The Purpose of this Blog

Where to begin?  I started blogging in 2012 because I read that those who wanted to publish stories need to have a platform.  For a while I maintained two blogs, with a modicum of success: one, a personal one, that touched on my Catholic faith, parenting thoughts, and original photography, a catch-all for my many and shifting interests; another, a nexus for creative endeavors, the writing process, and a particular emphasis on fairy stories.  Chesterton was unofficial patron for the latter -- called Spinning Straw into Gold, after my favorite fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin -- but the quote which greeted visitors was Lewis's.  "Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."

I enjoyed being part of the online fairy tale community and even managed to publish some poems and short stories.  I forged friendships whose links have withstood onslaught of iron and tempest, including continental shifts in physical space as well as religion, which I have no doubt will survive until the cracks of doom.  But life drifts one way and another, and the blog fell into disuse.  As for my personal blogging, I withdrew, feeling suddenly shy of the world at large and wanting a refuge for myself and my family in the midst of crisis.  I saw the virtue in a hidden life, witnessed only by those I love and God.

But the urge to write has never left.  And in February of 2021, while expecting my fourth child, I submitted a query to a publisher for a novella; a sort of Christian fantasy in the tradition of C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams.  The publisher expressed interest.  I expanded the novella into a shot novel and pitched my work, making reference to the old writing/fairy tale blog, but I knew I would have to revive it if I were accepted for publication.  The manuscript was received positively, and I was told that with some adjustments, the publisher would be willing to look at it again.

At this point in time, I wonder if pursuing publication is something I truly want.  As experience has shown me, baring the innermost workings of my soul to the scrutiny of the world is hard.  And happiness is not to be found in the affirmations of this earthly kingdom.  I wonder if I mightn't create and share stories for their own sake, because I was made to, and because truth and beauty are their own rewards.  

I take comfort in Tolkien's faith that all our artistic endeavors will come to fruition in the next life.

Regardless of whether storytelling in the public forum is in my future, I want and need a space to place my words.  A trinket box, enameled and rust-hinged; a reliquary, to let these old bones rest.  A room of one's own, as it were.  But I knew that if I were to blog again, it would have to be a synthesis of me, myself.  The two pillars of my life: faith and Faerie.  Or perhaps, more accurately summed up as, Jesus the Christ, who makes all things new.

So I will endeavor to unify the personal with the universal.  All while guarding my solitude.  If that is even possible.  With hesitance and humility I offer this meager fare.  It is homecooked from scratchings of experience, tradition, and divine inspiration.  I offer it with both hands.  Thank you for sharing this meal with me, for as long as it lasts.

Ad majórem Dei glóriam.

Photo by Florian van Duyn on Unsplash