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...

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...

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...