Pull up a seat by the fire, friend!
I believe that stories should tell the truth, and that light is just as true as darkness.
There’s a beautiful traditional folk tale ending that says something like this:
The dreamer awakens; the shadow goes by. The tale I have told you; that tale is a lie. But listen to me, bright maiden, proud youth: The tale is a lie, what it tells is the truth.
As long as I can remember, I’ve loved stories. They’ve kept me entertained for countless afternoons; they’ve helped me make sense of the world; they’ve taught me to cling to the idea that there is “light and high beauty forever beyond the shadow’s reach,” even when the world around me felt terrifyingly dark.
By day (and late nights), I’m studying in the Author Conservatory, working to learn how to tell the same stories that captured my imagination growing up.
But between meeting deadlines and analyzing eight-page outlines, I need to step back and soak in the stories that led me here in the first place. I need to celebrate the tales of goodness, of fellowship, and of victory that mean so much.
I (and you) need to sit beside the hearth and listen again to stories, old and new.
And when, inevitably, we have to slip away, back into the cold, we can carry a fire-lit torch that will pierce every shadow we may meet.
So welcome, friend. I can’t wait to celebrate these stories and the truth they hold of all that is good and beautiful still in our world.
