The Core Stories

A quick intro…

Hi, I’m Leah. I’m a writer who coaches other writers. I’m also an astrologer and an organic farmer, and insights from both stars and soil tend to inform my creative and interpersonal work.

I think and speak and write about writing, like, all the time. This newsletter is a space to share some of what I’m (always and constantly) learning about why and how to write sustainably and what it means to identify as “writer.”

Here’s what I believe: our stories give us grounding. They transform experience to roots. They harvest fruits from where there once was only mud. They contain the seeds of what’s to come. Stories matter, and to share them is to catalyze change, both in ourselves and in the world.

If you're ready to tend to your most sacred narratives, and to start living them out loud (or putting them on paper), you're in the right place.

The nitty gritty…

The Core Stories began as a personal essay series that I launched on my website back in 2015 before transitioning to this Substack platform. You’ll find a handful of those personal essays further back in my Substack feed — they’re the ones titled, “A story about…”

In 2022, The Core Stories took the form of weekly newsletters on writing. Each one included a micro-essay on a particular writing-related theme — like doubt, voice, sensitivity, and accountability — plus a relevant quote and prompt. It was fun, until I burned out and got busy with other projects. I took a one-month break that became a one-year hiatus.

These days…we’ll see. You can expect some talk about the practice of writing, some reflections on being both writer and human, and some stories veering off in entirely different directions. I’m going off intuition here, and not nailing myself to a particular schedule. Let’s see if it works.