I didn’t realize it until I was driving home — I was sixteen years old. I had my own car, a little boxy 1985 four-door I’d bought from a cousin for $250. It had a CD player installed in the dash, a pack of cigarettes tucked into the sun visor, and a checkbook in the glove box. I had a…

My grandfather died twenty-five years ago this month. I was fourteen. He’d lived right up the street all my life. His sly grin and strong arms were as much a part of my life as my canvas shoes and skinned knees. …

The internet is no place for self-indulgent journaling — I’ve been waiting for this all day. I did the breakfast thing, the making-the-kids-lunch thing. My coffee has long been drained. I’ve been playing with my toddler for hours. I even went for a walk. But now, for two short hours, the house is quiet, and it’s my time. …

For many Massachusetts students, education during the pandemic is a lose-lose situation — My kids are a mess, and I know I’m not the only one. Like many children across the state, they spent all of last year engaging in the remote learning provided by our school district. They were in classes all day, taught by educators, and they even received their special…

Ideas are everywhere, if you start with curiosity — I’m on a walk, pushing my son ahead of me in the stroller. At barely a year old, he doesn’t say much, and I don’t feel guilty about not talking to him. …

How to infuse emotional resonance into your writing — Writing is so easy. You just put words on a page, and as long as they sound nice next to each other, you’re doing great. If it sounds good and makes sense to the reader, do you really need to do anything more? Yes. Yes, you do. There is a big difference between intelligible writing and good writing. I come from…

This single number is an incomplete portrayal of health — Hands up if you want to be healthier than you are today. Hey, what do you know? Me, too! It would seem we are in good company, and what better time to commit to a healthier lifestyle than after we’ve just spent a month (or 21 of them) baking, cooking…

Feminist dystopia is a narrow genre filled with some beautiful stories featuring strong women — Back in early 2019, I found myself in an interesting situation. I had finished writing a novel, and I was so proud of myself. But, I knew the book was terrible (as all first drafts are), and I needed help making it into something readers would want to read. I…

Open the world of the story to your reader at just the right time — Writing is a huge and complex beast One of my writing instructors once told me the trouble with writing, unlike visual art, is that you can’t take a glance at the finished product. You can look at all the details independently. You can get a sense of what’s happening at the word, sentence, or paragraph level. You…