On a Sunday morning, 2013 I opened the newspaper and read a review of Dani Shapiro’s nothing short of brilliant book, Still Writing. A frustrated and inexperienced writer most of my life, I quickly ordered it and took it along on an April writing retreat. As the sun rose and set on a couple of glorious days of quiet, I finished the book. In fact, I could not put it down. Every page spoke to me, to my loves, my frustrations, my wounds.

When I got home, I quickly ordered everything else she had ever written and googled her to learn about the person who had written this beautiful book. We all have a literary hero or two. In the Spring of 2014, Dani Shapiro joined Lillian Hellman as mine.

In 2019 Dani Shaprio’s memoir Inheritance became an instant NYTimes bestseller. In the wake of that success, she partnered with iHeart Media and together they launched the Family Secrets Podcast. A few weeks ago, Family Secrets received a Webby nomination. Now, on May 20th, another new episode of Dani Shapiro’s Family Secrets Podcast will drop with me as her guest. Can you stand it? We’ll be discussing my new book, The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer, co-written with my dear friend and award-winning journalist, Jennifer Jordan. The story centers around my childhood summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts. And if that’s not a full circle moment, I don’t know what is!

Remember this: Dreams do come true. And don’t forget to download and listen to all five seasons of Family Secrets.