Writer & Blogger

1. Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Yes! My name is Kaci and I’m a 20-something writer and blogger whose heart is to know Jesus more deeply, and to share Him with others. I believe in asking good questions, heart-to-heart conversations, loving others deeply, chasing dreams, and living a life of creativity and adventure!

2. Could you tell us about your blog and what inspired you to start one?

I first started a blog during my senior year of college, when I was studying abroad in London. I had just come out of a difficult season that left me feeling so unsure of who I was, and my time in London was a special time of growing in my relationship with God and learning who He created me to be. I was so naturally passionate about the ways I was learning and growing during that time, that I wanted to share, and a blog seemed like the perfect way to do so. To me, writing is a way of processing the things I’m learning, and sharing brings that process to completion. I love everything about blogging—the writing, sharing my life, photography, collaborating with other creatives—all of it brings me so much joy. The hope that I might encourage others along the way makes it all the more meaningful, and is truly the heart behind my blog. All that to say, I’ve found that often our greatest passions are birthed from pains, and those passions are no mistake—they were given to us for a purpose.

3. What inspires your content?

The biggest thing that inspires my content is life, and specifically the things I’m learning in my walk with God. For me, analogies and stories are huge—I use them to find a deeper meaning from something simple. It’s how my mind works and how I learn, and it always has been. Ask any of my friends, and I’m always the one coming up with weird analogies to describe things. I guess it’s how God made me! Often an experience or something tangible in my life will reveal to me an intangible lesson. Other times, it’s the other way around—I’ll take an intangible lesson I’m learning and find a way to communicate it through a tangible story or analogy. Ideas usually come to me in moments I’m not expecting them, and those are the coolest because I see God’s hand in them so clearly. I get ideas all the time, and I track them either through the Notes app on my iPhone, or by sending myself emails. Those become my pools I can pull from to pair with different events in my life when I want to write a post. But even with a lot of ideas, writer’s block is a thing. The biggest challenge with my creative process is that I often can’t write in the moment inspiration comes (because I’ll be at work, or driving, etc.), so it’s developing the discipline to bring the inspiration alive outside of the moment it came to me. It’s the most rewarding thing!

4. What are you aiming to accomplish with your blog?

My biggest goal is to encourage people toward God, and toward fully embracing who He created them to be. I blog because I love everything about it creatively, and it helps me process the things I’m learning, and the hope is that those who stop by would walk away encouraged, inspired, and most importantly, with a little bit of Jesus.

5. I was drawn to your blog post titled “The Cost of Busyness” and the part where you quoted “Today’s culture tells us to wear busyness like a badge of honor. We flaunt our full schedules because it makes us feel important, but is it good for us?”, what inspired that post?

YES! I wrote that post last summer. I work for a utility company, and we were visiting a power plant that uses ocean water to create energy. Anyway, we were in this giant room with huge generators that were so loud, they require you to wear earphones. When I stuck the earphones in and all the loud, mechanical noises were dulled, suddenly I was so much more aware of what was going on in me—my breathing, my thoughts, etc. I hadn’t been as aware of those things with the loud external noise. It made me realize, what are we missing when we don’t take time to tune out the loud external noises in our own lives? How might God be speaking to us in those quiet places in our hearts if we took time to listen? As for the line about wearing busyness like a badge of honor, it’s because busyness is a huge part of our culture—and it’s honestly hard to fight. But I also think it makes us feel important, and I think maybe that idea is what we need to fight—that busyness equals importance or value. Because sometimes it’s a necessity, but if we don’t create rhythms to break free from our busyness, it could be costing us something a lot more important.

What has been the greatest encouragement in your blogging experience?

I don’t think this answer will ever change—it’s the readers. People who message me, telling me a post was what they needed to hear in a specific moment. That’s the most encouraging, because you know it’s not about you at all, it’s about God working through you. And THAT, is the best feeling in the world. We were all made on purpose for purpose, and when we live that out, it’s the most satisfying thing.

What’s your advice/word of encouragement for other Christian bloggers out there?

I would say, to just start writing about what you are passionate about, and don’t stop. If we are driven by success, we generally don’t have the endurance. But if you are driven by what you love, you will keep doing it on the days you see progress, and the days you don’t. Be prepared for the long game—for consistency, and perseverance. Be prepared for some hard moments, but also a whole lot of joy.

Should we be expecting anything from you in the near future?

For now, lots more blogging and hopefully a couple other exciting collaborations and projects coming up—be sure to find me at kacinicole.com or on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to stay in the loop. My heart is for these to be spaces of community, hope, and encouragement, and so I would love to connect with people there.