Be-Lied or Surrounded by Stories

I am going to recount a fictional account that ends with a truth, not with the intent of deception, but with the intent of entertaining you and convincing you to continue reading. In presenting you with this falsehood, am I telling you a lie, that is delivering “a false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood,” as “The American Heritage Dictionary” defines the word? Am I surrounding you with lies, intentional fabrications? No, I am telling you a story, “an account or recital of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious,” again from the “AHD.”

Here is My Story

My heart has been broken. In true courtly fashion, I have taken to my bed, exhaling copious sighs and refusing all sustenance. I have become pale and thin. At night, I cannot sleep, passing my nights thinking of what might have been—the stories I might have written, had the Yahoo Contributor Network not ended its platform for publication. Then the idea for a new story hits me, and I know what I have to do. I arise from my sweaty bed, eat a big bowl of mashed potatoes, and start another blog! The End.

By Nature, Every Storyteller is a Liar

The truth is that I have started another blog, “Be-Lied,” in order to write about topics other than words. Readers of my first blog, “Be-Worded,” know that the prefix “be-“ means “surrounded by.” I wanted to keep my blog about words separate from a blog about stories or ideas. In contemplating a name for this new blog, I wanted to stay with the idea of “surrounded by.” My very clever husband suggested “Be-Lied,” which I am going to define as “Surrounded by Stories.”

Be-Lied or Whatever Gets You Through the Story

The impetus for beginning “Be-Lied” sprang from two sources. First, the Yahoo Contributor Network is ceasing publication at the end of July, 2014, so I lost a publication platform. Second, while reading Andrei Codrescu’s “Whatever Gets You Through the Night: A Story of Sheherezade and the Arabian Entertainments,” an inspiration struck me. I decided to issue a story-telling challenge. In order to issue that challenge, I decided to start a second blog. (Also, I will transfer some of my publications from the YCN to “Be-Lied.”)  However, to read that challenge, you must read the next entry on “Be-Lied.”