Blog Posts & Essays
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From The Lake House: A One Year Anniversary
I released my memoir in July of 2020, one year ago. Despite preparing for a nervous breakdown as the release date approached, I didn’t implode. Sure, the world at large seemed to collapse, but I managed to publish my personal story—held so close to my chest for nearly...
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Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and October 15th is Remembrance Day. My daughter was born still almost 17 years ago, and my memoir, From the Lake House, explores my experience navigating the loss. Did you know that about 70 babies are stillborn...
My First Pub Date: Hand-Wringing and Epiphanies
The essay below was published in Books By Women, an online literary magazine by and about women. Barbara Bos in the managing editor, and I'm pleased to share my work on her site. I wrote My First Pub Date a month or so after my memoir, From the Lake House, was...
For Her Father
The essay below was published in Still Standing Magazine in July 2020. I'd been thinking about bereaved fathers this past spring—particulary in June when Father's Day hit. For Her Father is the result. I'm grateful to be in a peaceful place so that I could write an...
A Complicated Book Launch
I've shared with almost everyone that for me, writing a book has proven to be much easier than promoting it. Give me a laptop and some solitude, and I can happily click away on my keyboard for the day. But ask me to try and convince people to read my work? No thank...
The Unthinkable
My essay below was published in Glow in the Woods, a website dedicated to 'babylost mothers and fathers.' The Unthinkable describes my connection to my former (and now deceased) landlords from back when I lived outside of Boston. I've always believed that the deepest...
Mother’s Day: It’s Complicated
I just learned that Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day in the U.S., had spent the last years of her life protesting its turn to commercialism. The inspiration behind her push for Mother's Day had been her own mom—a social activist during the Civil War who...
My COVID Moods
Disclaimer: As far as the COVID pandemic goes, I am lucky. I've remained healthy, as have my loved ones. I'm able to work remotely from home, and I anticipate my job will be safe for a good while. As an introvert who shares a house with two cats, I don't mind being...
The Silence of Stillbirth
A birthing room for a stillborn baby is quiet. Eerily so. No howls heard from the baby freshly delivered from the deep, dark womb. No exclamations of joy, relief, and of a job well done. You lie in the hush and watch nurses care for your silent infant. You soon hear...
Writing Muse, We Need to Talk
I need to be honest, Writing Muse. When we're on the same wavelength, I love you to pieces. I open my laptop, and like magic, you know my exact needs and can read my mind. How glorious when we're united! I'm focused, my thoughts are clear, and my fingers dance atop...
Sixteen
Happy 2020! Here’s to a new year and a new decade! I always love this annual time to reflect, declare resolutions and set goals for the months ahead. Carly was born in January, so for me, this is also the time of year when I deliberately conjure up a picture of our...
Untold Stories
My memoir, From the Lake House, will be published in July 2020. Yes, I’m excited and thrilled. And yes, I’m awaiting a nervous breakdown come summer. I’ve got the temperament of a writer – a true introvert who loves quiet, a keen observer who avoids a spotlight....
Here I Am
Deer have taken over my neighborhood. They loiter at the mailboxes, eat our flowers, and generally parade around with a bold confidence I find presumptuous. Recently I looked through my den window to see a buck maybe six inches on the other side of the glass, chomping...
Phantom Limb
I delivered a stillborn baby nearly sixteen years ago. My daughter, had she lived, would be a full-on teen now. But my daughter died, my heart broke, and as one must do, I moved forward. I let go of my dream of motherhood and built different dreams. I adapted. And...