A Holiday Reflection on Home: Is it where the heart is?

Home Is a Feeling, Not a Destination ✨🌿✨

When people talk about “home,” they often mean a place.

A house.
A town.
A return address.

But as the holidays approach and the year begins to soften at its edges, I find myself thinking about home differently—not as somewhere we arrive, but something we recognize.

Home is a feeling.

It’s the quiet exhale when you step into a space where nothing is required of you.
It’s the warmth of being understood without needing to explain yourself.
It’s the moment a story lands in your hands and feels like it has always known you.

Yellow Brick Road Publishing Co. didn’t begin with a business plan or a destination in mind. It began with a feeling—the sense that stories could be both a place to wander and a place to rest.

That stories could guide you outward into imagination, while also gently leading you back to yourself.

We named this imprint after a road, not a building, because the road is where change happens. It’s where questions are asked. Where courage is practiced. Where curiosity gets a little lost… in the best way of course.

And yet, every meaningful road has one thing in common:
it eventually brings you home.

Not always to where you started—but to who you are.

This time of year invites reflection. It asks us to slow down just enough to notice what we’ve been carrying, and what we might finally set down. It reminds us that “home” can look like a familiar voice, a shared meal, a handwritten note, or a story read aloud when the world feels loud.

At Yellow Brick Road Publishing Co., we believe publishing is more than producing books.

It’s about creating spaces where readers and writers alike feel held.
Where imagination is welcomed.
Where meaning is allowed to unfold at its own pace.

Whether you find home in a children’s story, a novel meant for grown readers, a quiet nonfiction reflection, or a letter sealed with intention—our hope is the same:

That something we make helps you feel a little more grounded.
A little more seen.
A little more at home.

As the year turns and the holidays draw near, may you find home not just in where you are—but in the stories you carry, the people who listen, and the paths that continue to unfold before you.

Wherever this season finds you, we’re glad you’re here.

—

Chelsea E. Mazurek
Founder, Yellow Brick Road Publishing Co.

✨ Welcome to Yellow Brick Road Publishing Co.

A Letter From Chelsea — For the Curious, the Creative, and the Slightly Lost (in the Best Way)

If you’ve found your way here, I genuinely believe it was meant to be.
My name is Chelsea, and I am the founder of Yellow Brick Road Publishing Co. I want to share how I arrived at this point—because it’s strange, magical, encouraging, and deeply intertwined with the little girl inside me who still believes that the impossible isn’t that far out of reach.

I’ve always loved writing. I’ve always loved creating. But like anyone human, I’ve had doubt, setbacks, and seasons where my imagination went quiet… and then, suddenly, came roaring back.

🌿 A Nudge From the Universe

Last year, I experienced several revelations and had to make some uncomfortable decisions about my career.
I am a Family Nurse Practitioner, and for the last decade I have cared for people of all ages and backgrounds. When I was unexpectedly forced to make a job change—what I now recognize as a very firm nudge from the Universe—I had a gut feeling about where I was meant to go.

It wasn’t comfortable.
It wasn’t obvious.
But it was absolutely necessary.

I took a job at a small family-owned urgent care. It seemed temporary, but very quickly I learned that I was meant to be there—because I was meant to meet certain people who would change everything.

⭐ The Astrology Doorway

I met a patient who immediately connected with me on topics like astrology. At that time, I wasn’t deeply familiar with it, but I’ve always been curious about anything universal, spiritual, or even a little controversial. She showed me my natal chart, and it lit something inside me.

Not long after, in April, I participated in a psychic and holistic vendor fair. I was there sharing Korean skincare, but if I’m honest, part of me was really there for the people. My booth partner was an intuitive psychic who also practiced reiki and hypnosis. She and her husband had such intentional, grounded energy.

I was nervous to ask for a reading… I’d never had one, but curiosity won.
During the session, her first words came after a quiet prayer. I placed my hands on the table and felt them begin to vibrate intensely. She told me it wasn’t her energy — it was mine.

She kept hearing one message again and again:

“Follow the Yellow Brick Road.”

At the time, it felt whimsical. Now I know it was prophetic.

🌕 Judith Enters the Story

The patient I had met, who is now my good friend, encouraged me to get a reading with Judith — “She’s the best,” she said. And she was right. Judith brought clarity, perspective, and grounding to things I had been wrestling with.

At the same time, I had already started writing again… quietly, privately. The ideas were pouring in, and the passion that I thought I’d buried years ago began to rise.

I was invited on a podcast and the host asked me:
”If you weren’t a nurse practitioner, what else would you be doing?”
I answered honestly:
“I’m not sure… but I think I would be writing.”

During a later reading, I told Judith how torn I felt. She mentioned that she had written a memoir in her 70s—she is now 86—and she wanted to publish it. She sent me her PDF. When I reached the part of her story where she referenced Dorothy, Toto, and the Yellow Brick Road… I froze.

I reread it several times.
It didn’t feel like coincidence.
It felt like confirmation.

I offered to help her edit and format her book, and that effort opened every single door that followed.

🦅 Hawks, Signs, and a Sudden Knowing

I began paying attention to nature around me. I intentionally quieted my mind. And suddenly, I started seeing hawks—every day, everywhere. Sitting on the deck. Driving. If I just looked up, they were there.

One afternoon, on my way home, I was overcome with this deep, undeniable feeling:

“You are going to open a publishing company.
It’s going to be called Yellow Brick Road Publishing Company.”

I questioned it for a day or two, then called Judith.
She encouraged me wholeheartedly and said she wanted to be part of the journey.

And just like that… the path appeared.

💛 Why I Believe I’m Here

I don’t have a fancy literature degree.
I don’t have a traditional publishing background.

What I do have is:

• A lifelong love of stories

• Curiosity that will never die

• Humanity shaped by caring for other human beings

• A spiritual compass that’s louder than ever

• And a belief that creativity is part of our soul’s purpose

Somewhere inside, I think I always knew I was meant to bring stories into the world—my own, and others’.

🌙 A Message From Judith Harris — The Woman Who Talked to the Moon

“At the end of the Yellow Brick Road, we may not meet the Wizard,
but we find we have become more aware of our inner self,
our soul, and hopefully our spirituality.

In the end, we may realize there truly is no place like home,
in any of the ways it’s meant.
If we don’t achieve it in this lifetime,
we can in the next — because everything we have learned,
we will already know.”

I believe I am home.
And I hope you feel that way too —
in any of the ways you are meant to.

With love and gratitude,
Chelsea
Founder, Yellow Brick Road Publishing Co.