Happy Holidays from 5AM StoryTalk!

Be safe, be merry, and be inspired

“I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” ― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

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Happy holidays, dear readers. Whatever you believe or don’t believe in — and I certainly fall into the latter camp — I hope this season has offered you the opportunity to be with those you love and care about most. It can be hard to reconcile finding joy these days given the tragic state of so much of the world. I spend most of my time see-sawing between crushing despair and irrational hope. But if there is a time for irrational hope, for me at least, it’s this time of year. May you find your share of it, as well.

5AM StoryTalk will be taking a break from posting except for two quick-ish articles on the 27th and 28th so I can focus on my family and friends, the food we’ll be fortunate enough to have on our table, and wine. Lots and lots and lots of wine.

I’ll properly return on January 2nd at 9am PST with an explanation of a revised iteration of this newsletter. There are exciting things a-brewing here in the new year. We’ll be leaning together into the aforementioned hope - and community, a word I use a lot here - as much as possible, just to tease some of the changes.

In the meantime, hug those you love, offer whatever charity you can to others, and, please, take care of yourself. You’ve earned a break from your creative endeavors, trust me. The time away tends to reward you with renewed inspiration!

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If you haven’t become a paid subscriber of 5AM StoryTalk yet, this is a great time to get on that. I’m offering two hefty discounts throughout the holiday season: 10% off monthly subscriptions and 25% off the already discounted price of a yearly subscription (that’s 41% cheaper than subscribing monthly!). They expire on January 1st.

Oh, and if you’ve found value and meaning in any of my work here throughout the past year, but aren’t up for committing to a monthly fee or something as hefty as the yearly fee, I would be immensely grateful if you “bought me a coffee” instead. These one-time gifts of support help keep most of this newsletter free for the dreamers who couldn’t afford it otherwise.

Lastly, I wrote a book and I think a smart author is supposed to tell you it’s available if you need a last-minute Christmas gift for someone who likes “ingenious and compelling” reads. You can learn more about Psalms for the End of the World or buy a copy here.