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<channel><title><![CDATA[SUSAN VAN VOLKENBURGH - Blog]]></title><link><![CDATA[https://www.susanvanvolkenburgh.com/blog]]></link><description><![CDATA[Blog]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 08:04:34 -0500</pubDate><generator>Weebly</generator><item><title><![CDATA[The Story Is Not Finished]]></title><link><![CDATA[https://www.susanvanvolkenburgh.com/blog/the-story-is-not-finished]]></link><comments><![CDATA[https://www.susanvanvolkenburgh.com/blog/the-story-is-not-finished#comments]]></comments><pubDate>Mon, 21 Jul 2025 16:35:41 GMT</pubDate><category><![CDATA[Trilogy of Kings]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.susanvanvolkenburgh.com/blog/the-story-is-not-finished</guid><description><![CDATA[ 	 		 			 				 					 						  &#8203;The Stone of Ebenezer is being rewritten&mdash;because some stories deserve to be carried with reverence.  &#8203;This was not an easy decision.&nbsp;Years ago, I wrote&nbsp;The Stone of Ebenezer&nbsp;in the wake of unspeakable loss. My father was killed on 9/11, and I did not know how to grieve. So I began writing. I gave the emptiness a name. I gave it a body.&nbsp;His name was Nagad.   					 								 					 						          					 							 		 	   He was the beg [...] ]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><div class="wsite-multicol"><div class="wsite-multicol-table-wrap" style="margin:0 -15px;"> 	<table class="wsite-multicol-table"> 		<tbody class="wsite-multicol-tbody"> 			<tr class="wsite-multicol-tr"> 				<td class="wsite-multicol-col" style="width:50%; padding:0 15px;"> 					 						  <h2 class="wsite-content-title">&#8203;<em>The Stone of Ebenezer</em> is being rewritten&mdash;because some stories deserve to be carried with reverence.</h2>  <div class="paragraph">&#8203;<span style="color:rgb(129, 129, 129)">This was not an easy decision.</span><br /><span style="color:rgb(129, 129, 129)">&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color:rgb(129, 129, 129)">Years ago, I wrote&nbsp;</span><em style="color:rgb(129, 129, 129)">The Stone of Ebenezer</em><span style="color:rgb(129, 129, 129)">&nbsp;in the wake of unspeakable loss. My father was killed on 9/11, and I did not know how to grieve. So I began writing. I gave the emptiness a name. I gave it a body.</span><br /><span style="color:rgb(129, 129, 129)">&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color:rgb(129, 129, 129)">His name was Nagad.</span></div>   					 				</td>				<td class="wsite-multicol-col" style="width:50%; padding:0 15px;"> 					 						  <div><div class="wsite-image wsite-image-border-none " style="padding-top:10px;padding-bottom:10px;margin-left:0;margin-right:0;text-align:center"> <a> <img src="https://www.susanvanvolkenburgh.com/uploads/1/1/7/2/11723413/published/slide-1.png?1753116122" alt="Picture" style="width:auto;max-width:100%" /> </a> <div style="display:block;font-size:90%"></div> </div></div>   					 				</td>			</tr> 		</tbody> 	</table> </div></div></div>  <div class="paragraph">He was the beginning of the story&mdash;but he was also the vessel for everything I could not yet say. He bore the weight of grief I did not yet understand. The language, elevated and trembling, matched the ache in my soul.<br />&nbsp;<br />But time passed. Healing came. And I began to see that what I had written&mdash;though true&mdash;was not yet whole.<br />&nbsp;<br />The burden Nagad carried was mine. But now I have grown strong enough to return and lift some of it from him.<br />&nbsp;<br />So I am revising <em>The Stone of Ebenezer</em>.<br />&nbsp;<br />The story remains&mdash;the call to battle, the sacred hush, the promise of a broken people restored&mdash;but the telling will be cleaner, sharper, truer. Still poetic. Still reverent. But now more open. More readable. More able to carry the reader into the holy ground it walks.<br />&nbsp;<br />To those who loved it in its first form: thank you.<br />To those who could not press through the tangled cadence: I understand. And I am rewriting for you.<br />&nbsp;<br />Because this story is not finished.<br />And neither am I.</div>  <div><div class="wsite-image wsite-image-border-none " style="padding-top:0px;padding-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:left"> <a> <img src="https://www.susanvanvolkenburgh.com/uploads/1/1/7/2/11723413/editor/original-logo-1.jpg?1753116006" alt="Picture" style="width:auto;max-width:100%" /> </a> <div style="display:block;font-size:90%"></div> </div></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>