Stardust and Saltwater
The Body, Brain, and Books: Eleven Questions with Artist, Academic, Archivist, Activist Tamara MC, Ph.D.
Barbie’s Blue Leather Case
Twenty hours stretch between Tucson and Mazatlán, Mexico on a highway that never ends. Hour one, 6 AM: inside the 1969 baby blue VW van, metal heats and expands as the dawn breaks pink over the Catalina Mountains. Saguaros cast long shadows across Interstate 19. My mother spends hours preparing the back for our journey—layering serapes, […]
Submission Sunday: The Rejection Interview with Tamara MC
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! SS: Thanks so much for agreeing to this interview, Tamara! Would you say that you fear rejection? Why or why not? TMC: I’ve never been terribly afraid of rejection. Anything that didn’t come into my life wasn’t meant to. Life would be overwhelming if everything was a yes, […]
On Nonfiction Book Proposals, Residencies, and Her Essay Collection ‘The Loneliness Files’
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Top 5 Most Read of 2023 Athena Dixon by Dr. Tamara MC When I read the title of Athena Dixon’s latest book, The Loneliness Files (Tin House, 2023), I knew I had to interview her. As a single empty-nester mama, granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, daughter to parents who were only […]
Design Your Life Around Writing: An Interview with Guinevere Turner
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Guinevere Turner Tamara MC interviews Guinevere Turner Turner is a screenwriter (American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page), film director, actress, and now author of a debut memoir, When the World Didn’t End. Turner spent the first eleven years of her life (1968-1979) in n urban hippie commune with approximately […]
WRITING LIFE: 9 Steps to Reach Your Dream Pubs by Tamara MC
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Two years ago, I published my first essay. Since then, I’ve published nearly 30. If I can do it, so can you. There is no get-rich-quick formula. But, if I could sum up the process, it would be this: Work you’re a$$ off. (I am not glorifying […]
Why I Play Pickleball: On Calming the Writing Monster
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! I’ve ridden my bike 12.2 miles daily for the past three years. The night before, I make sure my Airpods are charged, and I head out in the afternoon during the warmest temps of the day. I live in Arizona, where we had 85-degree weather this past […]
INTERVIEW: Adiba Nelson, Author of Ain’t That a Mother
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Adiba Nelson is the author of Ain’t that a Mother (Blackstone, May 2022) a hilarious and heartbreaking memoir about motherhood, palsy, and all the deets in-between. Adiba’s voice is unabashed, unflinchingly honest, and disrupts any stereotypes you may have about motherhood. Adiba is from my hometown Tucson, […]