A blogging carnival is an event that gets people blogging around a single topic. Every month one blog volunteers to host the carnival; they choose a topic, and everyone submits their blog posts to them. At the end of the month, the host posts a "roundup" summarizing and linking to all the entries.

I used to write for two carnivals pretty regularly, on my old blog: A Carnival of Aces and its sister blog A Carnival of Aros. These blogs were mostly centered around long-form essays on asexuality and aromanticism respectively, which was very much my jam.

After being active for over 10 years, both blogs unfortunately died out a few years ago. It's shame, because I really enjoyed writing for them. These days I struggle to write as consistently as I would like to, but back then I was writing almost every month. Having a prompt helped give me a starting point--I find it much easier to be creative when given some constraints--and having a deadline helped keep me accountable to actually getting it done.

The carnivals also helped introduce me to new blogs and prompt me to read the ones I was already aware of.

I'd like to have that experience again, and maybe even share it with friends. I think it could be an excellent way to build closer connections with people in my circles--facilitate the kinds of conversations I love to have but that can be difficult to initiate in person. What if I started a furry blogging carnival? I already know a number of furries with blogs and personal sites; maybe they'd be into the idea too.

Off the top of my head, here are some ideas for carnival topics:

• "Community" -- We often call ourselves the "furry community", but what does that mean? What makes something a community; where does "community" start and end, and what does it mean to be part of one? What aspects of furry community have you found rewarding or challenging?
• "Representation" -- What makes furry representation in news or media "good" or "bad"? What aspects of the community do you see represented, and which do you not? What aspects of yourself do you see represented, and which do you want to? Do you think visibility is good for the furry community?
• "Belonging" -- What does it mean to "belong" in the furry community? Do you feel like you belong here? Have you always?
• "Identity" -- To what extent do you identify as a furry? What does being a furry mean to you?
• "Self" -- How does being a furry intersect with your sense of self? Do you have a fursona? Does your fursona feel like a part of you, a character separate from you, your "true" self, or something else? Does being a furry feel like something you "do" or something you "are"?

If this idea sounds like something that would interest you, please let me know. I would love to make it happen.