Here Be Dragons
🐉📚✨
Hello, hello, Book Monsters!
How are things going in your world these days? Do you have any tales of dragons to tell me about? Are you a lover of stories about wondrous scaled beasts? My favorite dragon will, hands down, always be Falkor from The Neverending Story. Even though, I have to admit, my latest book in the Tides of Atlantis series has a pretty awesome dragon in it. What happens with that character ends up being quite the exciting twist. If you’ve read Storm Tide, you know what I mean. ;')
Anyway, Monsters, I had an idea! I’ve been wanting to put more content for you here in this space and now seemed like a good time to sneak some more “lair time” in. Going forward, I’m going to try sending out posts I have, up until now, kept in their own individual homes on this site and only made mention of in the regular newsletter.
My hope is to share more tidbits of interest and be in touch a bit more often. This will also give me the chance to tack on any exciting news I hear of regarding new books, books on sale, articles by other authors etc. right away.
For today, I just thought I’d send you the wonderful little quote in the graphic above. I was a little dismayed to find out that these words were not, in fact, uttered by the late, great J. R. R. Tolkien as I’ve often seen it attributed, but by Sarah Ban Breathnach in her book, Simple Abundance.
She happened to mention writers Tolkien and T. S. Elliott in her text, so the mix-up makes sense. Either way, the quote remains a favorite of mine and I thought it definitely belonged in our Inspiration Den.
Consequently, here’s a passage from her book that I found quite nice:
It takes tenacity and daring to travel to the darkest interior of one’s self. Who knows what we might find there? “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him,” the writer J.R.R. Tolkien advises.
Our dragons are our fears: our day stalkers, our night sweats. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failing. Fear of starting something new and not finishing. Again. Or the real fear, the one that sends shivers up our spines: the fear of succeeding, of becoming our authentic selves and facing the changes that will inevitably bring. We might not be happy with the way we are living now, but at least it’s safely familiar.
We don’t know where we are headed and it’s very scary. Old dreams are resurrecting, new desires are wooing. Instead of clarity, we feel confused. At moments like this, it is comforting to consider. T. S. Eliot’s belief that there is really nothing to fear from self-awareness because at the end of all our personal exploration, we will arrive back where we started and know in our hearts that we finally belong there.
Today, if you feel frightened or unsure about the future, pick up the double-edged sword of Light and Love. Always remember, it’s simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons (my emphasis). But as in the best old tales, at the end of our exploring, you will live happily ever after.
~Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance
That’s really all I have for now, lovely Monsters. Well, that and this awesome guy.
How about you? Do you have a favorite dragon?
Till next time, friends, I wish you many magical moments!
Amanda V Shane