Conversations with Anna King

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna King.

Hi Anna, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I started writing in elementary school and would tell on myself using my grandmother’s IBM Selectric typewriter. I could never figure out how my parents knew what I’d been up to and later learned my grandmother had been sharing my old-school hardcopy blogs.

I went through the Blogger and MySpace days when the blogs were huge, and then people like Heather Armstrong (Dooce.com) started monetizing like crazy. There was suddenly this pressure to have a platform, and people started saying outrageous things just for the clicks. Gone were the days of just riffing on whatever caught your attention.

When every single aspect of our discourse became so political, I stopped writing because I didn’t have the energy to argue with people on the internet after a full day in the office. Now that certain social media platforms have become toxic cesspools, it seems like blogging is undergoing a renaissance. People want to engage without dealing with a bunch of hecklers. There’s so much noise, though. Writers sometimes struggle to find their niche. After becoming a freelance digital nomad in 2019, I decided to pick up the research I’d put on the shelf for a nonfiction book I’ve wanted to write since I was a teenager. Sifting through old photos and newspaper records rekindled my obsession with old and abandoned buildings. Because my hometown of Dodge City, Kansas has such a notorious reputation as the Cowboy Capital of the World, I’ve spent a lot of time there recently, photographing and researching old buildings and the businesses which occupied them. I’ve found that walking my dog and taking photos of interesting buildings is a wonderful mental palate cleanser when I hit a brick wall with my book research. It turns out that people are hungry for stories about the places they’ve walked or driven past for years without having any idea what went on inside.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all! There’s a reason so many websites provide writing prompts. Before choosing the freelance life, I worked in Finance and Human Resources. Working 50-60 hours per week at a stressful job is an absolute creativity killer. When I got home from work, my brain would shut down, and I could barely keep up with chores around the house. There was nothing left for writing. It was also difficult to dedicate time and resources to travel for research when I had a house to maintain and limited time off from work. Historical archives are still being digitized, and for many years, I felt like I was trying to cobble this story with both hands tied behind my back. Being a digital nomad makes it much simpler to load up the dog and access the information I need.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
The book I’m working on is about a ragtime-era trombonist named Otero Gause Beeson, who played with some of the best bands in the country. When I write about historical figures or places, I avoid the names, dates, times, and places nature of nonfiction because it’s boring. I’m not a scholar! I want to know what people were like and always include my reactions to the information I discover in whatever I write. Readers may or may not appreciate my sarcasm or sense of humor, but they can always count on me for piping hot takes on history. At the same time, I’m learning as much as I can about every place I photograph. Since buying property near a ghost town in Cochise County, I hope to expand my audience and focus on the Old West.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
My great-grandparents owned and operated the Beeson Museum in Dodge City. My grandmother sold most of the collection to the Boot Hill Museum, and even as a small child, I couldn’t believe she did that! I would have loved to carry on the tradition and surround myself with that history. So many stories about everyday people and their everyday possessions are being lost to time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://herethisisyou.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herethisisyou/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herethisisyou/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/herethisisyou