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July 9, 2025
If you know me, you know I love independent bookstores. I adore them, to the extent that I find it almost physically impossible to walk or drive by one without stopping in. The door to a bookstore is like a magic portal, transporting me from anywhere in the world into a space where free thought is encouraged, nerdiness is valued, and some of the best friends I’ve ever had are shelved according to their author’s last name.
Last week, I was on the west coast of the US for a family vacation, and I decided to make a detour to Portland, OR to visit the largest independent bookstore on planet earth, Powell’s City of Books. My eldest daughter, who somehow is not a reader, was rather confused as to why I insisted on traveling to a whole new city “just to go to a bookstore”, but even she was amazed at the sheer size of the place and everything that it had to offer. Powell’s has multiple floors and takes up an entire city block. They offer new and used books, side by side, organized into nine differently colored rooms. There’s a coffee shop right in the middle of the store offering delectable cold brew as only a coffee shop in Portland can. There’s bibliophile merch, books sorted into a myriad of categories, and even shopping carts by the door to hold all of your intended purchases. Any bookstore that accurately foresees that I’ll need a cart for all my books is ok by me! I won’t reveal exactly how much I spent, but it’s safe to assume that I utilized the cart to the fullest extent possible.
There’s just something about indie bookstores that massive online retailers who shall remain nameless cannot possibly replicate. Unlike the web giants, “Booksellers are people – they are consummate bibliophiles who take joy in matching reader to writer.” (Rosenberg) They’re personal, they’re inspiring, and they “directly serve the community and the individual.” (Rosenberg) Independent bookstores are the lifeblood of the bookish community. I’d like to know - what’s your favorite indie bookstore and why? Give me a list of fun new places to visit.
Work Cited
Rosenberg, Julie. “Why Independent Bookstores Matter Now More Than Ever.” Writer's Digest, 1 March 2018, https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/why-independent-bookstores-matter-now-more-than-ever. Accessed 9 July 2025.
October 1, 2024
My Thoughts on the Whole Nanowrimo/AI Controversy….not that anyone asked.
What are my thoughts? Well, as a busy human/writer/teacher/mother just trying to get through the day and maybe force myself to put some words on the page to appease the people who live in my head, I’m annoyed. Why’d you have to go and ruin a good thing? Nanowrimo works for me. I like the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month. I like the community. I like the word sprints and the pep talks and even the little “ding” that my laptop makes when I meet my word count goal for the day.
What do I not like? AI.
I’m an English teacher by day, and a writer by every-other-waking-second. My life revolves around words - reading them, writing them, analyzing them, and encouraging others to do the same. I make my living from the written word. It feeds my mind and my soul, and it literally feeds my family. The idea of “literature” (and I use quotes intentionally b/c what I am about to describe is not literature) created by artificial intelligence is absurd. Artistic Expression, be it written, painted, sculpted, danced, sung, etc, is the heart and soul of humanity. Humans feel, and we use that feeling (and a lot of tenacity) to create art. To attempt the creation of art without human feeling is to discount the point of art. AI is easy. It’s clean. It’s soul-less. It’s empty, the artistic equivalent of cotton candy. Creating art with AI may feel ok in the moment, but it’s sure to leave one feeling empty and unsatisfied. AI is easy. It’s a cop out. It’s comfortable. But as John the Savage says in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, “...I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
I want literature and I want art.
I want to create.
And therefore, although I will be writing 50,000 words this November, and I will be actively preparing during this “Preptober”, I will not be using the NaNoWriMo website or materials. I will not support the use of AI in exchange for real, human writing.
December 8, 2021
December 8, 2021
Regardless of which holiday you celebrate - Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, the Winter Solstice, all of the above, or simply a secular celebration of joy– there’s something magical about this time of year. Taunton, Massachusetts, my hometown and the setting for Iron & Fire, is often known as “The Christmas City.” Every year since 1914, the lights on the Green have reminded us of everything we have to be thankful for. Attending the annual Lights On ceremony in December is one of the highlights of my year, and now I love bringing my own children to see the lights and decorations, and to stroll down Main St. with a hot cocoa while singing Christmas carols.
But did you know that Christma used to be illegal in New England?
Puritan Minister Cotton Mather preached that Christmas celebrations were an abomination, and that Christmas was placed in December not because, “Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian.” He sounds like a fun guy, right? Gov. William Bradford (yep, that guy. The Pilgrim.) went so far as to take toys and instruments away from children celebrating the holiday in 1621 (Yee), and Massachusetts Bay colony outlawed Christmas altogether in 1659, declaring that anyone found “feasting” or celebrating in any other way would be subject to a fine of 5 shillings (Klein).
A fine? For spreading holiday cheer?
This is the New England in which Verity Parker found herself living during the Christmas season of 1675. Having spent the first seventeen Christmases of her life in London, where the season was celebrated with wine, wassail, and merrymaking since the Restoration, Verity finds Christmas in the new world dreary and bleak. She longs for her childhood, when she’d sit in her father’s bookshop, reading Christmas stories and drinking hot mulled wine.
Enjoy this holiday season!
Klein, Christopher. “When Massachusetts Banned Christmas - HISTORY.” History.com, 22 December 2015.
Yee, Erica. “The Plymouth Colony governor confiscated toys from Pilgrims on Christmas Day.” Boston.com, 25 December 2017.
November 23, 2021
November 23, 2021
Something to think about when you sit down to dinner with your families tomorrow :
Did you know that just 54 years after the first Thanksgiving, tensions between the colonists and the native Americans reached a crescendo, resulting in Metacom's Rebellion, or as it was known to the English, King Philip's War? The first shots were fired in what is now Swansea, Massachusetts, and between June 1675 and August 1676, 2,500 English and over 5,000 Wampanoag, Nipmuc, Pocumtuck, and Narragansett were killed. It remains the bloodiest war per capita in American history, and it took place in my backyard. The Pilgrims have gone down in history as people who fought for Religious freedom, but we can't forget that they also fought to repress the beliefs of others.
You can read more about King Philip's War and the 17th Century New England in Iron& Fire, coming soon in 2022.
#Ironandfirenovel #historicalfiction #newenglandliterature #comingsoon #kingphilipswar #taunton #swansea #anawanrock
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