Oh? A place where I can talk about myself? Why don’t I encounter more of these spaces throughout my day?

Well, since you’ve asked… I’m a rather playful creative. But I suppose I was showing you that before I told you. So, I’m sorry for telling you twice. Just don’t make me tell you again. …Whoops. I’m starting to sound like my mother again.

Anywho, I’m a storyteller. And no, I’m not talking about that kind of storyteller. I’m not meaning it as a synonym for politician—err, I mean, not as a synonym for lie.

Ah, you get it.

The thing is… I value story and I aim to craft mine in ways that make them genuinely satisfying for my audience.

I came across this quote recently (as of Nov 2023):

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. (Albert Einstein)

Now, I’ve read a few fairy tales in my day and find myself reading even more of them as of late. That’s not to say that I’m a highfalutin smarty pants, rather that my happening across this quote gave me a greater appreciation for fairy tales. Because, I get it. They’re not just about a little girl in red surviving a scheming wolf; they illuminate the presence of real dangers in our real lives and forewarn us about troubled waters ahead.

If you want to have a letter delivered to someone in another zip-code, you stick it in the mail; if you want to have a message delivered to someone in another generation, you stick in a story.

And if you want to know who said that… I did. Just now. It’s something I think we’ve lost sight of. While I do want to share stories and entertain you here and now, I try to remember that what we’re doing here and now is building a world that our children will inherit.

So, in addition to a storyteller, I understand that I’m also a torchbearer and the point of all this is to one day pass on the torch.

In the final chapter of my debut novel—Twilight Wolf—there’s a specific part of the final scene where Mioko’s hand is outstretched and reaching to clasp that of her friends'. That’s my stories. It’s the storyteller in me reaching out to the reader in you. As our hands are about to clasp—in friendly greeting and warm welcome—I ask you, “Would you like to hear a story?”

And that’s who I am as a storyteller.

…Wait, what was I saying again? I sort of blacked out for a bit there. Also, I suppose I should warn you that I’m a rather playful creative. Or… did we cover that part already?