Writing from the Fellowship | Reader links roundup #2
As much as we humans like to have concrete and happy endings, there is no such thing when it comes to grief. For me, it’s less about healing than learning to survive around an amputation. The waves come and go, but they’re always present. I’ve learned to be grateful for I had the time I did with Ren, instead of being stuck in a seemingly never-ending sea of blackness. For a long time, I thought I’d never be able to feel anything but crushing grief again. But moments of happiness come through now, and I’m grateful.
Thank you for allowing me this month to grieve and reflect. I will be properly back soon with new writing.
Meanwhile, here is the next batch of writing from our very own inklings. Please enjoy and support members of our fellowship.
Sam - Pretending to be asleep in an aisle seat on a midnight bus
On a midnight bus, heartbroken and hiding under my Cubs hat, I just wanted to be left alone with Jimmy Buffett’s Brown Eyed Girl. Then a mom and her kids needed a seat. A shared earbud, SpongeBob, and a quiet nudge from God reminded me—grace finds us anyway.
Ariel Hessayon - The Little Ice Age and the River Thames frost fairs of the seventeenth century
Most of the older literature dealing with the River Thames frost fairs saw them as curiosities from a bygone age. But they are much more important since they give a sense of how the inhabitants of London and the surrounding area endured and adapted to life during the so-called Little Ice Age. Although a contentious term, the Little Ice Age (c.1350-c.1850) refers to a period of lower temperatures in Europe and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere after that followed the ‘Medieval Warm Period’. Its impact upon life on our planet, as illustrated in miniature here, was extremely significant.
Rachel Ooi - Finding connection in a divided world
Meditations on our increasingly divided world, the invisible walls we build, and how we can bridge the gap to connect and touch the light that binds us all.
Daiguang - Why Focusing on Yourself Won’t Give You the Life You Want
We assume that looking inward, finding ourselves, analyzing our thoughts, perfecting our identity leads to fulfillment...But what if that’s wrong? In my post, I explore how our biology hints at a deeper truth...of how our eyes weren’t made to turn inward, and hence, our lives weren’t either. Drawing from nature, spirituality, psychological and scientific studies, I challenge the modern obsession with self-focus and reveal why true meaning comes from growing beyond ourselves.
Ruhie Vaidya - SIX life-changing lessons I never expected to gain from grief
In this piece, I explore some of the most surprising insights and growth I’ve experienced through grief and how it’s transformed my outlook on life. To be clear: I don’t believe in toxic positivity. There is nothing good about losing a loved one. But, the reality is that my dad isn’t coming back, no matter how much I wish otherwise. So, I’ve learned to find silver linings in the things I can’t control; to accept that, while we can’t escape adversity and hardship in life, we can choose how we respond to it. The lessons I’ve gained from grief have helped me grow as a person in ways I never expected. While they can never erase the pain of losing a loved one, I carry them with me as I continue to move forward in life while holding my dad forever in my heart.
Sarah Li Cain - Conversations I have with my dead father
A personal essay on my complicated relationship I had with my father while he was alive, and how in my grief I was able to reflect on the ways he tried his best as a parent.
Christina Moore - The Practice of Christian Lament
This piece offers a Biblical foundation for lament, not only praise and thanksgiving, and encourages readers to write their own with a guide to the basic components of Biblical lament.
Jon Sparks - The 'Only' Word
A very personal (and award-winning) piece of memoir about coming to terms with health problems, and 'holding on to things we love'.
Rebecca D. Martin - On My Way to Yes
A poetry reading and meditation, in which Rebecca looks back on past decisions that bring shame and, through the lens of poetry, learns to say yes to herself the way she is: a survivor of childhood trauma, beautifully autistic, earnest, confused, precious, and holy.
E. H. Lau - Mulan Searches for the Medicine of Immortality
A fairytale fantasy short story inspired by Chinese folklore with a dash of European influence. On a quest to find a cure for her beloved's curse, Red Riding Hood finds herself far away from home. Searching for the legendary xiandan, a mystical medicine said to be able to cure all, Red crosses path with another on the same quest - the warrior Hua Mulan.
Jade Eby - What Ails You, My Love?
Prescribing medicine for the soul as a Myth Pharmacist -- what does it mean to extract medicine from storytelling? How can we attend to our pain and healing through stories?
Sarah Frison - What do you do on a Sunday afternoon? Or an idea about things in intense moderation and with certain timing.
A piece on the tradition of eating a slice of something sweet on a Sunday afternoon and how a ritual like this can provide meaning.
Patty Kane Horrigan - Little Red Riding Hood and the Man in the Park
I write about Fairy Tales because they have so much to say to me. I go to them for consolation, for escape and for understanding. This piece has been lurking in my head and heart for many years and it needed to be said. What was once a chilling tale to a child has now revealed itself in all its sordid ways to my adult self. Metaphor is the language of discovery in Fairy Tale Land for all us returnees.
Harriet Grae - The hands of grief
This short piece is about our grief at the loss of our friend's child. It speaks to the loss of children, and to different ways of grieving.
Vita Caz - I am lost and lonely (Poems &Art)
This piece is a group of three poems all connected to one of my artworks. The art was created before the poems but the poems explain the art. At this point there I can't really explain on without the other. In a way this is what this piece is about. The ties that hold us up even as they fray.
Marisa Victus - I QUIT! - Artistic Calligraphy to reclaim our Power, Quit what no longer serves us, and Be Authentically YOU!
I'd love to share my artistic calligraphy for my poem. This post encourages us to reclaim our POWER! To QUIT what no longer serves us + Be AUTHENTICALLY YOU!
Jennifer James - Spring
A magical realism short story about a young boy, a wish, and a tree.
About Me: I’m Tiffany, a literary fiction, fantasy, and memoir author. My writing has been published by The Cultivation Project and Renewal Missions. I’ve been writing this publication, The Untangling, since 2023. Order my books here or here.