A few pieces of good news today, all leading up to some additional news about my writing life that I’ll announce later this week: ♦ Living Arrangements was named a category finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award. ♦ I will be heading to one of my favorite places — Portland, Oregon — for a week [...]

Catherine McNamara, author of the novel The Divorced Lady’s Companion to Living in Italy and the forthcoming collection Pelt and Other Stories asked me some very smart questions in a Q&A that covers lots of ground, from the writing process to POV to submitting to book promotion and beyond. My answers somehow led me down [...]

I was so distracted this week that I failed to commemorate Living Arrangements’ recent one-year publication anniversary. My first book has been out in the world for a full year — a year that, in some ways, feels like it zipped by in no time at all. But at other times, it feels very long [...]

Last night, I met my writing buddies at Caribou, the coffee shop that served as our main writing and meeting spot for years. We were there for the grand send off: Last night was this location’s final hours of business. As of today, its doors are closed for good. For years, whether in the heat [...]

For the (belated) record, I’m thankful for long, stress-free weekend days spent reading on the couch while Cirrus and Saucy both nap on me at once. Also: For healthy family members, for one and a half pumpkin pies, which just might be the amount I ate over the last four days; for (mostly) learning how [...]

If you’re in the Cleveland area, come have a beer with me tomorrow night (Nov. 13) at the Market Garden Brewery, where I’ll be reading along with other Rust Belt Chic contributors — Huda Al-Marashi, Nicole Hennessy, Richey Piiparinen, Anne Trubek, and Douglas Max Utter. The reading starts downstairs at 7pm. I have it on [...]

1. Once, when I was getting a haircut (at somewhere like Best Cuts or Great Clips, because that’s how I roll if I splurge and actually pay someone to trim my hair), the stylist asked what I did for work. When I told her I was an editor, she said, “Wow, so you must have [...]

Last night I was on my way out the door to meet my writing buddies when UPS delivered a package from my publisher. Inside, I found this: My gold IPPY medal for Living Arrangements. I had never seen an IPPY medal in person and assumed they were tiny, like the kind you could sew on [...]

For the low, low cost of $1, you can get: “The inside story of Jekyll and Hyde ten years later, a 10-year old dresses as dead poet Sylvia Plath for Halloween, and why you should not to have sex with Machiavelli’s dwarf. Plus more Kriesel poems, cartoons, and Spanky and John go to the movies.” [...]

On Saturday morning, I’ll be trekking over to the East side of Cleveland for Loganberry Books’ Author Alley event. Author Alley is part of the Larchmere Festival. The festival’s website encourages attendees to “Celebrate your independent spirit with dozens of local merchants and indie vendors of kitsch and collectibles. This is a street fair with [...]