Invincible Summer

What love looks like these days in my tiny corner of the world. Or, what I'm loving these days. Books: These have brought me so much delight and escape and hope lately: Housebreaking , by Colleen Hubbard The Swimmers , by Julie Otsuka A Life in Light; meditations on impermanence, by Mary Pipher Rules for Visiting , by Jessica Francis Kane This Time Tomorrow, by Emma Straub Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver Hunt, Gather, Parent , by Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD Podcasts (the links will take you to specific episodes that moved me): Crazy Good Turns HerMoney with Jean Chatzky The Lazy Genius Podcast Mega Moms Don't Have Time to Grieve Unpublished We Can Do Hard Things On Being Death, Sex and Money I was going to add another category here and then I realized all I've been consuming lately are books and podcasts. :) I love a book or podcast recommendation! What have you read or heard lately that has made your heart sing, your world grow, or brought you solace?

I had so much fun creating the ABC's of Pandemic Parenting . It combined a few challenges for me: write multiple pieces of flash nonfiction several times a week (a new form for me), use a personally selected constraint in order to jumpstart my thought process (read: create my own prompt because I am generally allergic to writing prompts), a clear beginning and endpoint (there are only 26 characters in the alphabet I leveraged), and some great animal artwork by Eric Carle (pure bonus).  tiny scene from my life #1: Clue on rug Interested in creating your own ABC project? Or, maybe a better question would be, What writing assignment could you craft for yourself to unleash creativity and joy? Some elements you could consider: Take something, anything, and make it your jumping off place. For me, that was Eric Carle's ABC book. It was handy, lovely, and felt appropriate as a symbol for both how small and specific my world was in the moment I was writing about it. You don't need

 Welcome to the world little book!! With great big gratitude to Beatrix, for the perpetual inspiration of rants and reflections, and Nathan Grover, for the gorgeous book design and helping make sure I got this book into the world.  A portion of the proceeds go to support Voices of Children , an NGO providing psychological help and art therapy to children affected by war in Ukraine.  Link to purchase HERE! bonus squeeze from Beatrix

My launch of The ABC's of Pandemic Parenting has taken a necessary pause as I regather myself after my dad died from complications related to his Alzheimer's in late March. Quite frankly, my brain just didn't work in a way I could trust to be able to see to the details needed to launch. The pause has been restorative (and I suspect will be followed by still more, though hopefully shorter, pauses, because: grief). So I'm excited to announce an actual Let's Do This date:                                          Wednesday, May 18th 2022! Yes, next week. My journey of self-publishing this collection of mini-memoir has been a pleasurable one, and I think a lot of that has to do with working with my coach (I'm currently working on a coaching certification and a gift of that is working with other talented coaches in training) to be clear on what my purpose is in sharing this writing. Keeping those goals as a north star has helped me push through my many layers of resis

Today marks the TWO YEAR anniversary of pandemic lockdown in San Francisco. I'm celebrating with a cover reveal! My friend Nathan Grover designed this cover and it makes me seven forms of happy. But I think my favorite part is the hint of Covid lurking in the background. It's part benign presence, part scary unknown force. Which is a pretty great way to sum up life with a pandemic.

Another excerpt from my soon-to-launch collection of mini-memoir, The ABC's of Pandemic Parenting : The eagle is the symbol of the Unites States Postal Service. It is emblazoned along the side of each mail carrier’s truck. When my father returned from military service first in Germany he floundered for his next role. When we landed in California, the land of his and her families, he found himself a job as a postal carrier. Highlights of that job were the cookies left for him at Christmastime. The Halloween my brother dressed up as a postal carrier, wearing my dad’s oversized uniform, we got to trick or treat along his route. I, always less clever, insisted on being a princess and in turn got way less gushing notes of adoration from the route’s inhabitants.  My father’s departure from the postal service upheaved my childhood townlife to Southern California where he entered seminary to train as an American Baptist pastor. Each church he served had flags inside the building, adorned w