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Jesslyn Mueller

author ● sojourner ● mother artist

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The Reluctant Sojourner

January 28, 2012

Excuse the dust.

I’m setting up my tent, straightening the flaps, and learning the ways of my new home.

By Jessica

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Building a Writing Practice that Works for You
WIP: Diving into “The Little Mermaid”
Dear Writer, Don’t Despise Slow

jesslyn.mueller

It’s time to curl up with some spooky reads. 💀These are a bit gothic, witchy, macabre, and strange.

Here’s 10 reads to add to your spooky TBR:

· Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

· Book of Night, by Holly Black

· The Hacienda, by Isabel Cañas

· Small Favors (YA), by Erin A. Craig

· The Wicked Deep (YA), by Shea Ernshaw

· The Once & Future Witches, by Alix E. Harrow

· Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil,

· House of Salt & Sorrows (YA), by Erin A. Craig

· The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

· The Book of Magic, by Alice Hoffman

I’ve read a little over half of these (Mexican Gothic still my fav!) and the rest have been patiently waiting on the shelves. I hope to crack a few open this fall.

📖 What’s on your spooky season TBR?

(FYI: If you’re a sensitive soul, some of these books do contain grotesque and disturbing elements. I’d classify most of these as gothic, gothic horror, or light horror.)

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#halloweenreads #octobertbr #spookyseason #spookyseasonbooks #witchybooks #witchyreads #fallreads #retellings #booksaremagic #paranormalreads #writersread

"There’s a girl that lives in the woods." 🍃Th

"There’s a girl that lives in the woods." 🍃The first lines of Maggie's story. What started as a short story is slowly becoming a novel.⁠
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It’s damn near a ritual to walk into Magnolia Woods on the eve of your sixteenth birthday. But don’t let your mama know. She’d get after you for witchcraft and stupid superstitutions. Though she knows you’ll do it. She done it too. There’s nary a girl around these parts that ain’t taken a midnight stroll in the woods.⁠
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I still haven't revisited my outline. Yet. It's coming. ⁠
⁠Soonish. 🕰️⁠
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#thehauntingofmagnoliawoods #storysnippet #wipwednesday #onelinewednesday #wipnovel #writersofig #writer #writingcommunity #writerlife #thewritelife #thewritercommunity #firstdraft #amwriting #amwritingfiction

If you've been around here long enough, you know I

If you've been around here long enough, you know I'm a Julia Cameron fan girl. I read The Right to Write slowly over the spring and summer, savoring the inspiration and reminders that maybe we writers take ourselves too seriously and, at the same time, not seriously enough.

I love Cameron's no nonsense wisdom that's gentle enough to know a writer's insecurities and fears, but firm enough to push writers beyond that fear to practice, imagination, and trust.

It's practical and yet speaks to the poetic heart of a writer.

If I shared all my favorite quotes there would be enough to fill a carousel times ten, so I'll leave you with one that I keep going back to.

"The minute we become willing to write imperfectly, we become able to write. It is helpful to “bust“ ourselves on this addiction to perfectionism. Instead of saying, “I’m waiting until it feels right to write,“ try saying, "Oh I’m being a perfectionist again." Then let yourself right—imperfectly."

Okay, two quotes:

"When we choose to write about what we truly care about, when our values and the characters' values coincide, when our stakes and the story stakes coincide, we write with passion, purity, and purpose."

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#writinginspiration #amwriting #amediting #writingtips #writinglife #writerslife #writersdesk #fictionwriter #fantasyauthor #authorlife #authorgram #writergram #justkeepwriting #writingismytherapy #therighttowrite #juliacameron #theartistsway #thewritinglife

Spooky season has officially begun! 🎃💀🌙👻

I love that Halloween is for fun. It’s the one holiday (or pseudo holiday for the naysayers) that doesn’t come with a ton of expectations or visits or menus that if you miss or mess up with lead to revolting.

I just get to have fun.

So here’s to scary stories, ghosts in graveyards, and all the cauldrons with pumpkins steaming! 🎃

#spookyseason #halloweendecor #happyhalloween🎃👻 #katiedaisy #halloweenlifestyle

I keep telling myself I’ll start Maggie's storyl

I keep telling myself I’ll start Maggie's storyline in October, but I'm hesitating.

Maggie & Sophia's voices are so different. Mag's got that Lumbee English & Sophia is very proper & reserved. The dialect isn't so hard to fall back into, but I knew exactly how I wanted Sophia's story to play out from the beginning & Maggie's has a few more variables.

On paper I know where I think I want to go even though I don't know all the answers to Maggie's questions, or even what all the questions are. I have this feeling I'm going to start writing & she's just going to take off running through the woods & I'll have to run to keep up with her.

Like, I won't be able to capture it all or I won't have any clue & will be floundering to make meaning and plot connections.

I'm still learning to trust my instincts & intuition. I know what I want this story to be. I know it in my bones, but translating it into words is the struggle.

There's another dual heaviness to starting Maggie's story.

First, I want to respect & represent my Lumbee people well. Sometimes I feel like I know my culture so well & I feel like an outsider. My grandparent's moved out of Robeson County in the 70s, though we've held close ties, living apart from the tribal community is not the same as growing up in Pembroke or Burnt Swamp.

