She thinks the hard part is over. She’s written the manuscript. She’s done the homework. She’s sent the queries, imploring someone—anyone?—to take her work on. She’s learned to handle rejection and the constant nagging that her email folder labeled Rejections is teetering on the brink of no storage. She’s chipped away at her self-confidence, and…

My nightmares usually involve something chaotic: fog that splinters into a million pieces, cylinders that appear at random intervals, imposing pine trees with branches that aim to mutilate, shots of color that seem to cover everything. I’m not sure where the dreams originate, and I don’t have them too often, but when I do, I…

A day ago, an acquaintance asked on social media how everyone was doing. I rarely spill much on social media, but I hadn’t seen this person in about eighteen years, and she was seriously asking how her people were doing. In addition, I figured it was time for another check-in. Back in April, at the…

Father’s Day. 2012. A trip to the grocery store. Me. The man behind me in line. He and I spoke for two minutes before I left the store, headed to my car, and drove away. I thought about that innocent conversation for the time it took to drive home. And then, before I could even…

Checking in almost midyear (well, spring, really) isn’t something I normally do. After all, we’re all busy, and talking about that busy is boring. So I won’t do it. But I made a promise to myself in January, before all the rigmarole of COVID-19, when I said that I was “taking hold of this new…

Dear Ms. Schultz, I have always noticed the color of people’s eyes. Maybe it’s because vision is important to me (I’ve worn glasses since I was five years old), or maybe it’s the artist in me (getting just the right colors together for a drawing or cake decorating is especially important). But the myriad pigments…