a woman of her words
Every Tuesday on my Stories That Sparkle Substack, I write narrative nonfiction about starting over, often tying in with what’s happening on the podcast, and publish occasional long-form memoir pieces. I’ve also completed a memoir, Beyond the Wall, and am currently seeking representation.
Beyond the wall
It is the night before our second mediation appointment, and the pandemic shutdown has just been announced. Fifteen days to slow the spread. The man I am divorcing is in my kitchen, formerly our kitchen, baking cod. With the mediation in limbo, I am more afraid of delaying the divorce than I am of catching the coronavirus. But now we are stuck, together, under the same roof for fifteen days. Fifteen days turns into five months.
Beyond the Wall, an 86,000 word memoir, is the story of a woman dismantling the walls she inherited from parents who tried to leave the Berlin Wall’s shadow behind and the walls she built to stay safe. Breaking the silence of domestic violence, reckoning with intergenerational trauma as the first American in a German immigrant family, and healing the bond between mothers and daughters, she dares to forgive, feel at home in her body, and say: “I am here. Here I am.”
Tuesday Tidings (on Substack)
A weekly post on Substack that brings you into my world—where I am, what I’m working on, and what my conversations with other women bring up in me.
Long-form memoir (on substack)
Pulled from the vault of my life, these longer pieces are works in progress, scenes from my memoir, Beyond the Wall, or deeper dives into where—and who—I have been as I continue to move into where I want to go next—in life, in myself, in the world.