This is the story of how The Usual Error book came to be.

A long, long time ago in an apartment not all that far away (depending on where you live, naturally), there was a triad of women who communicated all the time. Though they shared many things, it was easy to see that they were different in some ways: one was a Writer, one a Wizardess, and the third a Wanderer. It was hard work being a triad, all married to each other, and they learned many, many important things about communication. Eventually, they decided to present workshops to share their wisdom with others.

The workshops were a rousing success! The triad was pleased; their work was much loved and desired throughout the land. The people kept begging the triad to write their wisdom in a tome, and after many months of such pleading, the triad agreed.

Work on the tome began.

The triad worked on the book together for a few months, slowly crafting it from the wisdom in their hearts. A rough draft was finalized and submitted to the evil warlock who lived in a nearby tower. He crafted pictures to help the messages in the book be clear, and the triad approved.

But, as such things happen, our triad began having problems. The tome of communication was set aside and gathered dust, all but forgotten.

Eventually, the triad was dissolved. In the aftermath, the book lay still in the dust, untouched. The Writer and the Wizardess stayed together, now a couple, and the Wanderer went her own way.

After a time, the sorrow and grief faded, and the couple that remained unearthed the tome of communication. They dusted it off and read through it, marveling at the goodness it contained. They decided to work on it, edit it, and put it through the processes it needed to be shared with all the land.

The couple labored day after day, week after week. Months passed, and still they toiled. Words were deleted, changed, rearranged, until the original tome was drastically altered. The couple’s hearts were pulled twiceways; they felt joy at being tied to the tome but uneasy at being tied to the Wanderer for all time.

They sat with the situation in their hearts. They both came to realize that they would not be happy to have the book tied tightly to the Wanderer. The tome which was once the work of the triad was shifting more and more toward becoming the work of the couple. Since the tome was written on magickal paper called “wiki” in the language of wizards, they could trace each word back to its author. They saw that the Wanderer’s words waned with each edit, and now numbered few. The couple discussed the problem at length and decided to offer the Wanderer a fair bargain.

The bargain was a two-forked path. The first path was an offer of much gold in exchange for the Wanderer’s remaining words and her claim to the tome. The second path was that the couple could craft the tome into a work that was theirs alone.

The Wanderer chose to accept the gold. She made her mark on the contract and agreed to the arrangement.

All was settled… or so it appeared.

After the tome of communication was completed and offered up in the marketplace, the Wanderer found herself unhappy. She went to the marketplace and cried out to all who would listen, denouncing the couple as hypocrites even as she praised the book itself. The couple were saddened, but they chose to remain silent, to avoid airing their private matters in public.

Years passed, and the couple followed their hearts to a new path. The book, though certainly not forgotten, took a lesser role in their new work. But the unhappy cry in the marketplace still haunted the heart of the Writer.

As is the way when we follow our hearts, the couple’s new work took them further into the sunlight. They knew the importance of being open and authentic, and what had once been a private matter in the cool shade was now coming into view, illuminated by the sun’s rays. In the spirit of authenticity, with her heart’s desire ringing clear, the Writer knew what she must do.

And so, the Writer wrote the story of the tome of communication, to share openly the way it came into being.

And this, my friends, is that very story.