<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe a story grows like a tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It begins as a seed\u2014a word, a phrase, a question, an idea\u2014planted on a blank page with no promise of what it will become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I water it with words until a sapling emerges with tiny limbs and leaves, looking fragile and weak. Sometimes, I\u2019m tempted to pull it up and start all over. But I have patience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It grows as I nurture it, and new branches appear. Some flourish, and others wither as the story reveals its shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it\u2019s grown, I carefully prune it, cutting away weak branches of sentences and words so its strongest limbs can reach the light. Every cut feels like a loss, yet most reveal a stronger story. Sometimes I prune too much, and must wait for the tree to forgive me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, I\u2019m done, and I step back to admire the tree. Some stories become majestic oaks. Others, flowering dogwoods, twisted pines clinging to cliffs, or carefully tended bonsai junipers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What kind of story do you see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I believe a story grows like a tree. It begins as a seed\u2014a word, a phrase, a question, an idea\u2014planted on a blank page with no promise of what it will become. I water it with words until a sapling emerges with tiny limbs and leaves, looking fragile and weak. Sometimes, I\u2019m tempted to pull […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-3313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama-literary","category-uncategorized","tag-microfiction"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Story-Tree1-comp.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3313"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4083,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3313\/revisions\/4083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}