Pull Up a Chair
Around the Campfire
Welcome, friends.
Pull up a chair and join us around the campfire.
Whether this is your first visit or you’ve been here from the beginning, I’m grateful you’re here.
Every person brings a unique story, and every story makes our community a little richer.
Here’s what’s happening around the campfire this week...
🔥 Around the Campfire News
As our community grows, we’re making a few changes to help everyone find conversations more easily.
📚 Articles Around the Campfire is now our home for sharing articles you’ve written or discovered. If you’ve published something you’d like others to read and discuss, this is the place to post it.
💬 Around the Campfire is our space for conversations. Ask questions, introduce yourself, share ideas, celebrate victories, or simply pull up a chair and chat with the group.
We’ve also enabled subthreads, making it easier to branch off into new conversations while keeping everything organized. Think of it as smaller circles naturally forming around the same campfire.
Our goal is simple: make it easier to find great conversations and ensure every voice has a place around the fire.
Pull up a chair… Every week, we'll save a chair around the campfire for someone in our community.
Meet Jeff Carter:
One of the things I love most about this community is that every person brings a different story, a different perspective, and a lifetime of experiences to share.
This week, I'd like to introduce you to Jeff Carter.
I'll let Jeff introduce himself in his own words.
Hi everyone! I’m Jeff. Originally from California, but Arizona is home these days.
My professional background is in psychology and organizational leadership, and for decades my writing lived in a very different world. I started out creating corporate training materials, educational content, and professional development resources. Somewhere along the way, I realized the same questions that fascinated me in leadership and psychology were the ones that fascinated me in storytelling.
That eventually led me into fiction, original artwork, and creating comics. For me, those creative projects have become a kind of catharsis—a place to explore ideas about people, identity, conflict, and the worlds we build around ourselves.
These days I find myself fascinated by why some fictional worlds feel psychologically believable when others don’t. I’m especially interested in the beliefs, fears, memories, and shared experiences that make a world feel like a place real people could actually inhabit.
That’s what drew me here. I came across Jay’s writing and immediately connected with the thoughtfulness behind it. I’m looking forward to learning from everyone here, talking shop around the campfire, and seeing where the conversations lead.
And if you ever need an easy conversation starter, ask me:
“Why do you think psychology belongs at the center of storytelling?”
Looking forward to getting to know all of you.
Welcome, Jeff! 🌲
If something in Jeff’s introduction resonated with you, take a moment to say hello in the comments. And if you’re new to the community, we’d love to meet you too. Stop by our Introductions thread and tell us a little about yourself. Every person who pulls up a chair adds something unique to the conversation.
📚 Around the Campfire Reading
This week’s article is one that stayed with me long after I finished reading it.
The Moth and the Flame isn’t simply about moths or even about distraction. It’s about the quiet ways we can begin organizing our lives around things that seem bright, immediate, or rewarding—without ever asking whether they’re truly leading us where we want to go.
One line especially stayed with me:
“The prison does not always have walls. Sometimes it has warmth.”
That sentence made me pause because it reminded me how easy it is to mistake comfort for purpose.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
What part of the article stayed with you?
Was there a sentence that made you stop and think?
Have you ever found yourself chasing something simply because it was close enough to shine?
Pull up a chair and join the conversation.
🌟 Share Your Good News
Because one of the best parts of any community is celebrating life’s moments together.
👋 Welcome
A warm welcome to our newest paid subscribers:
Ron Samul
Julilly Kohler
Thank you for pulling up a chair around our campfire. We’re glad you’re here.
❤️ Thinking of Judy
Please join us in wishing Judy all the very best as she prepares for her upcoming surgery.
We’re thinking of you and wishing you a smooth procedure, a restful recovery, and brighter days ahead.
🌟 Do You Have Good News to Share?
Whether it’s a new publication, a subscriber milestone, a book launch, a personal accomplishment, or simply something meaningful happening in your life, we’d love to celebrate it with you.
Just let me know, and we’ll be happy to share it in a future issue of Around the Campfire.
🤝 Looking for Help?
Need feedback on something you’re writing? Looking for advice, recommendations, encouragement, or simply another perspective?
This community is full of people who enjoy helping one another. If you're looking for help, start by posting in the community chat. You may be surprised who has experience to share.
If you'd like us to include your request in a future newsletter, feel free to reach out to me as well.
What did you enjoy most in this week’s Campfire (Newsletter)?
Reply in the comments or join one of the conversations. We’d love to hear from you.
🌲 From Jay
As I put together this first issue of Around the Campfire, I kept thinking about how every meaningful conversation begins the same way—with someone willing to pull up a chair.
Thank you for being here. Whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or this is your very first visit, I’m grateful you’re part of this community.
Until next time...
Keep the fire burning.
~ Jay
Cozy feeling of the campfire coupled by the read 🙌
Absolutely love the Campfire!! Thank you, Jay! 😊