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Rise

Rise

At the sound of my alarm, I open my eyes to a darkened hotel room. I stand to turn off the harpsichord chimes and stretch my arms above my head. It’s 4:30am and I have a flight to catch back home, a place where the suburbs of Milwaukee are a stark contrast to the New...

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Ignoring the Cold

Ignoring the Cold

“We should do a playdate!” The cheerful red-headed woman said brightly, cornering me at pre-school pick up. “My daughter just loves your daughter Primrose.” I knew what she said was true because everyone loved my daughter Primrose, and Primrose loved...

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Deep In It

Deep In It

I’m struggling to think of what to say. I’ve made commitments–to myself, to my family, to my nonprofit, to my book. Have I just opened another can of worms that I don’t have the capacity to manage by starting a Substack?  The easy thing to do would be to skip this...

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Staying Extraordinary.

Staying Extraordinary.

Write first, then you can shower.  That was the incentive I gave myself just now, to sit down and type. I projected myself into the future post-shower version of me; clean and warm and ready to disappear into a book on this overcast and rainy day, soaking up and...

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Castle or cottage or something else all together?

Castle or cottage or something else all together?

So here we are. I’ve written a book. The next steps? Finish the book proposal→ Pitch it to literary agents→ Agent pitches it to publishers→ Edit, design, print, and market. The 105,000-word book is about my journey from the thought of running across America for my...

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Out of Sight

Out of Sight

You’d be surprised at how easy it is to hide within a charity. I know this because I founded one in 2009. I was rather young and audacious enough to believe I could make a difference, while being naive to the amount of work involved in fighting the illness that caused...

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