About

{The original “About” page}

Once upon a time there was a young lady who thought she could make an enormous difference if she started a blog with the sole purpose of supporting her preferred presidential candidate in 2012. She called her blog “Formidable Courage,” a nod to Ronald Reagan’s use of the phrase in describing free men and women (yeah, she was a little dramatic…), and fully expected to set the web on fire with paragraphs of very salty prose.

(*waves sheepishly*)

Umm, hi, that was me, and I do apologize to everybody for that nonsense. I wasn’t quite 20, so I’m using my relative youth, inexperience, and immaturity as my excuse. The good thing, though, is that this unpleasant experience got me started in the blogging world–and for that, I’m grateful. For three years I had a lot of fun simply maintaining a personal blog, connecting with others and flexing my writing muscles (in a–hopefully–far less offensive way).

Fast forward to the end of 2016, though…and after a rollercoaster year of heartbreak and frustration, I realized my blog had been woefully neglected. Oh, I posted once a month on average, but it didn’t really have a focus anymore; it had become an unorganized, shallow mess. After a lot of prayer and asking myself what I could (humbly, quietly, cheerfully) offer to the blogging world, I decided to delete a bunch of old posts (many of which expressed opinions I no longer hold anymore), revamp, and introduce Trekking Through Hobbit Holes.

 

Yes, my web address is still formidablecourage.com, simply because I’m not made of money and I just renewed my web domain (I am, after all, a practical soul.)  But the content will, Lord willing, be much more purposeful…deliberate…intentional. I’ve learned a lot of good, empowering, encouraging, humbling lessons in 2016, and I would love to share those things, if only to encourage other young writers, nerds, and single girls as we seek God’s will for our lives.

But at the same time I’m still the same quirky Maribeth who 1) writes simply because I can’t help myself, 2) gets a thrill out of picking apart books and movies, 3) lives on a farm with my large, hilarious, free-spirited family, 4) talks non-stop about my historical heroes like I actually know them and 5) gushes over Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock like they’re real people (I will never get over the fact that they’re not). And yes, I’ll still write my book/movie reviews and fangirl over trailers and put together write the occasional Roll-On-Floor-Laughing (ROFL) Post.

In that respect, my blog hasn’t changed. It’s just quieter now…and hopefully more edifying and encouraging with this new, purposeful transformation.

To God be the glory, and may you all live long and prosper!

~Maribeth

April 2018 update: this is now the archive for the old Formidable Courage/Trekking Through Hobbit Holes blog. Comments have been disabled, so if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at my new blog, Trekking Thru Hobbit Holes!

November 2019 update: Trekking Thru Hobbit Holes has been renamed to A Writer’s Tale for literally no other reason but to keep me out of trouble with Middle-Earth Enterprises for using the word “Hobbit.” (Although true Middle-Earthians will recognize I’m still tipping my hat to Bilbo Baggins with my new title…*wink*). Again, feel free to contact me at A Writer’s Tale if you have any questions or comments!