Climbing Out of Fear
By Darcy Wiley She’s the youngest of the line-up, but she straps on her gear all the same. We pull the belts through the buckles and double back through to cover up the word “danger” engraved on the metal. She scoots around to show me her shoes are too big. They’re...
Springtime Baby {A Dozen Months in Pictures}
Springtime baby in my arms, I watched tiny green beginnings of leaves push out from branches, crowning. Leaves uncurled like little fingers holding less tightly as they opened to the world. They fanned out wide, forming a hideout around us. Then, they scuttled around...
Gift at Low Tide
{I’ve just rolled in from the shore and am reaching two years back into the archives to share with you my favorite Palm Sunday ever. Enjoy as you align your heart this holy week.} Palms waved on Palm Sunday, fronds rattling, applause in the wind. I walked...
Our Spring Will Come
Sidewalks are the new riverbed. Water rushes down the slightest incline over cracks that break your mother’s back. Liquid leans over the frozen curb and flows down the path of least resistance. But not you, little boy. You pick the hard way. You bypass smooth terrain...
On Corsets and Fear {One Word 2014}
Maggie Smith doesn’t wear a corset. She’s the only woman on the cast of Downton Abbey who doesn’t. I heard this bit of gossip at a recent event with visiting writer Jessica Fellowes, niece of Downton Abbey screenwriter Julian Fellowes. Smith says she’s served her time...
Chicken Soup for the Jealous Soul
How do you feel about secret recipes, that little pinch of special spice that only so-and-so knows to add to get the perfect combination of flavors? Food blogger and author Molly Wizenberg says the idea is ridiculous. “Recipes are by nature derivative: rare is...
Snow Days, Slow Days
We’ve lost track of the snow days and cold delays. We haven’t had a normal week yet this year. Some days it’s looked like a ghost town around here, everyone behind bolted doors, nothing moving over the streets but snow drifts. I sort of like it that way. I know a lot...
We Are Poetry
{Sign Up for the Story Circle through (in)couragers Today!} Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading several works-in-progress, offering little bits of free-time for writing proposals, editing prologues line-by-line, and helping writers dream in the right direction....
Be More than a Comment at the Bottom of a Post
{Psst! Registration for (in)RL opens today!} It was like I was peeking through a slat in the fence, watching these would-be friends with boards and nails and hammers in the yard, their words building up a space for women to belong. I read their stories on the...
I’m Darcy Wiley, co-writer of The Yes Effect: Accepting God’s Invitation to Transform the World Around You. I’m an explorer at heart… Read more