The little one is napping, so here I am. One of the most humbling things about motherhood (and there are lots of humbling things) is admitting that I have so much less control over my schedule. I used to pride myself on my productivity. I would wake up with a specific to-do list and if I — Read More
Books I read in 2017
It’s that time of year again, time to look back at my year of reading. Last year, I read 78 books. This year? 81! You can scan the covers, or peruse the full list below. What were some of your favorite reads of 2017? Good ol’ fiction: The River at Night by Erica Ferencik The — Read More
While you were sleeping: A letter to my daughter
Dear Mya, You’re napping in your swing, finally. Usually by the time we get you to nap, you need to eat again. I have 10 minutes to write this before the inevitable hunger cry commences. It’s been a rough few days. We’ve all had a cold. I got my first round of edits for Cherry — Read More
Women writing men
My next novel, Cherry Blossoms, has a male narrator. I didn’t plan to write a story with a man’s voice; it just came to me that way. This story, like most of my stories, started with one line: “I have eight months to live.” And the character saying that line in my head just happened — Read More
Book #2 is coming!
I am excited to announce that my second novel will be published by Turner Publishing around this time next year! The book is titled Cherry Blossoms. I started it back in 2009, abandoned it for years, and finished it as part of my 100-day writing challenge a few months ago. I have always loved this story — Read More
Brave new world
I have been meaning to write a post to let you know that I had my baby but having a baby doesn’t allow much time for things like writing blog posts. At the moment, she is in the swing next to me, awake but content. I am learning to take advantage of these moments. Her — Read More
Motherhood and writing
I’m 37 weeks pregnant, so I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on this subject. How will being a mom affect my writing? I know I will have way less time and will need to learn to maximize free moments even more than I do now. But, beyond schedule and logistics, will the stories I’m drawn — Read More
100-day writing challenge: Complete
Annnnd, just like that, 100 days have passed. When I started this thing, my intention was to write every single day for 100 days. After all, that’s what I did when I undertook this challenge back in 2013. This time, I wasn’t as strict. I used the challenge more to motivate me to stick to — Read More
The daunting first draft
One of the goals of my 100-day writing challenge has been to finish the first draft of a novel I started and abandoned years ago. This project is a bit different than most first-draft-projects because I’m not starting with the blank page; instead, I’m wading through old work and editing, cutting, adding as appropriate. Still, the feelings — Read More
Day 60 of the 100-day writing challenge
I meant to do a halfway-there post on my 100-day writing challenge, but I forgot. So, here I am, 10 days late, to say it’s going well. The last time I did a challenge like this, I was very neurotic about writing every single day (since that was, after all, the point of the whole — Read More