Nikki Loftin

I just got back from NYC, from attending the wonderful Backspace conference, meeting my (darling, smart, funny, ambitious) agent, Suzie Townsend, and painting the town my own particular shade of red. (It’s more a fuchsia, really.) The whole experience was so fairy-tale-ish, I couldn’t believe it was me living my life there. It was like [...]

Last night, my Grandma fell and broke her ribs. Well, only two of them, but that’s enough when you’re 89. This is the Grandma I keep writing picture books and essays about (that’s her with her stapler in this month’s Skirt! essay). We’re beyond close. She taught me to bake cookies, to hang laundry, to [...]

As Gertrude Stein said, “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anybody.” So I wanted to take a quick moment to thank all my friends, family, and strangers from the Blogosphere for sending your lovely comments about my essays. THANK YOU!
Here’s a little payback for my writer friends: I discovered a writer blog by an Austin [...]

Okay, I know. Two posts in one day? Excessive.
But I had two pieces of good news today! First, I sold another puppet play to another anthology, this time to a holiday-themed book. It will be out in early 2010. Great, right? But then….
I had a short story accepted by Boy’s Life magazine! This is a [...]

Ten years ago today, I ended the longest day of my life — 23 grueling hours of unmedicated back labor — with a plea for an epidural (which made both my mother and husband burst into tears of gratitude for ending my own suffering and theirs) and a few hours later, the birth of my [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of religion in genre fiction, and more specifically its role in the fiction I write.
I spent most of the last ten years working in churches. I went in a 3/4 time Christian (don’t ask), and came out a 100% God lover who drags her kids to church [...]

My mom and I still go shopping together. I know many of you will think that’s sad, but let me tell you one thing: it’s hard to find a shopping buddy who will honestly tell you when you’re offending the Gods of Fashion. Think about it. Do you think your husband will answer the question [...]

The dragonflies are migrating today! Right past my upstairs windows, thousands and thousands of them. Gorgeous. I wonder where they’re going. Mexico? Central America? Somewhere (gasp!) even warmer than here?Does anyone know?
I finished a new essay that’s close to ready to send out… and I have a darling little girl coming over to play with [...]

Ouch! Ouchouchouch! I finally discovered something more painful than a last-minute rejection from an editor: spraining/breaking my big toe.
Even worse? Damaging it right before I was supposed to put on the most divine four-inch heels ever, and dance the night away at my high school reunion.
Last night, I met up with hundreds of my old [...]

Yeah, I know. There are FAR worse things I could fight with my nine-year-old over. But the recent stack of books we checked out from the library had some extremely hot properties in it! Things got a bit ugly. Is it wrong to make your son go to bed early so you can sneak in [...]