Hello hi and welcome everyone! Thanks for wandering over to my little corner of the world. Come in, stay awhile, make yourself cozy. Let’s jump right in.
So, why The Chaotic Reader? I align towards the Neutral Good side of things on most days, but I have an impish streak that once activated, cannot be suppressed.
I will encourage and enable you to buy The Thing™️. Or eat the dessert. Or book that plane ticket. I have been known to use ‘Money is fake’ as an excuse to do anything. My favorite gif is the Elmo on Fire one1.
I’ve considered showing up to the wedding of the only other woman on the planet who shares my name, because how chaotic would that be?2
I’m also in the process of restructuring to my life to the point that I’m being constantly asked what state I’m in.3
Final, irrefutable proof of my chaotic existence: my hair. There’s nothing more chaotic than whatever is going on with my curls.4
The name truly comes from the fact that I am a chaotic reader. My reading covers any and everything, any and all topics, any and all formats.
I read physical books, ebooks, and have been known to listen to an audiobook on long drives. I read newspapers, think pieces, Substacks, email newsletters, comments, and everything in between. Though I identify as an SFF writer, I read fiction, non-fiction, history, memoir, witchy stuff, political treatises, philosophy, romance novels, essay collections, short story collections, thrillers, gender studies, poetry and I’m sure there’s at least 18 other genres that I’m forgetting. And that’s not even counting the books I reach in French.
According to my Storygraph, I have read 63 books so far this year across 34 genres. I can’t stick to one thing if I tried. So if I cannot have one brand, I will have them all.
Back to my original point. What can you expect from this weird little corner of the internet? At least one weekly update on my chaotic literary musings. It could be about writing, teaching, reading, or all three.
I will spare you the link roundups because, honestly, I am too tired to figure out what’s going on with the Internet. I will, however, give you book recommendations.
I’m a writer with a background in French, Political Science, History, Technology and a smattering of numbers.5 I worked in a lab at UPenn Vet the summer between high school and college. I literally cannot contain my interests, so why should my TBR be any different?
If this post is any indication, there will be jokes, memes, analysis, footnotes6 and whatever I’m thinking of at the given moment. I’ll also keep you updated on my real world teaching schedule, if you’re interested in that.7
Here are my upcoming teaching offerings: I will be teaching a weekend intensive with Write or Die at the end of September. I’ll be with the Circle of Scholars program at Salve Regina University in October, and I will be back with the Community Libraries of Providence to teach a Memoir class in November. Link for this last one coming soon.
That about covers it. Thanks for being here, and I hope you’ll enjoy the ride.
This one, if there’s any doubt.
I’m not going to do that. I am, however, going to extrapolate that idea to the nth degree and turn it into a story.
Rhode Island, currently. But who knows for how long.
Does this hair look like it answers to anyone, let alone me? I thought so.
I wanted to be a mathematician once upon a time.
I really like footnotes.
If you’re one of my students, yay and thank you!