Hi friends! It's been a while since I've checked in, and I want to explain part of that. The beginning of school was a *really* rough start for me and the kids this year. It's my fourth year of homeschooling, so I'd like to think that I have at least some of it figured out by now. My daughter entered kindergarten this year, which meant I…
With nominations for the Nebula Awards just around the corner, it's time to post my list of works published in 2022 that are eligible in the Short Story categories of the Nebulas and Hugos, etc. Links to read the stories online will be posted below when available. A huge thank you to my critique group, to my enthusiastic readers, and to the editors who've shown passion…
It began as a compulsion. I needed more regular infusions of writing nerds in my life and I was really wising up to that fact. Also, I'd discovered that one major preventative for depression symptoms (more about my mental health journey can be found here) is to keep planning good things in my future so that I can look forward to them. At the tail end…
They say the mirror doesn’t lie. I’m here to tell you that it does. It takes time to realize it, it takes time to even be able to tell, which means many people never see it on their own. So, I will show you. Unless you don’t want to know. In which case, you should turn back now… You were warned. Most people think of mirrors…
My friends, I am *so excited* to share this audiobook project with you!! Today is the release day for the audiobook of “Untrained Luck,” which has been beautifully produced by The Storyteller Series podcast. There’s something particularly special about hearing your words read out loud. They take on a life of their own in a way that transcends the limits of the written word. I remember…
It's been a few years since I first struck upon the idea of emotion-infused paint and you've probably heard me yammer about lumastration in one way or another, by this point! This particular story is a dark one; about how far we're willing to push ourselves and what we're willing to sacrifice to achieve our ambitions. It's the wicked side of the looking glass; peering into…
This week, my kids (8 and 5) are having their first swimming lessons of the year. On our first day, we had some trouble finding a parking space and ended up scraping our van's tires against the curb in front of a lovely old house. As my kids scampered out, an elderly man came across the yard toward us. I was steeling myself for a grumpy…
I'm pleased to announce that my short story "Focal Point" is now available from Haven Speculative! This is my second published story from my lumastration universe (and I have two more in the pipeline that are awaiting their own publication days)! This story began as a much larger novelette, an exploration of grief, shameful secrets, and the vulnerability of the road to emotional healing, all through…
Emotions are a vital part of my life. I sense, perceive, and express emotions in the vast majority of my daily life, whether it’s work, play, or personal interactions. Once, at a meeting with one of my writers' groups, I was commenting on another author’s child character who I thought was surprisingly out-of-touch with their emotions and I compared the character to my own son, who…
Psychology 101. A course of study dedicated to understanding the complex and fascinating ways that our brains work. Capacity for knowledge, memory, defense mechanisms, trauma, disorders, learning, and deduction (to name a few). This was of my favorites. The only textbook I kept from college was the one from this class. I vividly recall hearing: “Each one of us here is mentally unwell to a greater or…