I hope you fall in love with the hidden parts of yourself. The parts you deem unworthy of love. I hope you become less fearful of letting them rise to the surface. They have suffocated long enough beneath your mask.

Ahhhh! After three years (pushing four) you all are still reading Spirit Lake! As I sit here signing and preparing to ship out more books, I am filled to the brim with gratitude. I am so incredibly thankful for all of your support and words of encouragement. As writers, we put our hearts on the inked line and hope for the best. It’s not always easy or rewarding but you guys have taken tremendous care of mine.

Earlier this month, I had the absolute pleasure (and I don’t type that word lightly) of meeting Zadie Smith at an event at Arizona State University. Zadie Smith, who is a novelist (best selling author), essayist, short story writer, and a professor at New York University is also a writer whose work I’ve never had the pleasure of reading (I’m ashamed to even admit that).

If anyone were to ask me about my childhood, I’d tell them that is was like no other, the best there ever was. Reminiscent of 80s and 90s childhood movies. The ones that made you feel good, when kids were just being kids, looking for adventure, running into a challenge here and there but always coming out victorious. The Goonies, The Sandlot, etc. What kid didn’t want that life? But it wasn’t always fun and adventure. Sometimes it resembled a scene from a different kind of movie…a horror movie.

WARNING: Spoilers. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading now because I don’t plan on withholding information. But can there really be spoilers when a show is based on real-life events? My daughter always gripes whenever I allow the trailer to play for episodes we haven’t seen yet because she doesn’t want to see spoilers. I just look at her and say, “You do know this has already happened right? It’s history…literally, but, if you’re anything like my daughter, and you plan on watching the show, this isn’t the post for you. Go watch season 1 and come back. I’ll still be here.

We’re in our last week of 2020 and I know that most of you are ready to bid this year goodbye and good riddance. It’s the ongoing theme; 2020 was the year from hell. I get it, it was tough, but what if throughout it all, something glorious was happening?

Throwback to Halloween when I recreated Ms. Angelou’s iconic photo. I had so much fun with this and to top it off, my 8 yr old was the photographer! Round of applause for my little man.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed reading. Library time was my favorite at school. Even when my teachers would have story time, I was eager to listen to them read whatever book they had chosen, especially my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Martin. She stuttered but that didn’t stop her from being animated and bringing all the characters to life with her dramatic voice changes. To this day, I have yet to encounter a better storyteller. Well done, Mrs. Martin! (Wherever you are)

Tis the season to…barely decorate and get just enough of it done so your children won’t have a conniption because you didn’t put enough thought into the Christmas decorations this year. Look, I barely got the tree out of the garage, I was so uninterested, which is highly unlike me. I’m usually the mom who has the entire house decorated within the first week of November. It goes without saying that this has been a trying year and frankly, I’m tired of talking about it. We all get it. Let’s just be grateful for what we were able to accomplish.

Anyway, here’s Christmas in the Denga household...