Hi friends-- Our own names are some of the most magic words we'll ever utter. What does your name mean to you?? I'm excited to share that my new name is officially Valley Jane! Here's a piece I wrote in celebration: As of July 6, 2026, by the power vested in the circuit court of Henrico County and the Commonwealth of Virginia, my new name is officially…. Valley Jane. Farewell to the final 4— Cecelia Yane-Smith Haggard — each of which made me, formed me, transformed me, and now with the blessing of bureaucracy, are dissolved back into the ether from which they came. Valley Jane — my first two names—feel light and nimble, without mouth fulls of syllables, contracting hyphens, alphabets of ancestors scrambling around getting their tentacles into everything. I loved having 6 names! Each one with its own beautiful story. But even the most beautiful stories change. The sensation of excising 4 names is not unlike the sensation of chopping off a few extra feet of dead hair or losing a few extra tons of dead weight, or shaving off a couple of centuries of densely packed time. There is a lightness, a joy, a relief—and also a grief— that comes with this death knell, this felling of the past, this changing of the guard, this end of an old life composted into the earth, making room for something fresh and new. I feel a power and a magic in Valley Jane—the first two names given to me by my mother. Valley for the Shenandoah where I was conceived and Jane, the name my mother felt signified every woman. So here I am again, and at last: Valley Jane! And of course, it’s time to make the official announcement that Cosmo has a new name, too! Introducing Prince COSMO JANE, Emotional Support Dragon to the Queen! _________________________________________________________________________________________ What does your name mean to you????

Hi Friends! Your voice matters! While some exciting magical classes are taking root behind the scenes and about to bloom open in our community, I want to know what's important to you?? What would you like to see/experience/feel/be/here? What inspires you? Open mics, free-writing circles, two-way prayer, character creation, accountability, quiet presence writing time?? There are so many fun things we can do, I'd love to know what sings to you!!

Good morning, friends! I wanted to share the welcome poem from my first book, The Halfway House for Writers. I included this poem in my book, but I wrote it for myself-- to name and assuage the fear, dread, pressure, anxiety and horror I felt about writing--the one thing in the world I most passionately wanted to do! Can you relate? What would you add? Are you ready to start the exquisite lifetime journey of trusting yourself?? Welcome to the Halfway House You know everything you need to know. You have everything you need to have. Nothing has been wasted: none of your writing and none of your time. Even lost years and lost manuscripts were necessary to bring you where you are now. All that’s lost can be salvaged. You bring with you the most sacred and the most profane. You bring wisdom and humor and a broken, healing heart. You bring your living body and your limitless soul and enough stories, thoughts and dreams to fill a thousand books. There is no hurry, there is no pressure, there is no wrong way to do this. There is no rule book, there is no map save for what’s inside of you. You know now which voices to trust and which to lay gently aside. There is nothing you have to prove or solve or figure out. There is no timeline or deadline. You can trust the words that come. You can trust yourself. You were brought here for this. You were led to this. This is why you are here. Welcome home. (Here are 3 friends I've found over the last few days at the river....they want to welcome you, too!)

Hi friends! In case you weren't able to join Valley on Monday, I've just uploaded the recording for the Full Moon Activation here. Enjoy ☺️ The next Moon Activation is coming up on July 14, so be sure to check out the calendar https://www.skool.com/writing-fire-circle-7709/calendar

Hello beautiful humans!! I wanted to share a piece I wrote in a Writing Fire workshop this morning....raw, primal, messy, true. HOW DO THE ELEMENTS SPEAK TO YOU?? Air, let's start with you. The deep and delicious inhale, the fierce winds of change, the tornadoes and hurricanes of upheaval, the gasping for breath, air dripping with humidity. Breaking through the surface after a long swim, gulped air more delicious than any taste on earth. The clouds encoded with our dreams. Standing at the edge of my driveway, asking for a gypsy caravan to come and carry me off with the wind, my hair blowing around my face like the snakes of Medusa. Earth. And here we have the dirt and the grubs, the earthworms in the soil. The deep red clay that shapes and holds us, our nutrients, our bowls and mugs, our ancestors' caves carved with our first drawings and words — the birth of language into rock. The family of trees and forest, the gnomes and dwarves, the root spirits, the subterranean story networks reaching through the vast and mysterious depths of this great craggy rock, this beautiful, outrageous mother. The gems and crystals, the pebbles and sticks and stones, the mountain and the valley creating our earthly human home, our own hollow bones. Water, oh my blood, my tears, my sweat, my juice, my body. Bathe me, baptize me, dunk me, and then let me swim away, a mermaid with a powerful thumping tail — you cannot lock me in a cage or aquarium! The Epsom salt soak drawing out the toxins, the body's ills swirl down the drain. Salt-crusted skin in the ocean, the wildest home we've ever known. The rivers and creeks and waterfalls, the ponds, puddles, and lakes, moving water like the pulse of the womb until the water breaks, the flood comes. We are born. And fire, my love, when did you learn how to strike a match and gather kindling — were you a very young girl? The circles around the campfires in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the leaping flames always signaling that we were in ordinary waking reality no more. The comets, the fireworks, the steady glow of a candle flame, the torches illuminating the great feast halls in the castle. The fireflies and fire tenders and drum circles in cave gatherings, the dance that gets wilder and wilder with the roaring of the flames.