May 14Member-only5 Things I’ve Learned After a Year of No Contact with my MomA Mother’s Day Reflection 1. We can handle way more than we think we can. In my first year without my mom, I bought my own house, bought my first car, settled a court case, moved across the country, started a new job, recovered from a concussion, learned how to…Mothers Day4 min readMothers Day4 min read
Dec 30, 2022Member-onlyExpect the Unexpected(What I Learned from 2022) — I was supposed to be happy in 2022. That was the plan, at least. But then in January, my coworker, mentor, and best friend left St. Pete suddenly and without warning. …Growth5 min readGrowth5 min read
Dec 9, 2022Member-onlyIt’s Going to be Okay(But Also, it Might Not Be) Less than 24 hours after landing in Massachusetts, I had my last session with the therapist I’d been working with for over two years. We stared at each other from behind a screen. His house was visible in the background — not too much…LGBTQ4 min readLGBTQ4 min read
Jul 25, 2022Member-onlyI Don’t Want my Life to Be Essay Worthy AnymoreI Don’t Want my Life to Be Essay Worthy Anymore I move to Massachusetts in the summer of 2022 after the woman I love abruptly exits my life without telling me. Massachusetts is busy and green. Big, waxy leaves spring up everywhere, made shiny and full by the recent rains…Writing9 min readWriting9 min read
Jun 6, 2022Member-onlyFive Things to do at a Writer’s ResidencyAnd One Thing to Avoid One Work on the novel your agent probably didn’t want you to work on. The one she said might need substantial edits to get it publishable. Put your all into this novel, both out of faith and out of spite. Change the setting to be…Writing4 min readWriting4 min read
Published inCreators Hub·Feb 14, 2022Member-onlyHow to Love Second DraftsRevision is when the fun begins. Really. — Writing the first draft of a novel is a practice in following directions. At least, it is for me. That means the first draft of a novel is never really any fun. The first draft is the structure and bare bones of what you’re trying to say. Most of the…Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Feb 14, 2022Member-onlyLife as a Ghost HunterMy mother has spent much of her life chasing ghosts. She frequently visits graveyards, reviewing names and tombstone designs, searching for lost family members. When I was a kid, every summer she dragged me around her home state of Louisiana to every tiny, family-owned cemetery she could find. They were…Ghosts4 min readGhosts4 min read
Oct 19, 2021Member-onlyWhat the “Dark” Place Looks Like When You’re HealingI’m in the dark place. I’ve been here for about a month, and it is steadily getting worse. The last time I was in the dark place like this was a year ago, almost to the date. It was during the presidential election, and I stopped sleeping for two weeks…Mental Health7 min readMental Health7 min read
Published inCreators Hub·Oct 2, 2021Member-onlyWhat Writers Can Learn From Scary StoriesI don’t write horror, but I’ve learned so much from writers like Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe — This story is behind Medium’s membership paywall, which means the writer earns through our Partner Program. To become a Medium member, click here. I grew up understanding that places could appear haunted, but usually, it’s the people inside them that were. My mother was followed by ghosts and spirits. …Writing5 min readWriting5 min read
Published inHuman Parts·Aug 26, 2021Member-onlyI Spent 25 Years in the ClosetAnd coming out almost killed me — I got married when I was 20 years old. My ex-husband was 27, a graduate student at the university where I was getting my bachelor’s. We met while I was at work at the college bookstore. He bought coffee and always smiled at me. He was gentle and calm. Stable…LGBTQ9 min readLGBTQ9 min read
