Personal Archives - Page 2 of 12

Revisiting The Illuminated Heart: We are not Alone

Thea van Diepen

Seven years ago, I wrote and published The Illuminated Heart and, seeing as it’s 2020, it seems appropriate for some hindsight. *waits until the groans subside* In case you don’t know, I wrote The Illuminated Heart during Camp NaNoWriMo, which is the summer edition of National Novel Writing Month (November), so I find it a propos that The Illuminated Heart is in a Storybundle during Camp NaNo. I mention this partly because cool timing and partly because I’m finding myself

Going on a Break

Thea van Diepen

I realized last Saturday (the day I’m writing this- how’s the future? :) ) that I’m in the middle of burnout. And it’s less than stellar, I can tell you. So I’m taking a break from putting out blog posts. For how long? I’m not entirely sure, but I’m going to give it two months and see how I feel. In the mean time, you’ll still see me around on Twitter and Facebook (if you haven’t followed me on either

World Tour, Day 356: A Meditation on the Space between Now and the Future

Thea van Diepen

They say that, in order to be the one to write the end to your stories, you have to tell them first. Until do you, you will let others tell your stories, and you will let others write your endings for you. They usually say this about the stories of our hard times, but I believe this is true of all our stories. *** It’s an odd liminal space, being back. I left so sure I could control everything about

World Tour, Days 154-351: From Homesick to Home

Thea van Diepen

Open scene: I arrive in Japan after six months of travel to the church that I’ll be living at for six more months. I’m homesick. I’m tired. I’m hungry. The church had my bed set up and ready for me. There was food in the fridge and snacks on the table that would double as my desk, stocked for breakfast. Also on that table was a welcome note. And, as I got settled, the pastor went to the nearby noodle

World Tour, Day 31 Special Edition: Jealousy Is a Collapse, Not an Explosion

Thea van Diepen

I was watching a Tessa Violet music video tonight and I didn’t realize until a little after the video had ended that I’m intensely jealous of her. It’s not something I’ve ever acknowledged as clearly as that before, jealousy. It starts with a desire to do what that other person is doing, ideally better than they’re doing it. It turns inward after that, after you’ve compared with where you’re at to where this other person is at, and you find