The Year I Fell in Love with Classic Literature
This is ordinarily when I’d compose writeups for the best books I read over the course of the year; however, I consumed so many incredible novels in 2025 that I’d be hard-pressed to decide which eight or ten I enjoyed the most (and I sincerely doubt I’d have the capacity to come up with twenty-odd blurbs). Since reclaiming my love of literature several years ago, my literary tastes have evolved almost as much as I have. At the beginning, I didn’t know what I liked; I hadn’t read regularly in four or five years–the result of a technology addiction as well as a general dissatisfaction with the young adult genre–and
Managing Symptoms and Maintaining a Positive Mindset
It’s hard to believe that over two months have elapsed since my last post. I’ve been focusing most of my creative energy on finishing my work-in-progress, the stand-alone sequel to the YA book that’s presently out on submission with agents, and have had neither the time nor capacity to tackle smaller projects. Now that the manuscript is about 99.8 percent complete, however, with only a few minor edits left to go, I can finally attend to all that I’ve had to place on the back burner, including this blog. I’m excited to dive back into short stories in the coming months, as well as to write some personal essays about
Food Frustrations and Query Preparations
I sometimes feel as if I’m destined to always have a dysfunctional relationship with food. Granted, growing up my relationship with food was pretty typical–and there was a period in my early twenties, shortly after I went vegan, when I genuinely enjoyed food and reaped the benefits of a nourished body and mind. But I don’t really remember the former, and the latter lasted so briefly that, in the scheme of things, it seems like a mere drop in the ocean, a fleeting taste of what could have been–and what I now fear will never again be. I’m hopeful that time will prove otherwise; however, in the indefinite interim, food
Surviving the Summer with Chronic Illness
I recently read Thomas Mann’s 1924 classic, The Magic Mountain, which tells the story of a young German man’s prolonged stay at an international sanitorium at the turn of the 20th Century. The sanitorium is located high up in the Swiss Alps: a beautiful setting that boasts fresh, clear air and peace of mind. It got me thinking how much I’d like a Magic Mountain to which I could retreat during the summer, in particular, and forgo the insufferable heat and humidity of the flatlands for a relaxing sojourn in a cool place. Despite the much-welcome quiet afforded by my new home in Southern Vermont, the climate here is virtually
The Flight of the Eastern Phoebe Fledglings
One of my favorite aspects of living in Vermont is the wildlife. Unlike in the suburbs, where overdevelopment has forced nature into uncomfortably close proximity with the ultimate invasive species–the homo sapiens–here, there is ample space for animals to lead a more private and peaceful existence. In the vast and uncharted woodlands behind our new house live deer and bobcats and red squirrels and groundhogs as well a host of bird species both familiar and novel. Among the latter is the eastern phoebe: an adorable little flycatcher named for its song. Last month, a pair of phoebes took up temporary residence in an old nest in the balcony beam outside
Weight Gain with Gastroparesis: A Catch-22 Situation
I’m no stranger to having to restore weight. In the various eating disorder treatment facilities I was in as an adolescent, restoration typically involved consuming thirty-five-hundred calories a day of high-fat, calorie-dense foods: milkshakes, protein bars, rich pasta dishes, desserts that sent my mind into a full-blown panic. Worse than the food itself were the GI symptoms that often accompanied these periods of rapid weight gain, namely bloating, fullness, and constipation. Suffice to say, weight restoration was one, of many, unpleasant experiences related to my eating disorder that I hoped to put behind me in recovery. For the five years that followed my last relapse, during my freshman year of