about

speak, friend, and enter

Hello there! I’m Maya: writer, wanderer, dreamer, bookdragon, forest girl, poet, and sinner saved by grace. I believe in the power of stories, the beauty of creation and creativity, and the unending grace of God.

I write stories to make you long beyond yourself. Stories to make you hope and dream and imagine; to make you remember what you have forgotten. To give you courage to create. To make you brave.

Will you join me? There will be pain and tears, but it’s all worth it.

Because the stories are true.

Life is hard. The world is cruel, and it’s so hard to see anything good. We get stuck wandering through endless darkness, hopelessness, and fear.

But don’t give up, wanderers! There is hope.

It’s like the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow; even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer. I know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something. That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.

~ Sam Gamgee, The Lord of the Rings

There is some good in this world. There’s beauty, and truth, and virtue, and glory, and friendship. There are stories and songs and food and fires.

All we need to do is remember the things we’ve forgotten.

We need something to remind us that it still exists, even if we can’t see it. We need something beautiful hanging in the dark sky to remind us there is such a thing as daylight.

~ Armulyn the Bard, The Wingfeather Saga

Remember the story the whole world is whispering.

The winter is whispering, “green and gold,”
And the heart is whispering, too —
It’s a story the Maker has always told
And the story, my child, is true.

~ Armulyn the Bard, The Wingfeather Saga

And impossible things can happen.

Jane, I remember! It’s all true! Every impossible thing we imagined with Mary Poppins — it all happened!

~ Michael Banks, Mary Poppins Returns

And we will see the day.

The sun will shine on us again.

~ Loki, Avengers: Infinity War

meet the storyteller

I love making new friends, and I’m really good at spouting random facts about myself. Such as…

• I’m 18, I’m a high school senior, and I’ll be attending Hillsdale College next fall.
• I love to talk and write letters and emails! Especially about deep things like theology and politics.
• I’m a Gryffinclaw, a type 4, and and INFP, but I believe personality types can’t fully define anyone.
• I’m a Christian and I believe in the Trinity, the truth of the whole Bible, and salvation by grace alone.
• I love to very enthusiastically tell other people about things I love.
• My favorite colors are blue, grey, forest green, rose gold, dusty rose, and silver.
• My favorite foods are cilantro, dark chocolate, coffee, heirloom tomatoes, sharp cheddar, and goat cheese.

A bit of madness is key to give us new colors to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
And that’s why they need us

So bring on the rebels, the ripples from pebbles
The painters and poets and plays

And here’s to the fools who dream
Crazy as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that break
Here’s to the mess we make

~ Mia, La La Land

I have so, so many favorite things that it’s hard to make lists, but here’s an attempt:

• FICTION: The Queen’s Thief, The Stormlight Archive, LOTR, the Chronicles of Narnia, Till We Have Faces, Ashtown Burials, The Blue Castle, A Time to Die, Jonanthan Strange and Mr Norrell, Pride and Prejudice, Gilead, My Name is Asher Lev, Knight’s Fee, Chalice, The Secret Garden, the Tales of Goldstone Wood, Red Rising, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Moonscript, the Wingfeather Saga, Dune
• NONFICTION: Death By Living, Orthodoxy, The Abolition of Man, Adorning the Dark, “On Fairy-Stories,” Every Moment Holy
• MOVIES: Rogue One, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Return of the King, La La Land, Mary Poppins Returns, Belle, Gattaca, Gladiator, The Defense of New Haven, This Beautiful Fantastic
• TV: The Chosen, Wives and Daughters, The Mandalorian, Emma (2009), Pride and Prejudice (1995), North and South, All Creatures Great and Small
• MUSICALS: Dear Evan Hansen, Titanic, Fiddler on the Roof, Hamilton, Hadestown, Anastasia, Newsies
• MUSICIANS: Andrew Peterson, The Gray Havens, Audrey Assad, Jess Ray, Sarah Sparks, Sara Groves, Skye Peterson, Ellie Holcomb, Audiomachine, JJ Heller, BYU Vocal Point

A day may come when my novel is finished, when I have written it all and finished editing it, but it is not this day. A time of rejoicing and happiness when the hours of typing are finally complete, but it is not this day! This day… I write.

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He is the missing piece to the puzzle — the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together. Every story whispers his name.

~ Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible

Thanks so much for stopping by! Comment below if you have a question or just want to chat.