Where have I been? Well… in bed.

I’ve been writing, I’ve been editing literary magazines, but mostly I’ve been… very sick. I really want to come back to actively posting here but honestly WordPress stresses me out and I’ve been getting in my own way about there being a “right” way to blog (make it pretty! graphics! links! etc) and all those things are just more than usually too much for me. SO I’m going to try to approach this like I approach the rest of my life (because I have to): do what I can, if I can, in whatever way works for me.

I’m starting with this — a link to an interview I recently did with Wild Willow Magazine for the “moms” issue. “Momming from bed” is the topic, and it gives a glimpse into where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to and the weird, sick person life I live (and therefore the weird life my family lives).

I’d be honored if you’d read it, and hopefully I’ll be back soon to talk about books and words and writing and reading and fighting book bans and raising kids who react to bookstores with wonder and awe and all such things. We’ll see what my body thinks.

I’m on page 43:

https://wildwillowmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/wwm-issue-6.pdf

I wrote a book and I’m giving it away for free

I wrote a poetry book! It’s a short collection of poems and lyrical prose I wrote over the the last year and a half based on one-word twitter prompts — and if you sign up for my new newsletter, you’ll get an ebook copy FREE.

The last year and a half has been a journey! The last time you heard from me, I was beginning to write poetry. I was also beginning to get noticeably sick. I really dove into writing as a way to kind of process life with my illnesss (I am bedridden with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, likely as a result of a covid infection — I am one of the many, many disabled by LongCovid). Most of my writing looks at life, faith, and parenting through the lens of disability/chronic illness, and this first book is a small taste of what is to come.

I probably won’t be using this space often (computer time is challenging for me), so I’d love it if you would subscribe to my newsletter. I plan to share (monthly-ish) updates on my writing/publishing, some bits on what I’m reading, and shoutouts/highlights of literary magazines and other writers I love and think you should know about.

First newsletter issue will be sometime in December and include a link to a free copy of Lift the Mask! While you’re here, stop over at my Writing Portfolio page and see some work I’ve had published over the past year. It’s incomplete, but I’m working on it.

To touch another person, isn’t that the goal?

I’ve struggled recently to put into words why I feel the need to publish what I write, why it isn’t enough to write just for me. Why do I want to seek publication for my writing, why doesn’t my blog feel like enough of a place for that? I think it’s ultimately a thirst for human connection, the desire to touch another person through my writing. I’ve read SO much and been touched so often in unexpected ways, sometimes by just a phrase, and I want to put myself out there and share, in the hopes of touching someone else.

Last Saturday I had a really super awesome experience that made me say, “Yes, I’m a real writer,” at the same time I got tears in my eyes. I wrote a poem and posted it on Twitter for #vss365. The prompt was the word “poleaxe,” of all things, and it was inspired by an unexpected but powerful resurgence of grief I’d had earlier in the week. Here’s the poem:

Grief

is a poleaxe 

to the heart

that keeps coming

but never kills,

piercing anew,

all-encompassing

unexpected agony

always hovering,

ready to strike

its unsuspecting

victim.

Not long after I published that tweet, a got a private message from someone on Twitter asking if she could share my poem. She was in India, which is having a really bad time with COVID right now, and had been touched by my words; she thought her friends might as well.

I wrote a tweet-length poem in a few minutes, and people halfway around the world experiencing immense grief got comfort from my simple words. It’s incredible, really, and I am so grateful this internet stranger took the time to tell me what my poem meant to her. So many writers never know, and I don’t expect to always get this kind of reaction – but THIS is why I want to share what I write.