As a kid, I read voraciously. Mom would tell you it was my biggest discipline issue, and losing a book was about the only consequence that worked. Which was why by eight I had developed a habit of reading multiple books at once. I memorized page numbers so a bookmark couldn’t give away my current […]
Category: Life
Phases and cycles
Today, I wrote fiction for the first time in eight months. And now I’m writing here for the first time in…far longer. This fallow phase has been a necessary refresh, but now that the cycle tips back around I can admit to the bone-deep worry that maybe my writing wouldn’t come back this time. Writing […]
He sleeps! (kinda)
I knew this kid would be trouble from the very first day in the hospital because he refused to sleep without at least a hand on him. It’s a small hospital. No nursery like you see on TV where visitors can look through a window at the babies all swaddled in their plastic tubs. He […]
Unlearning
As a kid, how to make people like me–or at least not dislike me–was a constant calculus in the background hum of my brain. I learned how to read the expectations of people around me and how to contort, to fit myself to them. Even when I came home from college, I still made a […]
Hungry
Everywhere I go lately, I see a simple mark of the pandemic: sheds. Sheds along the roadside, in front of houses, advertising eggs and garden veggies, or woodwork, or even baked goods available on the honor system. I know a significant driving force behind their appearance is sheer desperation in the face of the volatility […]
36; or, 35 in retrospect
Happy birthday to me! 🎵 The baby is not being the most cooperative when it comes to letting me have writing time, but I’ve still managed to complete an actual story for the June prompt challenge and a short piece that I’ve sent out to my critique group. If I try to take a look […]
Writing+new parenting=utter chaos
Kid #2 could arrive at any time and I’ll admit I’m panicking just a little. Can I do this and still write? Yes, I’ve been here and done this, but not with a three year old who needs me to be at least somewhat functional. And that first time around? I basically existed in trauma […]
What the hell, world*?
All this big, depressing bullshit is getting in the way of getting shit done. Ok, yes, that’s basically been the last year in a nutshell. Most of the time, the pandemic and people insisting on life as normal (aka: might literally kill my family) can get shunted from panic-attack-inducing to we’ll-just-stay-hunker-down-and-keep-on-as-best-we-can. But here in the […]
Creative roundup, 2020 version
2020 has felt like the proverbial flaming handbasket. No one needs a tragedy-porn recap of the catastrophic and apocalyptic-level trauma we’re still enduring. I will just say: Black lives matter, the pandemic is not a hoax, and I’m not about to forget how many (white) Americans saw hate/lies/open sedition and dismantling of our democratic republic […]
Theatre in the time of COVID
I asked the universe for one pretty giant birthday present. And the universe came through. I’m in a show and opening night was my birthday. Shakespeare. Taming of the Shrew. My character is one that usually gets cut from the film versions, but ends up being pretty central to most of the machinations in the […]
Melissa Burkart 