The Emberbrook of My Dreams

A year ago, I was sitting in the ashes of The Wizards of Wordcraft and a seven-year relationship that had just ended, with only the faintest glimmer of the path ahead.

I’m a multi-faceted creator. 

Always have been—always enjoyed having multiple projects. Not to do as much as I can, but because there are different parts of me that I want to honour and express.

But before I discovered The Way of the Braid, this way of expression wasn’t tenable. 

One thing would always dominate the others. The others would fade, crumble, and die. Then the one thing would collapse too, usually from resentment and fatigue.

Last Spring, André Chaperon—a marketer I’d learned from when I first got into copywriting—emerged from his own recalibration period with a framework that crystallized something I’d been circling but hadn’t dared commit to.

Tiny Worlds. 

In a flash, I realized I could hold many expressions without breaking down. Again.

Not right away. Not easily. 

But I finally saw a viable way of creating and expressing myself.

I named my world Emberbrook and began building—too soon.

I hadn’t finished clearing the land of what was dead, old, and worn.

I hadn’t clarified what I wanted to turn that land into.

My results reflected that. 

Ideas I liked, but never took root.

Execution that worked, but didn’t hum.

Feedback that was warm, but never caught fire.

I set the building aside. Again. 

I went back to honing the blueprint.

I dove within myself. I felt. I cried. I laughed. 

All the while, Emberbrook pulsed quietly in the dark, waiting.

What would fill the realm?

I waited for Emberbrook to tell me.

Whimsies. Telegrams. Guiding. Singing. Mixing. Building.

All different expressions of the same fire.

A fire meant to be braided.

Then last Wednesday, the tools I needed to weave my full vision for Emberbrook into reality revealed themselves. So began a delicious five-day build-a-thon.

My days began before the sun rose and ended long after the moon sat high in the sky. 

I built, tested, and iterated—over and over again. 

The result has been the Emberbrook of my dreams.

If you’re curious, you can explore Emberbrook here:

→ Enter Emberbrook

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander

P.S. Over the next handful of Whimsies, we’ll explore each of Emberbrook’s rooms together—sharing more of their genesis and more of their depth.

I won’t collapse our typical cadence for the sake of doing so quickly.

Catch you Friday.

P.P.S. If you’re curious about André’s Tiny Worlds framework, here’s his manifesto.