dear reader October 2026 I’ve made a small/big change to my routine and am going through the feelings that always come with that. Because of some shifting priorities in my life, I have moved writing out of the top spot and no longer wake up at 6:30 am to join a virtual writing group. Since I’ve been doing that for the last four or so years, I anticipated a reaction to the alteration. Two weeks in and I'm filled with the despair of being a cog in the machine. On one hand, I wonder why I can’t...
29 days ago • 1 min read
dear reader September 2026 At risk of boring you with my bird stories, we had a wren (again, my bird identification abilities are rudimentary at best) who visited us around 8:20 p.m. every night for a few weeks. It would sing a little song for a little and then leave just before dark. I wish it could have kept visiting but nature is ephemeral, and I’ll take whatever is offered. At the beginning of the month, I sent my manuscript off to my agent. I sincerely, full-bodily hope it’s close to...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
dear reader August 2026 Hawks had started to threaten the crows around my home, so I stopped putting out treats for the them because I couldn’t bear to see the altercations. Their caws receded and were replaced with the trilling, high voice of the hawk (probably the red-tailed hawk, but I’m no expert). A while later, we could hear the incessant, unmistakable voice of a fledgling. There were, in fact, two. Hawk fledglings are funny because they’re only really decipherable by a slight...
3 months ago • 1 min read
dear reader July 2026 I’m preparing for four months of being indoors because it’s too hot outside to do anything. I won’t be doing any jigsaw puzzles this year but will probably work on knitting. Did I mention that I taught myself knitting in March? Knowing how to crochet made it easier, though it was still daunting. I also approached it a little resentfully, but I wanted socks without plastic! I’m determined/stubborn if nothing else. And so I have socks! I’m working on my third pair. With...
4 months ago • 1 min read
dear reader June 2026 I have pulled myself out of my little well of feeling sorry for myself and am halfway through another round of edits on my current manuscript. Even if it goes nowhere, I sure have learned a lot from it! 😂 My first book came through me, like I was only a conduit for the story. This work-in-progress hasn’t been like that at all. I hope I’m not forcing the plot (or maybe I am, but a story must be created to exist… right??) This current version is so vastly different from...
5 months ago • 2 min read
dear reader may 2026 Currently, I’m reading Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World by Suzy Hansen. I have such little knowledge of the U.S. empire's machinations in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, and it seemed high time to correct that. I’ve learned a lot in the past six years, yet I still have so much more to learn. Image courtesy of Unsplash by Chloe Forder This notion of learning, uncovering, and baring truths…that feeling of discomfort and...
6 months ago • 3 min read
dear reader April 2026 I've been reading voraciously, and editing a bit more slowly (but making progress!). This past month, Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust trilogy kept me busy for hundreds of pages, and, honestly, hit a little too close to reality to be the escapist retreat I needed. I did find distraction in Alison Espach's The Wedding People and Da Ngan's An Insignificant Family. But I want to talk some books I'm going to read next, because I'm that shameful author friend who is just...
7 months ago • 2 min read
dear reader March 2026 Last month, I found myself traveling. The grass across four states was still yellow and crumbly. I drove through the aftermath of the large winter storm and saw the carnage of tree limbs snapped by the cold. I can remember the sound of the cracking from a different storm in 2022 and still hear the booms in the gloom. Yet there were early spring blossoms even though another front bringing freezing temperatures was on the way. I read all three books that make up Phillip...
8 months ago • 1 min read
Doing Just Fine February 2026 Dear Reader, To start off this year, I read two big books: The Politics of Heroin by Alfred W. McCoy and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (thanks to JM for the assignment!). I would suggest not reading these two back to back, as they're heavy and you might hurt your neck like I did. (No pun intended! Vampires are not real!) I followed these two with The Crop Cycle by Shane Mitchell. It was published by the wonderful Bitter Southerner who I recommend checking...
9 months ago • 1 min read