us A poem about chosen family, birthdays measured in presence instead of years, and the kind of belonging that makes survival feel less lonely. Sometimes the celebration isn’t the cake or the candles. It’s the people who stay. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Some doors aren’t for closing. They’re for standing in, breathing, remembering… and choosing what comes next. Threshold — Day 25 open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

This is climbing fast today (437 views and counting). Given the news right now…yeah. It lands. “How do you live with it?” If it hits, come subscribe. I don’t write easy things. 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 24: Sanctuary Some grief rises. Some gets buried exactly where it shouldn’t open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 23: A Recipe for Her She gave love away in cookies, in casseroles, in warmth that filled a room. But the child beside her was still waiting to be held. Some love feeds everyone—except the one who needs it most. #writer #writing #poem open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Not all love is loud. Some of it flickers softly and still manages to light the whole room. “Aglow” — day 22 ✨ #writers #poem #poetry open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 21 — Sacred Feast Some nights feed more than hunger. They remind you what it feels like to belong. #poetry #writing #author open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Hope isn’t loud. It’s something small you decide not to drop. Day 20: Fragile Things #poetry #poem #writers open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Not every apology is spoken. Some are folded into laundry, stacked into routines, carried quietly from room to room. We inherit more than we realize. #poetry #writingcommunity open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 18 Some mornings don’t ask for greatness. Just presence. Open your eyes. Take the step. Try again. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

She said “bwird” like the word itself could fly. I think we forget how to look up that way. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 16: Opera Singer Volume isn’t power. Sometimes it’s just fear with a microphone. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 15 // Quiet Harbor Not all stillness is emptiness. Some of it is recovery. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 14 // Poem of the Day Not all transformation is gentle. Some of it looks like breaking. Some of it is breaking. But even then— something in you refuses to disappear. “Ecstasy of Ruin” open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Spring isn’t soft. It’s growth in unstable conditions. Bloom anyway. 🌱 open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 12 // Poem of the Day Some things don’t need permission to bloom. Wildflowers don’t ask. They just grow anyway. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 11: Run Away Some people run because truth would require them to change. This one is about choosing to face it anyway. No politeness. No shrinking. No shame. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

They told you to be soft. To forgive. To kneel. But survival doesn’t look like obedience. Sometimes it looks like teeth. 🐺 open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

There’s a kind of quiet that doesn’t ask anything of you. It just lets you rest there for a minute. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 8. Not about now—about what lingers. Healing isn’t soft or linear. It’s messy, loud, and sometimes fueled by anger. But it’s also this: refusing to carry shame that was never yours. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

This view isn’t about where I am right now. It’s something to hold onto for later. A reminder that even in darker moments, I’ve chosen to stay— and can again. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 6. Six years since my mom died. Somehow it feels like no time at all— and also like I’ve lived entire versions of my life without her. I still hear her voice in my head. Still wish I could call her. Still wish for one more hour. Today’s poem is for her. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 5. Not everyone grows up feeling like they belong to where they came from. Sometimes survival looks like walking across shifting ground until you realize— you are the only place that has to hold. “ No Ownership ” open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Some things don’t shatter all at once. They fracture slowly—quietly—until you don’t recognize yourself. But even then… you’re still here. And sometimes that’s the beginning. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 3. “The Anchor You Hold” For the ones who keep showing up even when they feel like they’re drowning. The quiet victories count too. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Day 2. Some wounds don’t close. They echo. You don’t remember them— you react to them. You’re not crazy. But the world starts to feel like it is. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Some homes don’t break. Some people do. Day 1: Porcelain open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Healing isn’t clean. It’s jagged. Repetitive. Sometimes it feels like breaking more than fixing. This is a poem about that. The Weight of What’s Been open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Lost Sir Tiger. He wasn’t even 7. A few days later, we adopted two kittens. Which sounds unhinged. They didn’t replace him. Turns out grief and joy aren’t opposites—they just move in together and make everything weird. Wrote about it ↓ open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

She was bleeding. They told her to go on stage anyway. We call that strength. I don’t. I wrote about the performance of being “fine.” open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

On March 8 I published one of the hardest things I’ve ever written. The messages I received reminded me how many stories people carry quietly. Today I wrote about why I share essays, poems, fragments, and works-in-progress here. Sometimes writing is just turning on a light. bit.ly/4sJ2QdF

💙✨ Huge thanks to @katkennan.bsky.social for sharing pics of my #DoctorWho prints framed up on her wall - they look gorgeous ✨💙 “Amazing quality, great design. Perfect for any Dr Who fan! I can’t thank you enough! I love them!” Grab yours now 🛒: blueboxartworksstore.etsy.com #DrWho #TARDIS

Prologue I shared the other day that I've started my hashtag#memoir. I'm starting to post some of these writings, often not in the order they are written, which somehow seems appropriate for such things. Here is my prologue; now on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

Frosting Stitches open.substack.com/pub/katkenna...

📉 Nearly 700,000 layoffs this year. 😶‍🌫️ Most companies still treat empathy like an accessory. Real talk: kindness is not weakness. It’s strategy.

1/ Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting in two. But the biggest thing at risk isn’t revenue—it’s trust. 🧵

Would You Read This Novel? Read and Answer Poll at substack.com/inbox/post/1...

when a brand shows up for #pride one year & vanishes the next, queer folks feel it. not just emotionally—but somatically. this new piece breaks down why inconsistency hurts more than rainbow capitalism ever did. visibility isn’t optics. it’s care. 🧠🌈 open.substack.com/pub/katkenna... #marketing

New post: “UX Is a Nervous System” Your website might look great—but if it overwhelms the body, it fails. Let’s talk trauma-informed UX and how to make design feel like consent, not coercion. open.substack.com/pub/katkenna... #UX #TraumaInformed #DesignForHumans