It’s been a while since I last posted here, and in that time, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ways stories connect us. I’ve always believed that stories do more than entertain — they help us make sense of our lives, our histories, and our place in the world.
For those of you who know me through my collection of stories Monsters in Appalachia, you may remember that I like to explore the spaces where the real and the imagined overlap — where ordinary lives brush up against extraordinary questions. Lately, I’ve been thinking about how these same impulses shape not just fiction but the way we live. The creative instinct that compels a writer to invent characters and plots is not so different from whatever it is that makes people narrate their own lives. Those storytelling instincts (to look for meaning, to wrestle with what scares us, to imagine “what if”) don’t belong only to fiction. They spill over into how we live day-to-day. We yearn to make sense of hardships, to remember joy, to put our lives into story-shape. Each of us has stories waiting to be told, whether in private journals, conversations, or on the page for others to read.
As I return to blogging, I want this space to become more than updates about my work. I’d like it to be a gathering place for anyone who loves stories — whether you read them, write them, or dream of writing them someday. In the coming months, I’ll share thoughts on creativity, glimpses behind the scenes of my own writing process, and prompts and ideas for those of you who want to explore your own storytelling. My hope is that this space feels like sitting down with a friend to talk about books, writing, and the questions that keep us curious.
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