A Very Short Story About Coming Back

Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to become an editor. And she worked very hard, and was very lucky (usually in that order, but sometimes the other way around), and had the chance to intern at some really fabulous publishing houses where the editors were passionate and connected and interested in helping her grow. And she met a lot of brilliant writers (with stars in her eyes for all of them) and got wrapped up in a whole community of people who were excited about their craft and about trying to make the world a better place. And it was good.

Then the girl got her first Real Job in publishing. And that, too, was good.

But the Real Job required even more time and attention than the girl had put into college, even more time and attention than she had put into interning, even more time and attention than she had put into job searching. And because her daily trip to work was long and arduous, the girl uprooted herself and moved to a new city, and that, too, took much time and attention. And because the Real Job brought hundreds of emails to the girl's inbox every day, she sometimes avoided reading emails on her own time. She sometimes avoided the internet altogether. And because she was in a new city, she had a whole new world to explore when she was avoiding the internet, and that was good. She had a Real Job, and a coffee shop down the street that let her stay as long as she liked with her books, and a group of dancers to befriend, and a trove of art galleries to visit and neighborhoods to photograph and plays to see. And she let that world wrap her up in a warm cloak of vibrant music and buzzing, energetic routine.

But sometimes the girl wondered if something was missing. She liked her Real Job, and she liked her coffee shop, and she liked her dancers and her art galleries and her neighborhoods and her plays. She liked being on the go at all hours and filling her life up to the very brim. But sometimes it seemed that her head was so full of buzzing that her dreams didn't fit inside it. And sometimes, very simply, she missed her old lifestyle, and the time she had spent with quiet, passionate writers and readers.

So the girl changed again.

In other words, I'm sorry for the long silence. Let's talk again soon, shall we?

This blog is going to change a little bit. For one thing, I plan to update more regularly. You might find fewer essays in this journal, and more snapshots of my thoughts about the industry, like ideas scribbled in the margins of a page. You might find questions, and I sincerely hope you'll answer them. You might hear more about how I relate literally everything I do and see to storytelling, because it's the only way that makes sense for me to put together the pieces of my life.

And I hope you hear more about what you want to hear. So please tell me what that is! What can I tell you, teach you, or ask you? What do you hope to read?

More posts will be up soon. Until then, please leave your suggestions in the comments!