journalism .. reviews .. poetry .. fiction .. design .. publishing .. trivia

My first great writing accomplishment was in the third grade, when I wrote a novel on purple notebook paper and turned it in for extra credit. Since then, I attended Stanford University and the University of Michigan, where I received an MFA in Creative Writing and won the Hopwood Award for short fiction. I wrote my second novel, which I also turned in for extra credit.

Thus far my journalism has been an outgrowth of the other job that takes most of my time: Mommy. I write monthly for Growing Up in Santa Cruz. I have a blog, Avant Parenting, on Santa Cruz Parent. I write for The Examiner (Santa Cruz Parenting and Gifted Children). To get notices about my articles and to give me input for future articles, fan my parenting page on Facebook:

If you don't use Facebook, visit Suki's Parenting and Education List to sign up for infrequent e-mails.

You can contact me directly at (s...@sukiwessling.cm).

I have written a number of reviews of poetry books. Visit Chatoyant's Review page for links. Feel free to send me a book, but no promise that I'll review it. More currently, I am a devourer of child psychology (and pop psychology) and parenting books. You can see some of my reviews at EduSource.

I was inspired to try writing verse by poets Bruce Weigl and Penny Cagan. Read some of my poetry. You can also read Red Bicycle, which was published by The Literary Review. I remember in grad school I told Derek Walcott that I couldn't write poetry, because I always tried to insert a plot. He suggested I take it up.

My poetry has been published in literary journals such as Pacific Review, Drumvoices Review, Paterson Literary Review, The Monterey Poetry Review, and Confluence. Poems have been anthologized in The Anthology of Monterey Bay Poets, 2004 and The Art of Bicycling (Breakaway Books, 2005).

Publications include The Literary Journal, Iowa Woman, the Carolina Quarterly, Long Shot, Kiosk, and the Emrys Journal. Stories have been anthologized in A Ghost at Heart's Edge, Getting By: Stories of Working Lives, and Wreckage of Reason: Anthology of XXperimental Prose by Women Writers (Spuyten Duyvil). First online publication was in XConnect, a short story called It Would Never Happen in America. You can also read "Disneyland," a story published by Princeton Arts Review (it's actually a chapter from an unpublished novel). And here's a nice review of Wreckage of Reason. I don't always write in an "experimental" vein, but it was nice to find a home for one of my weirder stories.

My first novel, The Story of my Body, written when I was in my twenties, is for sale at Scribd.com.

Due to my status as Mommy, much of my work these days is for schools and mom-owned businesses. Take a look at Linscott Charter School and The Educational Resource Center. Also some web and print design for Ariose Singers and lots of ridiculous gifts for children. I wrote, photographed, and designed a children's book about redwood forests, which is doing the rounds of publishers right now.

My publishing company, Chatoyant, was formed in 1997 and produced short-run books of poetry. I'm not doing any publishing at the moment due to the abovementioned status of Mommy. But I always plan to start up again, every day. I was a founding member of Poetry Santa Cruz, an organization formed to bring poets and poetry events to Santa Cruz County (California) and beyond.

What's with the name? I admit to a dual personality. When I was born my parents named me Susana. My paternal grandfather was living in Japan at the time, and when they called to tell him, he said that they should call me Suki. So they did. And until I was a teenager, it was fine. Then, due to what seemed to my tender teenage ego as constant humiliation (one time by a math teacher in front of the whole class), I went home and announced that I would henceforth be called "Sue," a plain, short name that everyone can spell. When I arrived at college, the name "Susana" was on my dormroom door, and that sounded so terribly grown up! College included various other nicknames, but I had a hankering to go back to Suki. So call me what you wish, but don't call me Susan, Suzanne, or Suzuki.

Who's that wessling.com guy? Brother Tony, who took the first photo above.

Monster who? Brother-in-law Bryan's Monster Glassworks is worth checking out.

Husband Herb resides at newscenter.com, and he took the second picture.

Omigod! My dad's on the web, too!

Buy my mom's book!!

Publishing friend Kate Hitt.

Homeschooling friend Heddi's business. (Non-homeschoolers and teachers also welcome!)

Find links to other Examiners I like as well as Santa Cruz area parenting resources on my Santa Cruz Parenting Examiner page. Find links to gifted parenting and education resources on my Gifted Children Examiner page.

Find links to Santa Cruz area education-related businesses as well as other topics of current interest on my Avant Parenting blog hosted by SantaCruzParent.com.