“If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!” – Shel Silverstein
It’s taken until age 36, but I think I have finally remembered who I am. I say remembered because when it came to me I knew I had known it all along, but had put it away somewhere and forgotten all about it like a once-treasured doll now gathering dust on a shelf.
The process of remembering started last summer with the gentle knowledge of my Style Statement brought on during my participation in Jamie’s Circe’s Circle. During that time, Jamie also helped me to claim that I was indeed a writer, something I had not fully claimed before.
Then last week a book came in the mail and when I opened it and read just one paragraph I remembered a little bit more. It was not just about writing, but about stories – ancient stories – but it still didn’t feel complete. I am not and have never been a storyteller.
And then yesterday two things happened simultaneously: I had to write a bio for a guest post and I joined Jamie’s Year of Dreams circle and had to introduce myself. Bios scare me, so I decided to sleep on it. This morning I woke really early with a voice running through my head. “If you are a dreamer, come in…” I have carried this poem with me ever since I read it the first time. I had it pinned to the outside of my bedroom door when I was about 12, I wrote it on the wall of the craft centre I managed and I’ve scribbled it in nearly every quote or notebook I have.
“…for we have some flax-golden tales to spin…” and I remembered who I was.
So this morning the first thing I wrote was this:
“Last night I struggled to write a bio for a guest post I am doing on a friends’ blog and this morning I woke up with a new word for the bio: Talespinner. I’m not even sure it’s a real word, but it felt dangerous and magical and it feels more like the kind of writer I am aspiring to be. I write books that take ancient stories and wisdom and make them resonate with a contemporary audience. I want people reading my words to feel like they are sitting beside a campfire at the knees of their ancestors hearing stories that help them make sense of their modern lives.”
So there it is. Finally.
Yes.
xo