But...I also remember & realize there are hundreds in the Lumbee diaspora who still know who we are but didn't get to grow up within our ancestral land. We're still Lumbee & our experiences as Lumbee people are just as valid. This I must remember.

Second, I knew when the inkling of this novel began that my real life Maggie, my Mawmaw (grandma), wouldn't be here to see it completed. In a way, that's true. She now lives in a memory care facility & looks at you like she might know you, but is wary. The spitfire in her stays at the surface.

I knew it'd be hard writing a character so much influenced by her. I knew that simply in writing it I'd have to face the inevitability of losing her & that seems unfathomable. But here we are, having to face the truth that in many ways she's already gone.

I'm not ready to say goodbye & writing Maggie's story feels a lot like saying goodbye.

If you could travel anywhere right now, where woul

If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go? 🗺

I want to see castles in the fall and rolling fog.
To wind through through stone walls and come upon hidden gardens. To walk through meadows awakening the old fairy tales and wake to rain on the window pane.

Wales. I think I’d go to Wales.

How about you?

📸: New York Public Library, March 2022

#realmsandenchantments #sheisnotlost #doortomywonderland #wanderingtales #folkandstory #fairytaleretellings #fairytales #fantasyfiction #folkloreandfairytales #bookishmagic #fairytalesandfolklore #wanderlust

This was not the September I thought it would be. $This was not the September I thought it would be. Three days into the month I fell rollerblading and broke my L1 and later found out I also have a herniated disc. I've gotten to catch up on my reading and even a little writing, but this is definitely not the month I imagined. I've settled that I'm going to miss fall hiking in the mountains and I still haven't driven by myself yet. Last week was the first week I'd been anywhere (other than my cousin’s wedding) besides the doctor's office. I've seen a lot of my ceiling and Kindle. I'm thankful for how much my family, parents, grandma, and friends have stepped in. And my husband, who's working full time (thankfully from home) while navigating the department he works on being sold and took over driving the kids to all their practicew, meets, music lessons, and clubs. The first week was extremely rough and depressing. My body hurt and every task, even the simplest, took frustratingly long. My life quickly filled with mobility aids (shower chair, toilet aids, multiple sciatica cushions, a grabber) and the TLSO brace. My kids joke I'm practicing how to be an old lady. Four weeks later I'm surprised at how much my body has healed. Going from feeling like I couldn't stand up straight to taking 30 minute walks a come times a week. My insomnia has mostly gone away and sleeping more than 4-5 hours feels good. I've reached another level in healing. My pain is mostly minimal and I have more energy and longevity than in the beginning, but I still don't the function or endurance that I did. It gets frustrating and I'm realizing I can't plan too far in advance. Some days I feel almost normal, other days my back feels like I did 6 hours of gardening and have tingling sensation up and down my legs. Progress, but still working on the patience. At least 4-6 more weeks in the brace and hopefully starting physical therapy in the next month. I still haven't seen the neurosurgeon, but that appointment's two weeks out. (That was their earliest available.) So...September was an unexpected life reorg... hopefully October will be a little more chill. #monthlylog #monthinreview #backinjury #spinalinjury #tlsobrace #l1fracture$

I'm continuing the lost fairy tales for flash fict

I'm continuing the lost fairy tales for flash fiction, let's see if you can guess this one. ✨ It's not as common, but well-known among fairy tale enthusiasts. It's one of my favorites.⁠
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Can you guess it?⁠
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I've been trying to keep my flash fiction for this series to the caption length, but this one needed a little bit more breadth. It's coming in at just under 500. ⁠
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#FlashFictionMagic // prompt: on a train // guest hosted by @a.renae.writes for @embarnettauthor⁠
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#thelostfairytales #flashfiction #shortfiction⁠ #microfiction #writerslife #fictionwriter #fantasywriter #writergram ⁠
#doortomywonderland #wanderingtales #folkandstory #littlestoriesofmylife #whimsicalwonderfulwild #gowildlyandslow #ofwhimsicalmoments #myseasonalstory #folkloreandfairytales #mymagicalmoments #quietinthewild #woodlandfairy #fairyfolk ⁠
#fairytale #fairytaleretelling #fairytaleretellings #fairytalesretold #fairytales #fantasyfiction #fairytaleretold

Something magical is coming! ✨ Mark your calenda

Something magical is coming! ✨ Mark your calendars for February 1, 2023 and the release of The Wistful Wild!

It's been fun seeing the other poet's take on different fairy tales, how we each pull something a little different--a perspective, a detail, a phrase.

If you've ever longed for a little more

dared to peel back the layers of fairy tales,

dipped your toe in the river that runs beneath the world...

...felt ferocious and feminine
protective and mournful...
...longed for love or sovereignty
or both...

then pull a chair up to the fire and join The Wistful Wild.

#thewistfulwild #poetryanthology #poetrycommunity #forestfolk #fairycore #quietthyme #sheisnotlost #doortomywonderland #wanderingtales #folkandstory #littlestoriesofmylife #whimsicalwonderfulwild #gowildlyandslow #ofwhimsicalmoments #folkloreandfairytales #mymagicalmoments #quietinthewild #woodlandfairy #fairyfolk

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