Selected Essays
“Portrait of the Novelist as a Middle-Aged Mom”
LitHub, June 2021
“When Your First Draft is Your Best Draft”
Writer’s Digest, June 2021
“On Being a Gender-Fluid Parent”
The Washington Post & The Independent, May 2021
“After A Parent’s Death, a Rush of Change”
The New York Times Modern Love essay, November 2013
“To Cèpe, With Love”
Salmagundi, 2011
“Artichoke Hearts”
Kenyon Review, 2011
“The Maggots in Your Mushrooms”
The New York Times, February 2009
“Home Is Where the Heart Aches”
The Missouri Review, 2007
“Mastering the Art of French Cooking”
Salmagundi, 2005
(Winner of a Pushcart Prize; Reprinted in Best American Essays 2005 and The Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction)
Selected Short Fiction
“The Three Christs of Moose Lake, MN”
Chicago Tribune, 2009
(Finalist, Nelson Algren Prize)
“Criticism”
Sonora Review, 2009
“Theory of Dramatic Action”
Another Chicago Magazine, 2001
(Winner of the Chicago Literary Award)