I’m thrilled to share that my novel, Jobs for Girls with Artistic Flair, will be published in the summer of 2022 by Pamela Dorman Books (Penguin Random House). More about that here. In other news: “15 Eggs,” my essay on nuclear weapons and children, was recently selected as Consequence Magazine’s Feature of the Month. I was recently …
Have you ever wanted to do something for years, but never quite had the courage? Maybe it’s something that would seem trivial to other people, especially in a year as weighty as 2020, but for whatever reason, doing this thing would hold significance for you. I don’t mean something that depends on luck or the consent of …
When I was 19 years old, I started writing a novel about a tattoo artist named Gina Mulley. Over many years and 15+ drafts, almost everything about the book has changed. But its soul is intact, and Gina Mulley the tattoo artist is still here, and I’m here too, with this good news: My novel, Jobs …
On April 27, 1995, I was sitting in the back row of ninth-grade math class and passing notes with my friend Rob, who liked Pearl Jam as much as I did. Rob and I were not exactly troublemakers but we were also definitely not Cool Kids and school was just so stupid and we were …
Once in a while, I deliver a quirky little sermon. (Scroll to the bottom if you want to skip the backstory and go straight to the video. But the backstory might help.) Preaching feels like this to me: Oh hello! I found this handful of things. You want any of this? Often I find myself …
Joy! Big Fiction Magazine (which published my novella a few years back) recently launched a podcast and invited me to be one of the first guests. I had such a fun and meaningful conversation with editor, writer, and wonderful human being Juan Carlos Reyes. Among other things, we talked about Writing while raising a family …
“If I’m going to tell you the story of how I lost two people who were closer than blood to me, I have to begin here in Dennett, Texas, during the summer between the sophomore and junior years of my life. This story begins as it ends, with me, Cirilo Izquierdo, waiting for what all …
If you’re arriving at Mother’s Day with any measure of mom guilt, mom issues, missing your mom, longing to be a mom, mom dysfunction, feeling like you’re failing as a mom, or maybe just hearing the phrase Father, Son & Holy Spirit and thinking, “Really? No feminine conception of the divine? Doesn’t the Judeo-Christian tradition …
[Special note if you’re here because you came to my reading at The Yards, part of the Flour City Reading Series: Thanks for visiting! To read the full version of the essay I read from last night–and find out what happened with Mad Maudlin and me–here it is, “To Find Mad Maudlin,” in Cordella Magazine. …
or, Thoughts from a MatriArtist: A feisty encouragement to get back to your own creative work. I have observed: The raising of both novels and toddlers involves urgency and mess. Both yell cryptic phrases at you, which they expect you to decipher and translate to the rest of the world. Both involve days of difficult, unpaid …