Stories from a Wild Heart

I’m a writer. I’m a writer that doesn’t write like I dream of writing. Why? Because to do so requires me to release my hang-ups and people-pleasing tendencies. I also happened to have a day job for 13-years, that required me to act as a spokesperson and to be the “face” of my “company.” The job I’m in now places slightly less pressure in that regard, but there are still challenges. My professional world doesn’t mesh well with the real me – the writer with the wild & vulnerable heart. When you have a name that is a nearly one-of-a-kind and long to write from the wild places in you about the things you believe you’re meant to write, you tend to hide or write far too safely. When your day job sucks the air and life out of every room and you speak for others in a public-facing role, hiding can become the norm.

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
― James Baldwin

Stories are powerful. I’ve always known this. The James Baldwin quote says it all. Through children’s books and YA novels, I saw myself. My favorite books as a child were Dear Mr. Henshaw and Island of the Blue Dolphins. There were themes woven into both books that made me feel less alone. And while the themes in my writing now vary, I ultimately want everything I write to do just that – give the people who read them, the hope, comfort (or maybe inspiration), and to know that they’re not alone in their experiences. But even more powerfully for me, it’s through stories – fiction and otherwise – that we can be inspired and find hope.

My heart has been constrained for far too long. Stories from a Wild Heart is my attempt to remove the shackles and to write what I am meant to write.

Stay wild.

~EM