United States
I taught high school and college English for several centuries, but plotted my escape through most of it. I now teach online and write offline.
My stories, poems, essays and articles have been widely published. I write about what I find interesting or hopeful in articles and sometimes essays, but not so much in novels. Flux published two of my young adult novels, and I suppose they are both at least a bit hopeful... I am currently working on a new young adult and shopping a middle grade around. In between, I write essays and sometimes editors pay me for them.
In my first book length non-fiction, I am completing a series of essays exploring the theme of addiction and how we are pretty much clueless as to how to treat it. It's personal and sometimes excruciating to articulate, so it's been slow-going, but it's been going which is always a plus.
I live between Staten Island, and the Jersey shore with frequent stops in New Paltz (Meaning I travel between them, not that there is one specific house mid-way) I like the city and the beach and books. That sounds like there's only one, so I will edit in a long-winded way and tell you I mean not only my own cities, beaches, or books, but pretty much all of them.
The first catastrophe of my life forged me in ways that are still surprising, in ways that are not readily apparent until I think: Oh, yes, it's connected to that day in March. That's what calamity does: it stops life from staying the same, it takes you, as the human you are, and teaches you that...
I write a lot about addiction and the corresponding dysfunction it has created within my family. Most of these pieces are short and confined to situations involving only the immediate members. They are aware of what I am writing and why: I tell our story because addicted families thrive on secrecy and denial.
I, like many enthusiastic readers and all writers, am sensitive to language. Words have power. They convey meaning and nuance. They are all we have to connect our experiences in a common way. We live by written contracts, run our lives by speaking to one another and abide by spoken and written permissions.
Novels
Photo by Mārtiņš Zemlickis on Unsplash I write frequently about the fact that my son is an addict. I change his first name, we have different last names, live in different states, and I always ask if he's okay with me publishing pieces that feature or mention him.
Or Not. But I'll Probably Never Know... (I should say here that this piece has nothing directly to do with the title. I just wanted to write the word "clitoris" once in my writing career) Last week, I met Sylvia for coffee.
Newest Writing
"You must always, but always write what you know," my first creative writing professor reminded us. "It's the one rule that guarantees authenticity and must never be broken. Never." Dr. G could not be wrong about this. Not possible.
Grade 7 Up-As 15-year-old Magdalena tries to cope with her mother's suicide, reality and fantasy clash until she accepts the truth of what really happened. The beach was their favorite place, and they often swam and explored together. Now, the girl's companions are a family of fish that live in her imagination.
Elizah and her mother live on the edge of a cemetery. Most 14-year-olds would be sort of creeped out by that, but she is far more upset by her mother's sudden need to "be normal."
Articles
Counselors have told you not to check on him, how you are addicted to caretaking. Let his addiction take its course. Let him reach bottom. You don't tell the counselors you reach bottom every night, that you touch the bottom of that ocean. It's not what they mean, but it is still a bottom.
Kids don't get sick only on the weekends It's the morning of a major presentation, and your child greets you with a low fever and a runny nose. There is no way she will be able to go to day care today, and you have one hour and 10 minutes before you are expected at work.
President Barack Obama wants you to have access to quality child care
Most moms wonder what exactly goes on between their child and her caretaker when they are not watching-while they also readily admit to a certain degree of the ick factor in wondering this at all. We live in an age of surveillance, so the nanny cam answers that curious call.
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with a young man who suffers from addiction. He volunteered to talk about his experiences with depression and anxiety, and how they contributed to his substance abuse. For the sake of anonymity, he chose the name Tim. I found Tim to be remarkably open and candid.
There isn't a Solo Mom out there who hasn't wondered, at least once, if kids who stay home all day with a parent have an advantage over her child who attends day care.
The most important aspect of choosing a day-care provider is whether the provider is a good match for you and your child. Some families thrive with a large center, while others prefer an in-home setting with only a few children in the provider's care.
That is your way. The constant pulling in the middle of a windy storm. I remember against the blackened hospital windows the soft water droplets mingling the way the ice splintered against the solid window as you moved Was it in you then?
Anne Spollen introduced her short story, published today at RPD, with the following e-mail message:Hello,This is a piece from a collection of essays/fiction I am working on that are thematically connected. Thanks for the read ~ AnneIf her note was simple and unassuming, that's because her piece spoke for itself, and after reading it, I immediately knew I wanted to see more.
Short Stories
S H O R T S T O R Y FIELD b y a n n e s p o l l e n ~ n e w p a l t z , n e w y o r k IT IS October; everything burns orange.
Outside my window at the people below who have somehow, amazingly, managed to dress and get outside to walk on the street. How did they do that? Miracles, each one of them. I can't translate the refrigerator items to breakfast: eggs, cheese, here's oatmeal, avocadoes...
Essays
By Anne Spollen I am a recent refugee from the life I planned since I was twelve. For the last twenty years, I have been a mostly stay-at-home mom.
You swore you'd never . . . swap green beans for jelly beans, skip nap time, or use TV as your babysitter. Yeah, right. If you're like most moms, you're not the paragon of "sound" parenting advice you thought you'd be. In The Kid Turned Out Fine, you'll find you're not alone.
A powerful response to a mysterious disorder, this compilation features dozens of writers from all walks of life speaking candidly about their experiences with autism-a disease that affects more than a half million Americans under the age of 21 at every level of society.
Poetry