AMA/call for questions

Good morning, all! There has been a sizeable influx of new readers here at A Warm Hearth in recent weeks- welcome, everyone!

I continue to be greatly humbled by your desire to read and support what I’ve written. Most of you have come here after reading one of my two most popular essays, both of which convey, I think, a large part of the overall flavor I’m going for here. Yet I want to take a moment and share a bit about why I started this Substack and what I mean by the titular “warm hearth”.

When I started writing on Substack, I had already been a reader for several years, mostly of just 2-3 publications I really enjoyed. (It wasn’t as easy to find new writers here as it is now) There were some topics I was passionate about which I thought might be fun and gratifying to write about - at the time, those topics primarily included children’s books, small-time homesteading, and care of small children at home. I quickly found that I had a lot more to say, and that I really liked writing! Eventually, I started my second Substack to catch the homeschooling/homesteading/book topics.

Everything I’ve written here reflects something I’ve personally struggled with or explored in-depth through direct experience. Writing is a way - for most of us, I think? - of processing our experiences, organizing our thoughts and - potentially- sharing what we’ve learned. I named my publication “A Warm Hearth” because it reflects my ultimate goal of becoming the kind of woman and mother who magnifies and projects the qualities of warmth: hospitality, serenity, creativity, flexibility, inner strength, and love. I strive to be the kind of woman who always receives unexpected visitors graciously, reacting to interruptions in her plans with positivity and patience. I desire to be a mother with a serene, happy disposition who can absorb her children’s needs and emotional storms without disrupting her own inner peace. I want to be a woman with a cultivated interior hearth filled with warmth for others. You’ll notice, I hope, that these goals of mine are ongoing works in progress and I don’t claim any sort of moral high ground or superiority. I share my goals, thoughts and feelings with you because I sense that YOU may also want similar things for similar reasons. My hope is that we may progress along our like journeys together, supporting one another and sharing what we’ve learned :)

That being said, I thought it might be a good time to open up a call for questions. An “ask me anything”, if you will. You’re welcome to introduce yourself in the comments and pose any questions you might have for me. Obviously I won’t be answering completely “anything” for personal and privacy reasons, but I’m sure there’s a lot of ground we can cover otherwise.

I will share the answers to some of the questions in essays to follow this post - maybe in a week or two? Can’t say for certain, but one thing I’ve learned in my year and a half on Substack is that I cannot rush my creative process nor fabricate more time that doesn’t exist for me to accomplish my many aims. If I need to utilize two essays to answer the questions, so be it. Who knows, maybe this will be a total flop!

So, I’m looking forward to hearing from you! Let’s start the discussion:

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