Author: Lara Lillibridge

Interview with Terese Mailhot and GIVEAWAY for Heart Berries

Saturday, July 21, 2018
0 comment

I am so excited to welcome Terese Marie Mailhot to the blog today, and introduce her and her searingly beautiful memoir to the Deb community! About Heart Berries: Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman’s coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder…

Read More >>

If You Can Visualize It, It Can Be Yours—Or Maybe Not

Tuesday, July 17, 2018
0 comment

I held a story in my chest and this story breathed when I breathed, and it flowed through my veins and pulsed with my heartbeat. I couldn’t shut it off. Everything else I tried to write was colored by it. My story needed to be told, so I put it down on pages and it became a book, and then I didn’t have to carry it any longer. As I…

Read More >>

In Which Lara Lillibridge raves about RED: A CRAYON’S STORY

Saturday, July 14, 2018
2 comments

I am breaking with the interview format today because I am so completely nuts over RED by Michael Hall, a 40-page picture book about a blue crayon who is mistakenly given a red label at the factory. While it is a wonderful resource for trans and gender-queer kids and those who love them, I think it will resonate with anyone who has ever felt as if the world expects them to…

Read More >>

Easter Eggs and Hidden Mickeys—Small Clues for our Loved Ones

Tuesday, July 10, 2018
2 comments

Easter Eggs or Hidden Mickeys are little details or layers that are intended only for a specific audience in the know to find—or at least, that’s the definition I’m using. They can also be self-referential to other things in other books in a series, or can be intended for a broader audience to find. I think of them as secret smiles we leave for people. I don’t have a single…

Read More >>

Being Female is my Super Power

    When I decided to leap over the abyss of common sense and devote myself to writing, I came across the infamous “Write Like a Motherfucker” essay by Cheryl Strayed. So write, Elissa Bassist. Not like a girl. Not like a boy. Write like a motherfucker. —Cheryl Strayed I held onto Cheryl Strayed’s words all through college. When I needed help, I turned to my Facebook Binders group. I met…

Tuesday, July 3, 2018
1 comment
Read More >>

Interview with Book Publicist Andrea Kiliany Thatcher 

For Industry Insiders week, I wanted to introduce you to Andrea Kiliany Thatcher of Smith Publicity, whom I worked with in the months leading up to the release of my memoir,  Girlish: Growing Up in a Lesbian Home.   Andrea Kiliany Thatcher is a Marketing Manager and a Book Publicist at Smith Publicity. Andrea has a long relationship with the independent bookselling community having been a bookseller and social media manager for…

Tuesday, June 26, 2018
0 comment
Read More >>

Author Interview with Lisa Romeo + GIVEAWAY!

Saturday, June 23, 2018
2 comments

I first met Lisa at HippoCamp 2016 where I attended her incredibly useful session on writing about one topic across multiple pieces. That was my first writing conference ever, and I was so intimidated by everyone that I only spoke to something like five people, of which Lisa was one. We chit chatted in the waiting area to pitch agents and editors for our then-unpublished memoirs, and although I don’t…

Read More >>

Lara Lillibridge’s Thoughts on Perfect Summer Days

Tuesday, June 19, 2018
0 comment

  Summer—the most wonderful time of the year, in spite of Christmas carols stating otherwise. Swimming and sundresses and Birkenstocks and never being too cold. Baseball games with mom friends who have delightful puppies that I get to pet and play with and give back again. Taking the boys to the lake. Jumping off of rocks and skipping stones and the freezing bite of water against sunburned skin. Sitting outside…

Read More >>

Navigating Failure is Easier Than Navigating Success

Tuesday, June 12, 2018
0 comment

Trigger warning: depression, anxiety.   People who have experienced trauma may associate the excitement of success with the same physiological reactions as trauma. They avoid subjecting themselves to excitement-inducing circumstances, which causes them to be almost phobic about success.  Psychology Today  This week’s topic (navigating failure) isn’t hard or scary for me, because I’ve chosen failure for so much of my life. Navigating failure is historically pretty comfortable for me….

Read More >>

What Lara Lillibridge Got Out Of Being on the Debutante Ball

Tuesday, June 5, 2018
0 comment

Last month, the final Deb Class of 2018 book hit the shelves. It was Julie Clark’s debut novel, THE ONES WE CHOOSE. When I finally held Julie’s book in my hands for the first time, I cried. I didn’t cry the first time I saw my own book, but I sure cried over Julie’s book. My fellow Deb’s successes feel just as good as my own—perhaps better, because I don’t…

Read More >>