Around the dawn of our first daughter, a friend shared a brilliantly shining jewel of wisdom with me, a concept that has been a loving lifeline and a joy ever since: the Corner of Sanity. To explain, let me take you back to a hot Phoenix afternoon in 2012. The details of the afternoon are…
Once there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own humor, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness…
There’s something about seeing a favorite character wrestle with the same sin as I do, or a villain who is redeemed in the end—it reminds me that authors can still use broken things. Take Loki, the Norse god of mischief, in the first Avengers movie. He appears seemingly out of nowhere with a weird, horned…
Since going back to work full time, I’ve learned even more the importance of living seasonally. It’s ok—I’m not about to go all basic white girl and start talking about Pumpkin Spice Lattes In The Fall. What I mean is a little more along the lines of Ecclesiastes 3:5- “a time to scatter stones and…
One brisk morning in fall, when the leaves fell from the trees and the wind rattled the windows, my daughter woke with a persistent cough and fever. The kind that makes you pause your list of to-do’s and just be. I soon filled the bathtub and sat beside it, reading her story after story. Because…
On a warm Saturday afternoon, our ten-year old neighbor from Italy stopped by. He’s lived in our community for several years, and I often enjoy chatting with him. He and the rest of the neighborhood gang were taking a break from playing soccer to have an impromptu picnic. One kid brought strawberries, another grapes. My…
I stepped out my door yesterday evening to find a sky of the gentlest, most kindly gray imaginable, every edge and angle softened by a pale, pearled light. Come sunset though, that mild sky had leapt up into a wildly riotous shout of color, the sharp black outlines of the pines at the end of…
Whenever people ask what I’ll do with an English degree, I have a ready answer: “I have no idea.” Unlike engineering or nursing students, an English major’s career path treads in ambiguity. I became an English major not because I had a specific career in mind, but because I wanted to sharpen my skills as…
Whenever we’ve looked for a new house, a big yard for my children always remains on my list of “non-negotiables.” Both my husband and I grew up with not only large yards but access to the forest without any houses in sight the moment we stepped out of the back door. This gave both of…
When we were training for foster care, we were asked to list our five most sustaining relationships, comforts, or interests. Then the trainer called out numbers, and we had to cross off things. I had to cross off my husband, my home, my books. The trainer called out another number. I crossed off my church…
Note: this article first appeared at The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/writer-words-offerings/ Last Thanksgiving, the high school writers’ workshop I teach concluded the semester with “cookies and Q&A.” Students put aside their writing assignments, and instead of unpacking excerpts from the Puritans, we munched snickerdoodles and talked about the more granular details of the writerly life. A talented group…
Imagine a pitch black sound stage. Cue a single spotlight. Enter Walt Disney. He speaks. It is not his own voice, but that of a wicked queen, a magic mirror, and a fair, but forlorn maiden. He acts out an entire story of betrayal, jealousy, friendship, and love. …
