A year or so ago, my family went on a cruise for the first time. We learned a lot during that vacation. Some people are cruise people. We learned that we are not. But it was still a great experience.
The most exciting time on the ship, however, was the moment we pushed off from port. People were lining their balconies and the decks. The pool party on top was well underway with loud music and cheers. Everyone was in good spirits, and the winds of excitement for the cruise to start were stronger than the breeze that hit our faces as we began to move out onto the open water.
They don’t call the moment the bon voyage horn sounds a launch, but it is that. Launching this massive, floating, hotel-like ship into the expanse of the ocean and on to destinations on the itinerary.
That’s a little bit how it feels right now to be launching this writing platform.
I have been writing since I was very little. Somewhere in a box in my home, there is a story about Nelly the Tea Pot that I wrote in elementary school. Notebook paper stapled up the side into a book. I even did my own illustrations.
When I was in junior high, my best friend and I went on a poetry-writing binge for several months when we would call each other for hours in the evening and read the poems we had written during class when we were supposed to be listening. Those poems were very verbose and dramatic given the season of life I was in. I laugh at them now, but they were important to me then.
I also have journals and notes and collections of thoughts, ideas, and quotes in various little books and notebooks all over from high school, college, and beyond.
And then there are the people in my life who for decades have said, “You need to write.” Some said it softly once. Others were a little more insistent. I remember my theology professor in seminary introducing me to some sort of bigwig theologian who had come for a symposium at my school as “a winsome writer.” I had to go look up winsome to make sure it was a good thing.
It just took a long time for me to get there. For me to feel like this was something I could try to do. To make sure I had something to say.
More honestly—I needed to convince myself that I had something to say.
I’m still not entirely convinced. But here we are.
So let me orient you to my writer home:
You are currently on my website. Kind of like the front door to my house. Here you will find information about me, the things I am working on, and how to contact me. I have an epic career path that includes lots of public speaking, so if you need a speaker for keynotes, panels, workshops, retreats, etc., this is the place to ask.
On this site you will find other ways to enter my writer home. I have multiple social media outlets where I post various things: reels, professional updates and thoughts, pins. You will be able to follow me on those platforms as well. They all live in the same writer home.
But you know my favorite entrance into this writer home?
The Side Door—my Substack, where I write more in real time. Thoughts, essays, articles, notes. Things that continue to percolate like the coffee pot in my kitchen.
The Side Door is the best door for family and friends. For you. It’s the door that is familiar and casual and everyone feels at home. If you subscribe there, you’ll get The Side Door delivered directly to your email whenever I post an article.
You are welcome to come in the Side Door. You don’t even need to take off your shoes. We are a shoes-on family, unless you prefer sock feet.
So we are launching and the breeze is in my face catching my spirit up in a mix of terrified, excited, calm, and feeling like my entire world is on fire. But sometimes, that’s the best place to be.
Come on in.
You are one of the best gifts that come through The Side Door.