My blog

Holidays can be hard. When they’re good, they’re magical. When they’re not, they present the ideal in stark relief. Why aren’t you happy? Why does your family snipe at [...]

America is in a dark place, and it’s sometimes hard to watch. I was reminded of this as I read the news this morning: one headline said that some Republican law makers who voted for the [...]

Regular readers will know that the winter solstice is a special day for me, and that I often mark it with a post. The winter solstice is the day that taught me to look on the bright side. I live [...]

I am a world-class avoider of things. Seriously, I could teach a class. Like… a graduate-level class. I am singularly talented at not doing what I tell myself I want to be doing. Be it [...]

Twenty years ago, newly in possession of my first computer, I typed in to whatever passed for a search engine back then, “I want to die.” This is not easy to write, today. I am a [...]

A cold blanket covers everything. Your favorite spot to gather berries, down near a river, is frozen through, the bushes spiny bristles outlined starkly against the white. You’ve got some [...]

It is no surprise to regular readers that I am terrified of solo home ownership. I grew up in an illegal basement apartment, then in other rentals. I had never lived in anything much bigger than [...]

Last November, I was scheduled to go to two trade shows, back to back, one in Macon, Georgia, and one in New Orleans. It was my job to bring them in within budget, and when I crunched the [...]

Publishing is a bruising business. As regular readers know, I parted ways oh-so-amicably with my agent earlier this year. She was awesome, but didn’t seem to love the direction of my [...]

Today, Donald Trump tweeted that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand “would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions… (and would do anything for them).” He [...]

My heart, full of soot, dark. Rife with canaries I refused to hear. My hands hurt. Siphoning off all joy and spark Just today, but telling me the story of every day that’s left. I am the [...]

Thank you, legs, that walk so firm. Thank you, smile across the counter. Thank you, world knowledge in my hand, hawk suspended high above my head, warmth that rumbles on. Thank you, baskets [...]

THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY is just 10 reviews away from the “holy grail” of Amazon milestones: the 50-review mark. Legend has it that Amazon algorithms pay more attention to books with [...]

When I was around thirteen or fourteen, my father sat me down and said, “Things have been tough this year. There aren’t going to be a lot of presents this Christmas.” He [...]