My lovely friend Jeannine Ouelette, a talented writer and the woman behind Elephant Rock Retreats for Writing and Yoga, asked me to judge a flash prose contest to celebrate the Association of Writers and Writing Programs national conference coming to … [Read more...]
About “Weeds”
February 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment
It's been over a month since my story, "Weeds," was published by the incredibly lovely folks at Atticus Review, but here's a little bit about the behind-the-scenes of the story, better late than never. Fast Facts: First draft written: April … [Read more...]
Straining and puffing
February 19, 2015 By 2 Comments
This is a picture of my big scary novel. It's sitting behind me, even as I write this now. It's watching me. Breathing down my neck. I would rather not talk about how long I've been working on this big scary novel. It's a long time. It might be … [Read more...]
Some of my favorite stories of 2014
January 3, 2015 By Leave a Comment
One of my New Year's resolutions for 2015 is to keep better track of the stories and essays I read online and love. That's a warning that I didn't do a particularly good job in 2014. Part of the problem is that there's so much good writing! … [Read more...]
Parker house pretzel rolls and a train of thought
December 30, 2014 By 1 Comment
Today I made these Parker house pretzel rolls. They didn't turn out as pretzel-y as the picture. And they might not have been as done as they could have been. Neither of these things kept me from eating three rolls, straight out of the pan, right out … [Read more...]
About: How to Identify Birds in the Wild
December 7, 2014 By Leave a Comment
A little bit about my story, "How to Identify Birds in the Wild," at LunaLuna Magazine. Fast Facts: First draft written: August 2013 Number of drafts written: 7-9 Number of rejections: 1 From submission to publication: 3 months The … [Read more...]
Madison Monday: a reading
August 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment
This Saturday I did my first ever public reading of my stories that have actually been published. It all happened because the lovely, effervescent, beautiful Leesa Cross-Smith asked me to read along with her at Village Lights Bookstore. I was honored … [Read more...]
My Path to Getting Published Blog Tour
July 26, 2014 By 2 Comments
I really liked this idea from Brooke Fossey over at the blog for Carve Magazine (my very favorite literary magazine). It's a blog tour where authors share their own path to getting published. It's always interesting to see behind the scenes of other … [Read more...]
About The Hit
May 28, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I love that there's a literary journal dedicated to sport and literature--Stymie Magazine. The connection between sports and writing seems natural to me. My husband says a baseball season is like a Russian novel. I guess a football game might be a … [Read more...]
So good it hurts
April 24, 2014 By 1 Comment
I’ve been reading some things lately that are so good it hurts that I didn’t write them. This story by Travis Hessman at PANK. Everything by Roxane Gay on tumbr. It’s what I felt the first time I read Wendell Berry–his novel Jayber Crow. So happy … [Read more...]
