It makes me sad that I have to say this but wearing a mask isn’t political, it’s simply an act of empathy. It’s not about you - about what you believe in, who you vote for, or what science you think is real or not - it’s about being compassionate. It simply is a matter of caring about the people around you. If there’s even the tiniest little chance, the slimmest smallest tiniest percentage of some chance, that you could make someone sick, or could kill someone by breathing/co

Yesterday was Juneteenth, a holiday that I only knew a little bit about... much like a lot of other US history having to do with the maltreatment of African Americans. School did not teach me much about the plight, the abuse, the torture and trauma and evil inflicted on the black population by this country. And not just in the past, but also in the day to day currently. I was pretty ignorant. Although my ignorance is largely not my fault - it’s a result of the systematically

I am trying ever so hard not to have the coronavirus dominate every conversation I have and every post I make... but it’s incredibly difficult! The virus is all anyone wants to talk about. It’s all they’re thinking about. It’s looming over some like a dark cloud and itching unhappily in the back of other’s minds. But I swear, in the last week, there’s not been an untroubled or unburdened or unconcerned person anywhere around me. And then it hit me. Everyone out there... they

Although I haven’t asked many people-- everyone that I have asked has confirmed that we all, and I mean ALL, go through a “what’s wrong with me?” period in our life (sometimes more than one...). If you’re reading this... I guarantee at some point or another you googled the causes of depression, you took an online quiz to see if you had social anxiety or autism, you dug through Webmd for symptoms of PTSD, or used an online psychologist chat to find out just how truly “messed u

When I was a little girl I would always stand with my toes pointed in. This was a constant source of frustration to my mother, myself, and my gymnastic teacher. I cannot tell you how many times I heard the words snapped at me, “Don’t stand with your toes in”. After which, I would correct my positioning... only to find myself right back that way after only a minute or two. I think on that often, and it makes me want to cry. I know my mother was trying to do right by me, fix my

It's time we stopped focusing on beauty as perfection, as idolization. Beauty has become a skewed, manipulated, and ever-changing trend rather than a sense of empowerment, health, and functionality. And I hate it. Thick calves used to be considered highly attractive because it indicated a certain level of wealth that could supply greater quantities of food. Wide hips have often been considered sexy because they suggest a woman can bear children more easily. Attractiveness e

Be honest, the last time you cried yourself to sleep - wishing someone would come rescue you, wishing it could all just be over - wasn’t the first time. It probably wasn’t the second, third, or fourth time you had those desperate, frantic, dark thoughts either. Which is why I say that in those lowest, weakest, most heartbreaking moments, you are actually at your strongest. Hear me out. You haven’t been rescued. No knight in shining armor has come and slayed a dragon for

Realizing that my characters are embodiments of different symptoms of depression blew my mind and yet made absolute perfect sense. After thinking on it, it also made perfect sense why I’d had a flood of emails and reviews saying how much readers loved the books and identified with the message... but also a lot saying how they didn’t understand what was happening and didn’t care for my writing. Of course though! A matter of perspective changes everything! It changes my whole s