I’ve wanted/dreamed/struggled for years to find a literary agent. I remember sitting in a quiet corner of the Northgate branch of the Seattle Public Library, hunched over a table with The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit (Elizabeth Lyon) lying open beside me as I tried to painstakingly write out a query letter. Every sentence was agony. It was like learning a new language in which I…
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…
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…
I'm pleased to present this new short story, "First Leaf" which is available to read online for free as part of FIYAH Literary Magazine's Special Palestine Issue. This story is what I call a feminist fairy tale and, due to its emotional nature and message, it was more challenging for me to write than many of my other stories. This is one that I felt in…
All of meWhy not take all of meCan’t you seeI’m no good without you From the song All of Me by Billie Holiday and Lester Young My husband gave me a fancy goal planner for Christmas (Cultivate What Matters brand, if you’re curious or a goal-geek, like I am). And although I confess I’d actually told him I was really interested in this particular planner, I…
I love magic tricks. Card tricks, sleight of hand, people disappearing into boxes and slipping out of chains. I don’t understand any of them, but I love them. Even though the astonishment I experience makes me feel a bit stupid and crazy, I usually I end up laughing because I’m so perplexed by what the illusionist just did right in front of my eyes. Last year,…
I’ve been thinking a lot about listening recently. There are plenty of examples in popular songs, Disney movies, and motivational speeches that tell us, “listen to your heart.” I’ve particularly struggled with this, in part because the verse Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things” seems to imply that the heart is something to be ignored because it tells lies. And I’m sure that…
I can see it coming, and yet I can’t see it at the same time: that moment when Covid lockdown finally lifts, fully and completely. Maybe that upcoming lifestyle won’t resemble the “old normal,” but the clinging fear and timidity and obsession over clean surfaces and safe-to-breathe air will have settled into something that doesn’t raise my blood pressure…as life after lockdown begins again. Yesterday my…
If you have known me for a few years, you'll have heard me talk about how staying home with my kids and finding creative ways to continue writing and finishing my stories has been an immense challenge. But the kids haven't been mere obstacles to my professional goals. They've changed me as a person--and for the better in many ways! Through changes to my heart and…