Writing Life

Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.- Jenny Han Sunny Summer Solstice, friends! Yesterday my eldest daughter completed her elementary school education. To mark the occasion as school ceremonies are shut down, she invited a couple friends to have a … [Read more...] about Wishes for a Sunny Summer Solstice

Rough and Tumble Play Last night I met online with the team of early childhood educators I work with to receive a lecture on risky play from one of the team leads. Risky Play refers to activities that were once considered a vital part of childhood skill development and now tend to be watered down … [Read more...] about Body Sovereignty and Preteens: Four Tools

Well friends, Always Brave, Sometimes Kind is now in the pre-launch phase! We have a beautiful cover to display, amazing writers "blurbing" the book, and pre-order links all over the internet! This is a really exciting and important time. A successful preorder campaign sets the stage for how well … [Read more...] about Easy Ways to Support An Author Pre-launch

  Early this spring a literary agent referred me to a professional editor. The agent was interested in my manuscript, But for the Streetlamps and the Moon and All the Stars, but felt it needed more editorial work than her busy schedule would provide. So she sent me to one Janice Zawerbny, and asked … [Read more...] about What I Learned Through Professional Manuscript Consultation

Last week I was interviewed by Tammi Salas and Sondra Primeaux of The Unruffled Podcast. We got personal about creativity, my viral essay Moms Tell Me to Drink, female friendships, sobriety, my earlier efforts to embody Betty Draper, and how beautiful zero degrees Celsius is in the middle of an … [Read more...] about The Unruffled Podcast

Late last year I wrote about funky shame-place I was in, career-wise. Plans for a new novel felt stopped at every turn; I was rejected from a mentorship opportunity, denied an important grant. Worst of all, my own enthusiasm for the story waned. Everything was saying not this, not yet.  So I let … [Read more...] about Kicked