Hello, and welcome to Ink Stained Paper Cuts! I’m so glad you’re here and would love to introduce myself and show you around. Of course, there isn’t much to show you because this is a website, and you probably know your way around wherever you may be sitting while you read this.

Let’s pretend though, that you’re sitting in the most glorious home library you’ve encountered. It has lush and comfy chairs that you can sit down on and feel yourself sink into in the most amazingly comfortable way. There are throws or quilts at hand that you can pull over yourself if you, like me, like to feel extra cozy while curling up in a comfy chair.

There’s a big beautiful bay window nearby and just the right amount of sunlight is streaming through it. The sunlight is perfectly warm as it wraps itself around you, but not so bright you feel the need to draw the curtains closed to protect your eyes.

Perhaps you have a drink at the ready, warm or cold, that hits the spot just right for you. Personally, in this chillier weather I’m experiencing while writing this, I’d love a delicious mug of steaming cocoa fresh off the stove, and if I was feeling extremely luxurious I might grab a bowl of freshly cooked popcorn all deliciously buttered and sprinkled with salt, or freshly baked ginger cookies with just the right zing in them & large chunks of crystallised sugar on top.

As I pass you the bowl of popcorn & plate of cookies you might ask, “So why Ink Stained Paper cuts?”

After a quick sip of cocoa, and the hope that I didn’t scald my tongue or throat, I would reply, “A few years ago I was going through a really rough time in my life. I was trying to balance all that being a wife and caring for my home entails while being a homeschooling Mom, and caring for my mother-in-law who has dementia. It was a rough road, and many days I wasn’t sure I would survive to see the morning light.

“I’d climb into bed utterly exhausted and defeated, and I’d curl up in a ball and hope that sleep would bring a reprieve from the chaos that was my life. Those were the better nights. On the harder nights I often just cried myself to sleep. I had no outlet for what I was dealing with, and the frustration of trying to balance too many important tasks was resulting in one burnt out and depressed ball of emotions.

“Then, in the midst of all of it, I did the most absurd thing you could imagine— I signed up for another year of NaNoWriMo. Are you familiar with National Novel Writing Month? The idea is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It wasn’t my first attempt, but it was the first attempt in many years. 

“I not only succeeded that year, but I was reminded of how much I love writing. A part of me that had been hibernating for years was dragged out into the sunlight, had the dust shaken from it, and after looking around it cried, ‘I remember this! I love this! I need more of this.’

“It wasn’t an overnight change, after all, I still have many tasks on my plate even now, but the care and keeping of my mother-in-law resides in the hands of qualified medical experts and with that dramatic change came the ability to seek out long hidden dreams and to begin working on them.

“This year in particular, I have had it laid deeply on my heart to write. Not to just write as I have in years gone-by, but to share what I write. It’s taken a huge leap of faith for me to create this website, to name it, and to put words upon it. 

“I hope you’ll enjoy whatever time you spend here, and that my stories, true or not, will fill you with the satisfaction that only a good story can.”

At this point I envision you, Dear Reader, nodding your head maybe even taking another handful of popcorn or an extra cookie and saying, “But what about your tagline ‘sharing the power of words’, what’s that all about?”

And this is the moment that I step out in faith, take a deep breath, and say, “I suspect people think this is going to be a place where I’m going to be sharing stories and then turning them into little parables to lecture people about good and bad, or perhaps they think this is about writing my view on current events– it’s not.

“It’s more like being able to sneak off for 5 minutes and read another page in a good book in order to recharge yourself before turning to the mundane, hurried life where carelessly spoken and written words are flung at you. 

“To me, that’s the Power of Words. Words I get so lost in I don’t realize an hour’s passed by. Words that take me worlds away and leave me tangled up in their pages until I find myself racing to get to the end. A story that leaves me yearning for one more chapter, for the perfect ending, or wondering exactly what happened next even if I’ve run out of words to read.

“That, Dear Reader, is what I hope to give you. Perhaps it will come in the form of glimpses into my own life, or maybe it will come in the form of a short story, an essay, a poem, or a crazy random jumble of words torn from one of my many writing notebooks

“However the words come, I hope they give you the needed reprieve, even if it’s only for a couple of minutes.”

To read the stories on Ink Stained Paper Cuts, please use the Collection Of Words Tab at the top of our website.