It’s becoming increasingly apparent to me that summer and I just don’t mesh well. Summer 2024 served as the onset of the significant health problems that have more or less dominated my life since; the unprecedented heat of last summer provoked a multi-monthly POTS flare during which I struggled daily with dizziness, nausea, and fatigue;
Infections, Flares, and a Feeding Tube: My Tumultuous Summer 2026 Read More »
A couple of weeks ago, I discerned a concerning regression in my mental health: I was struggling to fall asleep amid racing, obsessive thoughts, and during the day felt compelled to bounce from one task to the next without ever giving myself time to simply be. Anxieties about things over which I have no control–climate
A Brief Life Update (Before I Begin a New Project!) Read More »
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
The Year I Fell in Love with Classic Literature Read More »
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
Managing Symptoms and Maintaining a Positive Mindset Read More »
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
Food Frustrations and Query Preparations Read More »
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
Surviving the Summer with Chronic Illness Read More »
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
The Flight of the Eastern Phoebe Fledglings Read More »
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
Weight Gain with Gastroparesis: A Catch-22 Situation Read More »
The rain that has been steadily falling for the last several days has momentarily let up. Sunlight shines down upon the saturated green grass, which slopes downward toward a thicket of larch and cedar trees. The dense branches are alive with a chorus of birdsong, which is interspersed by the sporadic cock-a-doodle-dooing of a neighbor’s
Finding Our Unicorn and Moving to Vermont Read More »
On Wednesday afternoon, the day before my twenty-fifth birthday, my agent forwarded me three separate passes on my book that’s out on submission. Like virtually all the passes we’ve received thus far, the editors offered very little in the way of critiques; my book simply wasn’t “right” for them. One editor even described it as
A Not-So-Happy Birthday Read More »
