A lede is the first paragraph, or the first few paragraphs, of a story. I'm not sure where the spelling came from, but I've known it since journalism school and the newspapers and magazines I've worked for.

Lede paragraphs are the most important part of a story. If a reader doesn't make it through, he or she will head on to another distraction. I labor over ledes, and spend more brain-time on the lede than on any other part of the story.

Here, I've posted a few intros stories that I just filed with Alaska magazine. They haven't run through the filter of an editor yet, so they may look different when they appear in a few months (though my editors there are pleasantly light-handed). I may continue to post ledes, just for fun, and to remind myself what I've finished.