Yellow Arrow Publishing’s 2025 Yearly Value: Blazing the Trail Forward
Dear Yellow Arrow Community,
On January 1st of every year, I go on a “first day hike” with my family. No matter the weather, every year since my daughter was born, we’ve gone on a hike on January 1st. I don’t know if it will mean anything to her as she ages, but it means something to me, now. It’s a way of committing to an act, of saying, even if it is cold, or raining, or snowing, we will hike. Even if it is for half an hour, we will hike. No matter the conditions surrounding us, we will find a trail, and we will navigate forward.
Hiking is a lot of different things to different people. I don’t consider myself an intense hiker—more of the leisurely type—but one of the more memorable hikes I ever tackled was the Koko Crater Tramway, a steep climb up abandoned railway ties that ends at Koko Head Lookout on O’ahu. To get to the lookout by sunset, you have to begin hiking in the dark, so we set out with headlamps strapped to foreheads and unsure footing. About halfway up the climb is a bridge of railway ties with no ground beneath for about 50 rail steps. On the day I hiked this trail (if you can call it a trail), a swarm of bees began building a hive under one of the railway ties. Hikers ahead of me whispered back messages of caution and support, offering up what hikers before them advised worked or did not work to avoid getting stung or falling. I remember this part of the hike the most—and how, when we finally reached the top, the other hikers and I were all comrades, having followed the same path successfully, having tossed each other encouraging smiles as we paused for deep breaths or sips of water, or to take in the view.
In addition to taking a hike to start each year, I work with the team at Yellow Arrow Publishing to select a yearly value that encompasses all we plan to achieve in the months ahead. We began this practice in 2020 with REFUGE, in 2021 with EMERGE, building momentum with AWAKEN in 2022, and lighting things up with SPARK in 2023. In 2024, we focused on the value AMPLIFY.
When our team was voting on our 2025 yearly value for Yellow Arrow, and I saw that BLAZE was a frontrunner, this was the image I had in mind: blazing up that hiking trail, determined to persevere. First, with only the light of a headlamp and some strangers to guide me, and finally with the glow of the morning’s sun stretching over the water beyond the island.
Many of our board members, staff, and volunteers shared what BLAZE meant to them, and it was inspiring to see the wide array of interpretations our women-identifying community offered. The heat of passion. The beginning of a flame. The way the wind takes a spark or an ember and carries it, igniting more fire (or change) elsewhere. The changing of seasons. Transformation. The concept of being in heat and the way our sexual desires can send out their own strong signals—a blaze of pheromones. A blaze of glory. And, of course, the temptation to burn it all down.
But we also loved the imagery of blazing a trail—precisely what we have always aimed to accomplish here at Yellow Arrow. The idea “blazing a trail” originated in the 18th century, when forest trailgoers made notches or chips in the bark of trees, quite literally called “blazes.”
If you can, imagine our team here behind the scenes. We are tending to this trail our writers are on, trimming the overgrowth to soften the path, laying down markers to guide them, whispering words of encouragement through the branches, reminding them, reminding you, that you’re on the right path, you’ve got what it takes, and you are not alone. We are marking the trees with blazes for you. We are letting you know we are here.
The thing about hiking is that even when you do it alone, there is always evidence of those who have come before you. Sometimes it’s as simple as a footprint or a spot in the path that is more worn than others; sometimes an accidentally dropped receipt or water bottle cap. Sometimes it is more profound, a bond over a shared experience, a friendship formed at the trailhead.
A few years ago, Yellow Arrow’s founder, Gwen Van Velsor, shared the origin story behind Yellow Arrow’s name, which speaks to a similar theme of an individual on a path, trying to find her way. In my story and in hers, one thing stands out: when we are blazing a trail for ourselves, we are not doing it alone. There are signs of other life, yellow arrows, or blazes, that remind us that we are going in the right direction. Sometimes we wander, sometimes we get lost, but it is those outside influences that help guide us along the way. Sometimes those outside influences are strong enough to feel like a form of internal motivation. And sometimes they are so strong, so present, and so continuous, that they form a community.
The community we have at Yellow Arrow is truly remarkable. I was not here in the founding days, or even years—it was 2020 when I joined the community, initially as a writer-in-residence. At that time, I was trying to blaze my own individual trail as a newly recommitted writer trying to navigate the literary world. I hadn’t known what was up around the bend back then, that as I continued on my path I would move into the executive director role at Yellow Arrow, or that I would start an MFA program last fall. As I’ve persevered, though, I have tuned in to those around me on my path; I have listened, watched, observed, and absorbed all they have to offer me. I’ve followed the yellow arrows, the blazes, in whatever forms they appeared. That proof of other writerly life around me, specifically other women-identifying writers, has buoyed me on this journey.
I hear the same sentiment from other writers in our community that while writing can often be an isolated journey, at Yellow Arrow, there is a sense of what can I do for you, what can we do together, that is so pervasive that one cannot feel isolated. Writing can be a solo act, yes, but it can also be a community effort. I saw this firsthand this year when Kerry Graham and I led our new, free community event Poetry & Prose in the Park (which we will continue in 2025!). Writers gathered in city parks each month and listened as we shared poetry and prose on various themes. Some stayed on our yellow picnic blanket, and some wandered off to a quieter spot, but we all sat and wrote, alone but together.
In 2025, we are thrilled that we are starting the year off strong, with grant awards from Maryland Humanities, the Maryland State Arts Council, and Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. We will publish three chapbooks by incredible authors (read about them here), continue our Yellow Arrow Vignette online series, and will release two more issues of Yellow Arrow Journal (stay tuned for the first theme to be announced later this month!). We will also continue to offer a host of online and in-person workshops and our spring schedule was just released—check it out here!
We are very much looking forward to blazing this trail together with you all, our Yellow Arrow community, in 2025.
Annie Marhefka and the Yellow Arrow Publishing team
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We are ever so grateful for your continued support of women-identifying writers. We need your support now more than ever. We welcome donations that support our mission, especially as we kick off our 2025 programs and publications. Donate today to support our 2025 initiatives!
Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women-identifying writers through publication and access to the literary arts. You can support us as we BLAZE a path for women-identifying creatives this year by purchasing one of our publications or a workshop from the Yellow Arrow bookstore, for yourself or as a gift, joining our newsletter, following us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or subscribing to our YouTube channel. Donations are appreciated via PayPal (staff@yellowarrowpublishing.com), Venmo (@yellowarrowpublishing), or US mail (PO Box 65185, Baltimore, Maryland 21209). More than anything, messages of support through any one of our channels are greatly appreciated.