The past several months, I’ve had my head down focused on freelance writing & editing work, tutoring, and substitute teaching. Like many school districts, ours has a significant shortage of subs, and I felt compelled to take some days so that teachers don’t have to cover other classes during their planning time. It’s a little bit of money, too. Having not been in the classroom since right before I had my first child in 2006, I stepped back in and felt at once at home and also like I was walking into a different world. So much of the same, so much that’s different. There’s an essay to be wr ..read more

I’m excited to be reading from my short story, “Under Construction,” on Wednesday, January 19 at 7:00 pm ET in The Literary Cypher with seven other amazing women writers. To join on Zoom, check the event page the day of the event for the Zoom link: https://bit.ly/LiteraryCypherXV. “Under Construction” appears in Gargoyle 74 and is adapted from my novel, for which I’m currently seeking representation ..read more

In the DC area this spring, the electric buzz of cicadas seems nearly deafening each time someone opens the door. Within a few seconds, we acclimate to the sound, but each time we go outside, we shake our heads at the cacophony created by thousands of small wings and the fat bodies that sit underneath them. This Brood X species has been waiting for 17 years to emerge from the ground. Their bodies crawl slowly out of their shells new and white. They look naked. Raw. Vulnerable. Can you relate? I can. Soon, their bodies darken, their beings coming into their own. They leave behind their emp ..read more

I was so pleased to have my poem “Eleven One” featured in the new Written in Arlington anthology and on the book’s website just before its November 2020 launch! But it was a true delight to be part of the book’s January 24, 2021 reading organized by 1455, a literary arts organization and writing workspace and retreat center in Winchester, Virginia, and the Anacostia Swim Club, a social club founded by a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Community Trust, supported by the DC Department of Energy and the Environment with a mission to create a sustainable and healthful environment for oursel ..read more

Saturday nights have been my solo time since my husband and I separated a year and a half ago. While Sunday nights have often been family dinner at his place, and Friday nights have been about me just settling into my space, Saturday evenings have been about inhabiting that space and exercising my mind, usually after having exercised my body hours earlier. I loved listening to Live from Here, followed by Live Wire. Both introduced me to writers and artists I had never heard of and let me listen in on seemingly intimate conversations with others whose work I knew well. From 8 to 11 p.m. on Satu ..read more

Am I the only one who doesn’t find the efforts of everyone else’s children on Mother’s Day heartwarming? Not gonna happen around these parts, I think. It’s not like I’ve never gotten any appreciation from my children. For the most part they’re good kids. But celebrations are not something we’ve ever done well. And now that I’ve had my second year of Mother’s Day as a single mom, I’m asking anew: Who’s supposed to make sure that a mom has a good Mother’s Day? I got well-meaning text from a friend who kindly told me I was an amazing mom and said she hoped my kids were treating me with the love a ..read more

Just as some food allergies can cause delayed reactions that are hard to place, so are all the weirdnesses caused by sheltering in place wreaking havoc on my children’s emotions and their abilities to self-regulate. Take today, for example, when my 9-year-old smashed her iPad down onto the dining table at 10:13 a.m., shattering her breakfast plate. The day had not appeared to already suck, nor had the week. In fact, I joked last night as we did our before bed journaling – a habit we began on March 23 – that no one had cried that day! Yesterday, during a grey afternoon on a day we hadn’t left t ..read more

Less than a week into mass social distancing in response to the novel coronavirus, the Indigo Girls spent 90 minutes the evening of March 19 singing and telling stories to viewers in a generous online concert that brought together many of the people who would no longer be able to see the duo in person this touring season. As the concert reached its penultimate number, the group’s signature “Closer to Fine,” the number of viewers climbed to 63K, at which Facebook crashed and some thirty thousand viewers tumbled off the page. Before that, it was pure bliss. From a humble tan couch, Amy and Emily ..read more

Although much has changed since this summer-fall recap post was originally written in December 2019, I’m backdating the post upon belated publication to reflect my reality at that time. —— When I look back on past Novembers when I did NaPoWriMo – National Poetry Writing Month – I love knowing that I found joy in taking photos and writing poems. I’m not sure how I wrote a poem a day those two years, including when traveling to visit family. I do remember the times I quit because someone got sick. I know that I was writing for my sanity, which felt like all I could do at the time. I’m glad and y ..read more

Before the long days of summer parenting melt my brain, I want to capture some of the good that happened this spring. I wrote in late April about what life looked like in the first two months of my separation from my husband. Daily journaling for myself has become very important, but time capsules captured in a form I can Google – this blog – have proven helpful. Here are some of the things that have buoyed me since last I wrote. Most of the links go to social media posts made from/about each event. Eventually I’ll try to add some images into this post, but following the links will lead to som ..read more