Me, Ruby van Jangles, and You

(Aka, Start here)

Me

Holly Starley, writer, editor, explorer, believer we’re all connected by silky strands story sheds light on.

I’d love for us all to fall madly in love with ourselves and to know nothing human is alien to us.

I believe we’re all connected by mycelial-like strands good writing can make shimmer.

When words pour between us, we see each other, ourselves anew. This is why I write and edit and roam.

Ruby van Jangles

Ruby van Jangles, the hub of The Rolling Desk, is a self-built, slightly janky, super cozy van I’ve lived and traveled in since summer 2019. This is Ruby in her early days. She’s less Bohemian now. (Then and now photos below.) This shot was taken in January 2020 at the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, Quartzite, Arizona, USA. PHOTO BY Craig Caserto, photographer and fellow road lifer.

Come in, come in.

We have So. Much. Room. My (Our) Living Room Is the World.

Pull up a chair for sunrise and a cuppa. You’ll be joining (as you’ll see in the comments section of every post) a warm, bright, and connected gathering of people whose lives and works you’ll be glad to know, all of us sharing from our own “roads.”

• The collection, Ask & Give, is written by me and you—tales of times we asked for what we needed or gave what we had. Have a story of people, perhaps strangers, showing up for each other you want featured? Submit or inquire here.

• Wanna know what it’s like to live in a van? Who you’ll meet, human and otherwise? Where you’ll go? And what you’ll learn from the many things you’ll need to fix along the way? Spread across the dashboard (cuz the outside gets in, and that’s where you sort it all), you’ll find #Vanlife: Stories from the Ruby Years.

• Settle into the passenger seat for Travels by Foot, Bike, Bus, and Train. Plus, Walking the East Coast, a currently serializing memoir, chronicles a seven-month trek up the US East Coast.

• A testament to us never knowing what’s around the next corner, my latest trek is navigating, shall we say, a change in health status. Posts from a Progressive Diagnosis let us check in with what’s really up.

• In the back, at the desk, find notes from interviews and collabs. Meet amazing humans from the road, writing life, and everywhere in between.

Oh, and hop over to the Ask & Give chat anytime. Here, people have helped each other out with museum discounts, music recommendations, travel advice, recipes, and more.

And you

You are welcome at all the fires.

Can’t wait to share stories painted in moonlight, to listen together to the sounds of the night, and to discover what lingers in the embers. Never miss a fire or a new road:

If you can financially support, that rocks. Paid subscribers get fun quarterly-ish gifts from the road.

Please hit the heart, restack, or share buttons or comment on the posts to help others find this desk.

Just having you join, free or paid, makes the ribbon of road before and behind us all the more wonderful!

Say hello.

Or say anything else you’d like to say. The comments sections are always open. And scroll around to find a whole bunch of fantastic people.

Want a prompt? I’d love to know:

• Where in the world are you? Where would you love to visit? Would you want to live in a van?

• Why are you here? Existentially. But also what would you love me to write about? Who should I interview? Do you want to collab with me?

• Do you have a project or stack of your own you’d love us to know about? (Links welcome.)

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A glimpse at the unfurling of Ruby the van

1. Gutted, Jul 2019. 2. From front, Aug 2019. 3. From front, Nov 2023. 4. Plants. 5. There have always been plants. 6. The Rolling Desk.

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One more thing. Here’s a stack 🥞! Add another, pretty please. Smash that restack button before you go, so more can join the 900+ people across the world rolling with us.

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The Rolling Desk logo and art was created by the amazing Alexandra Rickards, a talented designer and overall badass. Keep her in mind for artsy projects of sundry types.

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One final thing / quiet announcement. Like my writing and wanna fall in love with revising yours? The Be Your Own Editor workshops are currently available with paid subs here on The Rolling Desk. (After a 20-year editing career, I realized I was applying to my own work tools and strategies I used working with more than a thousand authors and that I wanted to share those tools with other writers.) In fall 2024, the workshops and a whole lot more will be moving to a new Stack, The Joy of ReVision. Can’t wait to share!