Giant Pencil

I walked the edge of ocean today, hoping the sound and salt of waves might somehow ease the awfulness of this week’s news. I walked, thinking: what to do, how to help, how to move forward. I’m a writer but in this moment, writing felt too puny, too trifling, not nearly enough. I felt like … Read more

Magic Portal

Today, as I sat on a beach log, crushed by the horrors happening in Ukraine, outraged by Putin’s brutality, astonished by the courage of Zelensky and the Ukrainians, I watched five kids build this structure. They called it their magic portal and when they were done, they took turns going through it, imagining they’d transformed … Read more

Wonderful News!

I’ve sold my second novel, ANGELINE, to the fabulous Blackstone Publishing! So happy and grateful to be working once again with the publishing team that brought THE NIGHT CHILD into the world.

The Phoenix: 14 Stories of Women’s Independence, Survival and Recovery

Well, this was an unexpected honor. Does my heart good to see THE NIGHT CHILD on such a beautiful list of books acknowledging inner strength, courage, and recovery of self. All gratitude to WFWA and Booktrib! I look forward to reading all of these! The Phoenix: 14 Stories of Women’s Independence, Survival and Recovery

The Letter

Recently, a cousin in Ireland sent me a letter I’d written to my grandparents when I was fifteen. She’d found it in an old box of my grandmother’s. To see the letter surface now, almost five decades later, surprised and touched me deeply. Some of my happiest childhood memories are made of moments visiting my … Read more

Hope

Hey, I know things are hard right now, but it’s vital we choose hope over fear. Stand shoulder to shoulder with it. Because fear constricts. Makes us tight. Feeds more fear. Divides, disparages, denigrates. Erodes health. Erodes good decision making. Makes us stuck. Closes us down at time when our power is needed more than … Read more

Maybe

Maybe you’re hurling curses at the purple crocuses and eating dinner at three o’clock because who can keep track of time anymore and dinner is mostly Doritos and pancakes, and you’re afraid to drink that last carton of milk even though the use by date has come and gone, but you keep checking the date, … Read more

Thirteen Things I Learned From Owning A Bookstore

Recently, my husband, Peter and I sold our beloved bookstore, The Writers’ Workshoppe and Imprint Books in Port Townsend to another couple who love books as much as we do. Now that I’ve had time to catch my breath a bit, I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned over the last twelve years … Read more

THE TRUTH IS: a post book tour reflection

I step up to the microphone. There’s an audience of maybe thirty people here to listen to me read from, and talk about my first novel, The Night Child. Sometimes there are more, sometimes fewer. Once there were only three people and one was my husband, and the other two were booksellers. I fumble with the … Read more

When Your Memoir Wants To Be A Novel

The Night Child, a novel, was born from my memoir—a narrative of my personal history with dissociation, sexual abuse and survival. For more than a decade, with the support of my psychotherapist and trusted writing mentors, I wrote to make sense of what happened, to understand the impact, and if I was lucky, to finally … Read more