Welcome.
Thanks for visiting my blog, Dr. Sasslyn’s Thoughts.
A little about the name — when I was in Hamline’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, my cohort found out that I had a PhD. They encouraged me to embrace my Dr. They also saw me go from a shy, quiet, not talking person in the back row, to a strong individual with a lot of opinions. Thus, my nickname was born. Dr. Sasslyn.
I hope to post every two weeks or so with a combination of opinions about the world, writing thoughts, book observations and an on-going discussion of my favorite — verse novels and poetry. I hope you’ll come back and check it out!
Emmy in the Key of Code – Verse is the Only Way This Story Will Be Told
I think there’s something magical about a story told through poetry – and we are lucky to have some master poets contributing to this genre (Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander to name a few). I’m going to bet that Aimee Lucido will join those ranks. If...
read more
Emmy In the Key of Code
I remember the moment when Aimee Lucido told me she had an idea for a verse novel. “Something with coding, cause it’s like music and poetry, and a young girl.” I think that’s what she said. We were standing outside of our workshop during residency at the Hamline MFA...
read more
Writing White
I’m struggling with a writing issue. I’m deep into a revision of my verse novel. I wrote the initial draft quickly during NANOWRIMO – it was no where near 50K words, but folks, it’s poetry. As I dig through this first really big revision, I’m starting to see...
read more
The Start of What I Learned From When They See Us
I’m 45. Soon to be 46. When the Central Park jogger case happened, I was a junior in high school. I’m also white. And yes, that’s important to know. Here’s what I remembered: Wilding – scary thing happening with young men in Central Park. Young black men were accused....
read more
Upon Waking: 58 Voices from the Shadow of Abuse
I’m excited to announce the publication of an anthology – Upon Waking: 58 Voices from the Shadow of Abuse. One of those voices, is mine. Two of my poems are included – “The Child Knows No” and “In Which I Sue for Memory and Associated Damages.” I’m honored and proud...
read more
Making Defining
I told my therapist last week, as we admired the pretty picture of Defining on my phone, writing it was a little bit like vomiting up word nails. Now, as I read it, I understand those words spell out some bad shit. Sad shit. Some trauma. But do you know what I see?...
read moreWelcome.
Thanks for visiting my blog, DR. SASSLYN’S LOG/BLOG!
... read more
A little about the name — when I was in Hamline’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, my cohort found out that I had a PhD. They encouraged me to embrace my Dr. They also saw me go from a shy, quiet, not talking person in the back row, to a strong individual with a lot of opinions. Thus, my nickname was born. Dr. Sasslyn.
I hope to post every two weeks or so with a combination of opinions about the world, writing thoughts, book observations and an on-going discussion of my favorite — verse novels and poetry. I hope you’ll come back and check it out!
Latest Posts:
Emmy in the Key of Code – Verse is the Only Way This Story Will Be Told
I think there’s something magical about a story told through poetry – and we are lucky to have some master poets contributing to this genre (Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander to name a few). I’m going to bet that Aimee Lucido will join those ranks. If...
read more
Emmy In the Key of Code
I remember the moment when Aimee Lucido told me she had an idea for a verse novel. “Something with coding, cause it’s like music and poetry, and a young girl.” I think that’s what she said. We were standing outside of our workshop during residency at the Hamline MFA...
read more
Writing White
I’m struggling with a writing issue. I’m deep into a revision of my verse novel. I wrote the initial draft quickly during NANOWRIMO – it was no where near 50K words, but folks, it’s poetry. As I dig through this first really big revision, I’m starting to see...
read more
The Start of What I Learned From When They See Us
I’m 45. Soon to be 46. When the Central Park jogger case happened, I was a junior in high school. I’m also white. And yes, that’s important to know. Here’s what I remembered: Wilding – scary thing happening with young men in Central Park. Young black men were accused....
read more
Upon Waking: 58 Voices from the Shadow of Abuse
I’m excited to announce the publication of an anthology – Upon Waking: 58 Voices from the Shadow of Abuse. One of those voices, is mine. Two of my poems are included – “The Child Knows No” and “In Which I Sue for Memory and Associated Damages.” I’m honored and proud...
read more
Making Defining
I told my therapist last week, as we admired the pretty picture of Defining on my phone, writing it was a little bit like vomiting up word nails. Now, as I read it, I understand those words spell out some bad shit. Sad shit. Some trauma. But do you know what I see?...
read more