It’s Against the Law to Marry Your Cousin

Sep 16, 2016 | Dancing Skeletons | 4 comments

Tyler Bay was not my first crush. Not if you count the first boy who spoke to me in kindergarten. He had my undying devotion for about 30 seconds. But even before that, there was a brief infatuation with a cousin who came to visit from out of state. We went over to...

“Oooo! Tyler Baaaay!”

Sep 9, 2016 | Dancing Skeletons | 9 comments

(*Name changed) I loved school. My family only knew about kids at school if I talked about them. And kids at school only knew about my family if I talked about them. It was like creating two separate worlds and I could decide how much these worlds collided. I also...

The Day I Learned My Family Was Big

Sep 2, 2016 | Dancing Skeletons | 11 comments

Clarissa Reeves approached me in line at the monkey bars. She was not like the delicate blonde girls in our second grade class. Freckles spattered the bridge of her nose just like mine. Her hair was much longer than my own frizzy curls, and just a shade darker. Her...

The Reality of Homework Packets in 13 Painful Steps

Aug 26, 2016 | Blog | 5 comments

We sit down at the table. It’s noisy and distractions abound, but it’s the center of the home which makes it the most logical place for me. The child pulls out his homework slowly. He leans against his hand and fiddles with his pencil. I look at the first problem,...

Sharing the Brainchild, Making it Shine

Apr 26, 2016 | Blog | 0 comments

Today I sent off the most polished version of the first ten pages of Clever Elsie that has ever existed. Wish her luck! I’m going to a writer’s retreat in May, and part of that experience will be reading those ten pages out loud to a small group of people...