It’s no surprise that I love to write. But as my writing career progresses, it can be difficult to take in abundance: I’ve been getting more accolades, speaking and writing gigs, and other opportunities coming my way than ever before.
This spring and summer are yielding a lot of writing, but also some exceptional recognition. Since my last update post on April 15, I have been working on a dozen different Authorly Activities—and yes, I know that authorly is not a proper word, but I am very excited to discuss such activities here.
I gave a talk about autism, performing my song from my TEDx talk, at a public school in Chicago on April 16. It was so much fun, and I got a crapton (also not a proper word) of thank you cards from kids and teachers. It was one of the most fulfilling public appearances I’ve ever made.
I co-led an author event at the Wilmette Public Library, my hometown library, with my friend, author MV Perry. We discussed different issues with neurodivergence, autism, and mental health issues, and we had a thoughtful Q&A with a number of local residents.
At the Illinois Woman’s Press Association’s annual awards luncheon, I gave the keynote address, receiving the organization’s highest honor as Communicator of Achievement. I also chair their High School contest, so I presented awards for that contest and received others in the Professional Contest. It was a great day.
I was commissioned to write a personal essay on what queer country music means to me. More forthcoming!
I got a job interview for what would be my first full-time writer position at a certain college I attended. It would be in the Marketing department—more will be revealed!
I finally completed a draft of a personal essay on the music of Ella Fitzgerald! I am revising it for cohesiveness.
For PopMatters, I’m working on a feature article on ‘90s country with a top 25 favorites list (heavily revising this piece).
I’m traveling to St. Louis in June as a nominee for the National Federation of Press Women’s highest honor, the 2024 Communicator of Achievement.
From that conference, I will travel to Ohio for the Summer Research Institute at Bowling Green State University and its pop culture archives. This is for my project on twenty-first century ideas of freedom in music, literature, and history in the U.S.
I have been involved with Tellin’ Tales Theatre, which attempts to bridge the disabled and non-disabled worlds, for the last year, and I will once again be part of their Young Adult Writers (YAW) workshop, writing a story on the theme, “Unvarnished Truth.” We will be performing our stories in Chicago at the restaurant Mrs. Murphy’s and Sons on July 21 at 2PM!
I’m reading several books this summer for an upcoming piece for PopMatters on books blending music and personal narrative (updating the work I did for this article).
And lastly, at work I will be assisting college students as what’s called an embedded tutor in an ESL class and working with students transitioning to college as a tutor in a separate program.
Phew! Busy summer—just the way I like it.