Today I have the great pleasure to introduce Matthew R Merrick. I met Matthew on Twitter through a mutual friend and was quickly delighted by his humor and energy. We struck up conversations ranging from the ugliness of grammar Nazis to the best father/daughter dates. His two little girls are very lucky to have a good dad. Matthew is a writer full of life and passion…
Today I introduce you to one of my lifelong friends. I knew Hannah ever since she was born. I opened her first birthday presents for her (I was two years old at the time, and thought myself infinitely more capable) and we have stayed friends through high school, college, marriage, medical school... Name it, and we've probably dealt with it over the phone! Only our first…
It's my pleasure today to introduce you to my good friend Scott. Scott and I originally met at a meeting to discuss the creative future of an arts and news journal that our church was publishing at the time. The journal disappeared, but Scott and I stayed in touch, exchanging stories after we'd discovered we were both aspiring fiction writers. Scott was always generous with praise…
I'm pleased to introduce you today to Jesse James. Jesse and I met on Twitter through our mutual publisher, Booktrope, and I believe the first conversation we launched into was about the TV show LOST (you can imagine how crazy conversations like that quickly become), and then later I recall him admitting, also over Twitter he needed Karo syrup to make more fake blood. Needless to…
I'm honored to introduce you today to Karen. Karen and I met through a writers' group where, once a week, we write for half an hour, then swallow our pride and read out loud whatever we've just scratched out onto the paper to the three people sitting nearest us. It takes courage, and Karen has been very encouraging to me in my work. She also introduced…
I'm honored to present to you the person and work of the talented and lovely Hilary Hayes. Hilary and I met through a writing group that I started in my living room. We write together on a frequent basis and I have found so much encouragement through this women. She's kept me pressing onward even when I'd stopping believing I could push anymore. If you'd like…
This post comes from someone very special to me. Adriel has known me since I was born. She was the older sister I never had. Our mothers were sisters who lived in the same city, so Adriel and I, the cousins, grew up with a very tight relationship. I cried with despair when she left for college and I wailed in the bathroom after her wedding…
This post launches my brand spankin' new guest blog series Because I Knew You in which I invite people from all walks of life to tell us about someone who has changed them permanently, how they've been changed, and what they would tell this person now. I begin this project with a post on a very special person who changed my own life. Following this post, each Thursday you will…