You all know my name, but not my story…yet. You might be wondering how I came to settle on the name “fragilemyths” for my bookstagram and blog. In order to understand my story, my myth, simply take your time turner–three turns should do it!

Flashback to middle-school me, reading Fragile Eternity (the third installment of the Wicked Lovely series) by Melissa Marr.

That’s when I fell in love with the word ‘fragile.’ To me, the word itself was a sort of paradox. There was nothing truly fragile about it, because the short a sound clips the first syllable of the word, and the strength of the consonant ‘g’ sound both softens and augments the rather harsh sound created by the ‘r’ and the ‘a’ together.

Years later, I created what is now my personal instagram account, but I had the hardest time deciding what my username would be. Initially, I chose fragileeternity, in honour of the book I drew my inspiration from. But good lord, the double e in the middle of the name looked AWFUL! How then, should I change it? fragile_eternity? No. I didn’t like the underscore; it made the name lose its allure. fragile.eternity? Also no. I wanted my name to be seamless, connected on its own. I temporarily gave up on finding a name for myself, and went with my own given name.

Skipping a few years ahead to the end of March 2016, I created a second instagram account, soon to be inaugurated as my ‘bookstagram.’ Again, I faced the dilemma of what to name my account, or myself. I thought about how Beatrice Prior established her reputation in Dauntless as ‘first jumper’ and renamed herself Tris in Divergent. But who did I want to be known as? Who did I want to be?  Suddenly, I recalled a game of telephone that I played in my fourth year and came to the conclusion that the best myths, stories, and folklore stay aflame because the people who love them keep them burning brightly for the next generation. The cycle continues, and that’s how simple stories can secure spots in the libraries of classics and become so beloved. But there are also the more fragile myths, or combinations of words easily lost and forgotten into the oblivion of ages past.

I swore I wouldn’t become someone easily cast aside by Time’s capricious nature. I am not a casualty of Time. As cheesy as it sounds, I vowed to make an impact on the world, whether it be by spreading my love for literature or conducting research in a lab. (I’m a science geek, for those of you who don’t know yet!!) And now, I’ve found my name. I’m still writing my story, my very own myth, and you are a part of it!