I’m thrilled to share my latest essay, a flash piece called “The Suit,” which was published this week by Thimble. In it, I write about time spent going through old photographs with my grandmother, an unexpected story, family history, and how much has changed between our generations.

I’m hoping to be able to spend more time with my grandmother and delve deeper into our ancestry, once it’s safe to again. I find it so fascinating and grounding to learn about the people I come from, what they went through, how they spent their time.

An update since my last post:

• Early this year I published my first piece in an anthology: The Path, in the Neighbors themed anthology put out by Crack the Spine
• In June I had my first piece in published in the Boston Globe, a tiny essay about life during the pandemic, as part of the Boston Book Festival’s At Home Boston project
• I have two other essays forthcoming in 2021!

Writing has been so strange this year. Some would think that given I’m home all the time, I’d be writing during all my “extra” “free time” but mostly I’ve been binge re-watching shows that I know will make me laugh, in order to avoid reading the awful news or otherwise doomscrolling. I can quote most of the dialogue from seasons 1-4 of New Girl, is that helpful for my writing? I used to get out of the house to write, mainly at coffee shops, and except for a one-off stint at Espresso Yourself’s super-cute summer patio, I didn’t do much writing in the outside world this year. My reading habit fell off a cliff in June, too. I have six half-read books on my coffee table as I type, taunting me. I know I’m not the only one, and I’ve made sweet peace with the fact that it is not my priority to be “productive” right now. I do what I can, when I can.

Some things that have helped:

• My (currently virtual) writing groups: So much love to the Roof Writers and Draft Dodgers! With Roof Writers, we meet once a month to critique two pieces, and Draft Dodgers lately has been a biweekly meetup on the weekends where we catch up and then set a timer to write for 30 minutes at a stretch. It’s so nice to bond with other writers about writing or not-writing and have a video meeting that’s fun and not work.
• #1000WordsOfSummer and Craft Talk: Jami Attenberg is a gift to writers everywhere. I haven’t been able to keep up with her latest newsletter, Craft Talk, but her 1000 Words of Summer emails got me into such a writing groove this past May-June! I highly recommend checking her out and getting signed up (or reading the archive!), and if you’re on Twitter, writer Twitter is where it’s happening. The community she’s helped build online is so wonderful.
• Cats. Just… cats. ❤

My short essay “Painted” was published by Boston Accent in their anniversary issue.

It’s so exciting to see this piece out in the world. For years I’ve been trying to find a home for this one particular experience in a nail salon, and I’m so glad it has landed in a magazine with ties to Boston, where it takes place.

I’d like to thank all of my generous readers who have given me feedback and encouragement on this piece since I started it: my Draft Dodgers and Roof Writers writing groups, my Essay Incubator classmates, my teachers, my friends, and especially Eric, who has read countless drafts of this essay.

Thank you for reading it!