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...
29 days 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...
2 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...
3 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...
4 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...
5 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...
6 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...
8 months ago • 1 min read
Doing Just Fine January 2026 Dear Reader, When I wrote you two months ago, I had tall reading goals and read I did! This Bridge Called My Back edited by Cherrîe Moraga & Gloria Anzaldúa Bitch by Lucy Cooke How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi In addition to these pictured, I read The Brothers by Stephen Kinzer, Gliff by Ali Smith, Palestine by Nur Masalha, Illegality, Inc. by Ruben Andersson, Race and Reunion by David W. Blight, and Euphoria by Lily King — to name a few. Outside of...
9 months ago • 1 min read