hearthandink

I'm a chronic illness warrior finding solace in stories. I live for rainy days, flickering candles, and the kind of film scores that ache. You’ll find me lost in fiction, writing worlds of my own, or dreaming of the next quiet adventure.

I’ve always been drawn to contrasts — the bleak beauty of Hardy and Hugo alongside the lush escapism of romantasy and dark romance. I love stories that ache a little, that linger with quiet melancholy or impossible love. The classics make me think, but the fantastical makes me feel; both remind me that every world, real or imagined, is shaped by longing.

My favorite films mirror that same duality. Bram Stoker’s Dracula will always have my heart — gothic, tragic, and feverishly romantic. I’m captivated by the haunting tenderness of Legends of the Fall, the quiet grit of O Brother, Where Art Thou, the dark precision of Gone Girl, and the ache of The Deer Hunter. I find comfort, too, in cinematic worlds like The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Pride & Prejudice — places that feel like home no matter how many times I return.

Music is where I live when words fall short. I’m endlessly moved by the scores of Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, and James Horner — music that can make an ordinary day feel sacred. My playlists swing between folk and country storytellers like Colter Wall, Tyler Childers, and Hank Williams, and the cold beauty of atmospheric black metal bands like Obsequiae and Evilfeast. It’s a strange balance — but it feels like me.

And always, there are my favorite things: rain on the windows, candlelight flickering, solitude that feels like peace. Writing by lamplight. Coffee cooling beside an open book. Long drives with music that aches. The quiet magic of being alive — soft, strange, and still searching.