Oh right...I published three books

Jandalf the Green's Origin Story Part 1

May 17, 2025

Hi fellow travelers,

An interesting thing has happened recently.

When I tell people I’m a writer, they generally ask the natural question: “What have you written so far? Have you published anything?”

And then I point them to my short story “People of the Rain” in Voices of the Future Vol. 1: Stories of Family and Fearlessness.

But the interesting thing about that answer is that it leaves out the three books I’ve published.

I’ve gotten used to my fellow travelers being vaguely aware that I wrote a book series several years ago. Or even having distinct memories of reading said books.

But it’s been long enough now—and I have enough new fellow travelers—that I realize some of you might have never even heard of them before.

To be honest, sometimes I kind of forget they exist…

So, what are these books that are getting lost in the mists of time? How do they play into my writing future? And why do I sometimes treat them like a SECRET only for those initiated into Jandalf the Green’s wizardly ways?

That, my friends, is a story.

*cue documentary music and polished voiceover*

February 17th, 2017. Two days before my fifteenth birthday.

I sat in a fluffy teal butterfly chair and stared at the tablet in my hands. The open document contained some 40,000 words I had painstakingly gesture-typed (no mouse, no keyboard) in complete secrecy.

The End.

I went into the bathroom and shut the door just for privacy as I silent-screamed. This was it. I’d done it. It was happening.

This book was going to take me from writer to author.

To understand what this book was and why I was so excited about it, we have to go back even further in time.

I’d been making up stories my entire life, even before I knew how to write. I had a whole library of “books,” written on college-ruled notebook paper and bound with construction paper, accumulated throughout my childhood.

I played with poetry for a few years, then completed my first “real” chapter book (a murder mystery so incomprehensibly bad I’m just grateful I was allowed to remain a legal citizen after writing it) at the age of twelve.

But after that, my writing sagged. I still wrote occasionally, sometimes frequently. I finished projects. But by the summer of 2016, writing felt like a chore I forced myself through. It didn’t seem to be going much of anywhere.

Then, around the end of 2016, a few books showed up in my life, caused a chemical reaction in my brain, and exploded. Namely:

A reread of Narnia
A reread of Pilgrim’s Progress
The Hobbit
The City of Ember (and, unrelated despite the similar name,)
The Green Ember

Before this time period, I wrote stories because…well, I couldn’t stop. But these stories, along with several other experiences timed just right, opened up whole new worlds of storytelling to me—story as art, with beauty and meaning and significance and transcendence and truth and strength for the real world.

And I realized I could best understand and communicate that transcendence through fantastical elements. In other words: murder mysteries and historical fiction were out (good thing, since I didn’t research anyway), and fantasy was in.

Possibly just as important as the stories themselves was the shocking discovery they led me to. The Green Ember, specifically, led me to Story Warren, and from there I found The Rabbit Room, and from there I found Story Embers (yes, more Embers, I can’t explain it either), and suddenly I realized: stories could build community. Before, stories had been all about ME. What I wanted to see, what I wanted to make, what I wanted my career to become. What if storytelling, instead, was something we did together, for each other?

For the first time, I had a burning desire to publish a book—not just because I’d decided I’d publish a book by the time I turned sixteen, but because I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself.

Just one problem: for all the stuff I’d written, I didn’t have anything nearly publishable.

But I DID have an idea I believed could get me there.

This story idea originated from a banner of Hebrews 4:16 hanging in church:

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And that seed germinated in the soil of the stories I mentioned above.

Basically, what if the confidence, grace, and mercy in that verse were people? Siblings, in fact? And what if each of them got their own book in a series? Plus, I felt there was a serious lack of allegories with the Jesus character in an older brother role, and I figured I’d fix that.

On December 31, 2016, I wrote the first words of what would become Mercy and her Shield. I had done no planning except for some vague thinking about what might happen. I discovered each character, plot beat, and worldbuilding facet in real time.

What emerged was an allegory about royal siblings who traveled around the world rescuing their father’s rebellious subjects from the evil beasts and soldiers who had imprisoned them. The siblings fought using the Armor of God from Ephesians 6, navigated deceptions and obstacles from the Enemy (yes, that’s the antagonist’s name), and ultimately laid the way for their father’s great future plan.

The most original thing ever? Consistent, believable, and polished? As they say in Spanish, no. But boy, it was a blast to write.

Yung Jandalf the Green when she was just a smal chyld ~~~ Ok ok I still look the exact same

I don’t actually remember the day I finished the first draft. What I remember is that February 17th, 2017 was the day I finished my first edit of the book.

That’s right: in about six weeks, I wrote around 40,000 words and edited them.

I mean, my idea of “editing” at the time was rereading the book and tweaking sentences that didn’t flow well. When professional authors say “editing,” they more likely mean an overhaul of the story! But the point is: it was a special experience.

This book felt special. This had to be it: the story that would Get Published. The Chosen One.

I remember praying every night for many months, “God, thank you for Mercy and her Shield. Please let it get published.”

Friends, my miracle child of a story DID get published. But it did not go at all how I imagined…

Tune in next time to find out: how did Mercy and her Shield get published? What about the other two books? And why do I hardly ever talk about this series anymore?

Let me know how interested you are to find out the answers—I can continue this story soon, or not for a while, and I can make it into one more installment or a bunch, and I really will make that decision based on your responses!

Thank you for journeying with me (special shoutout to those of you who watched this story’s events unfold way back then),

Jandalf the Green