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
Strangely, I’ve had a good amount of good news lately. I say strangely because the negative political energy right now is thick as a skull, and it’s hard to imagine anything good squeezing its way in. Anyway, in late December my agent called to say we had an offer for my novel, a good offer. … Read more
Fear, anger and uncertainty are escalating, and lately, I find myself caught between extremes of being scared shitless, profoundly sad, and trying to hold onto enough courage to stay present, listen, and take action. But this I am certain of: Abusers and misogynists and bigots count on our silence. They count on our fear. In … Read more
(in response to the mass shooting in Orlando, Sunday morning, June 12th, 2016) This is who we are: WE are thousands lined up to give our blood to the wounded. WE are first responders, grief counselors, doctors, nurses and friends who carried dying friends and lovers out of a bloody nightclub. WE are millions of … Read more
trust your writing. even if you don’t want to go there even if you don’t know where the beginning is or the middle or the end even if it’s hard because there will be days when it’s fucking hard that thing you want to censor? don’t that’s where your art … Read more
i want to take a moment before it turns into next year and note all the beautiful things that happened this year, because if i don’t note the good things, i can get a little fraught and fraught sometimes makes me stuck, so hence the need to remember the good things. here we go. … Read more
I’ve been a hot dog vendor, a shoe salesperson, a middle-school teacher, and a catholic school principal, but owning a bookstore has given me moments with the most eclectic tribe of humans of all. There’s the crime scene cleaner who talked to me about the delicate line between detachment and sensitivity while I rang up … Read more
dear sweet writer who recently dipped your pen back into the word waters and joined a writing group—i know you were nervous because it was your first writing group ever…i know you were worried about your grammar and that your 8th grade English teacher with her BIG FAT RED pen still loomed large on … Read more
When I first laid bare my personal writing in workshops, I puked before and after each meeting. I’m not talking about exposing my nature poems or opinions on the current state of education—I’m talking about writing with a truth stake driven through its heart. I puked before the meeting, because I had no idea how … Read more
My husband and I own a little tugboat, named Annabelle, and no, we didn’t name her, she came that way—which was both swell and uncomfortable at the same time, but there we were. Our idea is to someday live on her, or come the revolution, fly to another world aboard her, but for … Read more