Delighted to say I have two new essays up this week—one at Lit Hub and one at Past Ten. Each tells the story of an uncanny coincidence. What a thrill to write for both of these publications! Lit Hub because jeez, it’s Lit Hub, that absolute behemoth of literary news/essays/criticism. Past Ten because it’s a …
Hello, traveler! If you’re reading this, perhaps you found one of these. ➡️ My name is June and I’m a writer from Long Island. My first novel, Jobs for Girls with Artistic Flair, will be in bookstores on June 21. (Though you can pre-order it now, if you like setting yourself up for fun surprises …
I was sitting in the back row of ninth-grade math class and passing notes with my friend Rob, who liked Pearl Jam as much as I did. Rob and I were not exactly troublemakers but we were also definitely not Cool Kids and school was just so stupid and we were sort of mischievous. So …
If I’ve been posting seldomly, it’s because I’ve been living muchly. Expect some posts soon with juicy details on the following: Lady tattooers and bizarre coincidences. I’ve been overhauling my novel again. It’s about a young woman aspiring to become a tattoo artist in the mid-1980s, when there were few women in the field. Recently …
Further thoughts on the territory of hunger and ache. (For part 1, see “Empty Space”: the sometimes-painful act of letting go, and being willing to sit with our hungers.) I didn’t plan to write any more on the subject, but then there was a confluence of events: A podcast. A performance. A pastoral pondering. So I guess …
Given the legions (10,000? 15,000?) who attend the annual AWP conference (Association of Writers & Writing Programs), it should feel like a faceless sea. So how is it that, for every hour I spend there, I run into somebody I know? I’m not even especially well connected. I’m a very wee creature in the AWP zoo. …
I was pretty mad at my husband this morning. Details not important. Level of anger important. I was at that stage where you get out the blankets for that spare bed in the basement. I was at the stage where I regarded every flattering social media post we’ve ever made about each other as the …