As a more recent Talebones reader, I haven’t read any of these stories before, but I did read Sayblood’
I just got tickets for the San Diego Writers Festival. WHO EVEN AM I??!
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Today is the first day of Lent.
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Instead of focusing on the celebration at the end, though, I want to share something someone older and wiser than
Letters to the Forgotten Ones I Still Love
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I suppose normally now would be the moment to place some epilogue of good feeling, of how I see the way God is working, how I’m sure it will all make sense one day, of the good that has come from it. But I do not, and I don’t know why, and in truth, no “why” could ever excuse or justify the pain.
grief
Having a toddler is reading the same book 10 times in a row.
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I used to think my story didn’t matter.
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Then, someone said my writing helped them cherish their loved ones more.
Someone else said I inspired them to write
How many secrets does this tree hold, do you think? (Santa Barbara, 2015)
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One day, I wandered into the forest and never came back.
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Wasn’t going to do a print edition of this, but there’s just something about physical books, isn’t it?
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My husband is always my first reader.
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Sometimes he’s very nice.
Other times, he’s brutal.
“Why is he a banker?”
“Why are they fighting? Need
"I have searched for my mother’s love in all corners of the world." -Annie Ernaux
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Sometimes, healing never comes. Some mothers never apologise.
But sometimes healing begins after thirty years.
Sometimes, a mother says, “I’m sorry.”
intergenerational healing
I stepped way out of my comfort zone last night and went to an open mic event at my local library, even though I’m a true hermit and have horrendous stage fright. I wouldn’t even let my husband come watch.
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I figured, local library, probably small audience, start with low stakes.
And you know what?
It was worth it.
I
(husband walking in to me watching a horror movie)
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(husband walking in to me watching a horror movie)
Me: I’m having a shit day.
Husband: So you’re
My son’s favourite trees were pines, because they flourish even in winter, made more beautiful even, with snow laden on their thin branches.
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Why Some Writers Carry Tasers and Pay to be Unfindable
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I’ve intended to write on this topic for some time now—the risk of having a public online presence, that is. It’s one many of us are sadly all too familiar with: strangers acting in bad faith, taking your words out of context,
social issues
Corruption and Redemption
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Guest post by Jenn Zuko
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Back in 2004, I taught a graduate-level literature course called ‘Hobbits and
lotr2024
Éowyn's Redemption from Despair to Hope
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I’m also struck by the fact that once again, heroism in Tolkien’s story does not present the way it conventionally would in such stories, or in the way Éowyn understood heroism at the start of her journey.
She learns that it does not have to take her skill with a sword to make her a strong woman.
lotr2024
Ways I Am Simplifying My Life in 2025
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Dear Inklings,
I cannot believe we are now at the end of 2024. Last year, I shared the ways I