On a trail where the way isn’t obvious, hikers stack stones to mark it. A cairn [we pronounce it kehrn] doesn’t tell you where to go. It tells you someone stood here before you, found their footing, and thought the next person might want to know.
Cairns from the Community is where Betweenward publishes those markers, written by readers or writers. Each one is an account of a stretch of the in-between: a career that ended before you were done, a diagnosis, a season of caring for someone, a marriage that changed shape, a house gone quiet, or a room we haven’t named yet.
Why your story matters
The in-between is hardest when it feels like nobody else has ever stood in it. Research can map the terrain, and a framework can name the stages. Neither can do what one honest account does: show a reader that someone came through this and tell them what it was like along the way.
Your story doesn’t need a tidy ending. Some of the most useful cairns are left partway through, by someone still finding their footing.
What we’re looking for
• Your own experience, in your own words. Or you telling someone else’s story with their permission.
• What the in-between was like from the inside: what you expected, what surprised you, what helped, what didn’t
• Roughly 600–1,200 words
• Pieces already published on your own Substack or site are welcome [with a link back to the original]
How to share
Email your piece or a link to info@betweenward.com, comment here, or on one of our Notes with a link.
What happens next
We read every submission. If yours is a fit, we’ll reach out to talk it through, and nothing is published until you’ve approved the final version. You keep the rights to your work. Betweenward publishes it under your name, with a link to your own Substack or site, or under your first name and last initial if you’d rather keep it more private.
Someone is standing where you once stood. Leave them a marker.