The Maternal is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood & Social Change

My contribution to this anthology is “How to Make a Democrat from Scratch,” and it’s about my misadventures in brainwashing my oldest daughter Olivia to be a Democrat. I am amazed and humbled by the company I am privileged to keep in this book: Nancy Pelosi, Benazir Bhutto, Marion Winik, Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott, Cindy Sheehan, and Anna Quindlen to name just a few.

Seal Press: May, 2008

Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding - and Managing - Romance on the Job

The book The New York Times called "a kind of 'The Rules' for the office." Written by me and Helaine Olen, a dear friend whose husband was one of Tom's groomsmen at our wedding. She too is a reformed business journalist and, like me, has been married for 16 years to a man she met at the office. Office Mate makes the argument that office relationships are a good thing. We say that the workplace is the village of the 21st century and romances that begin there follow old-fashioned courtship rituals. We also say that office romance is protective of women, since everyone at a company has been vetted by Human Resources in stark contrast to the Internet, where men on the prowl are incentivized to lie.

Check out the Office Mate web site for more information about the book and full llist of press clips.

Adams Media: November 2007.

A Cup of Comfort for Writers: Inspirational Stories That Celebrate the Literary Life

This is an anthology of essays by writers on writing; my contribution is "We Are Mortified By You," a second-person story about my disastrous first personal essay, which was published in the Mountain Gazette. I managed to get the name of the town I was writing about wrong, inviting a deluge of the most colorful hate mail I have ever had the misfortune to attract.

Adams Media: September, 2007

Time to Write: Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing Into Your Life

By Kelly Stone

I am quoted twice in this book about how to get your writing done. On page 9 in a section titled "The Need to Write Begins Early," it says: "It's one thing to say, 'I want to write,' it's another to say, 'I have to write,'" says Stephanie Losee, a freelance writer and co-author of Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding and Managing Romance on the Job. That statement sums up the concept of the Burning Desire to Write.

There's more. On page 87 in a section called "Reward Yourself for Writing," it says: Deciding that you're going to do what you have to do to become a writer is a critical element for balancing writing and sacrifice, says freelancer Stephanie Losee. "First, you have to decide that you have something to say and that you have to say it," she says. "The second part is you have to say that what one man can do, another can do. Somewhere out there is somebody who is doing twice as much as you are and who has three books to their credit. The third is just decide that you will not be denied, that you want to be a writer. Finally, in the end, decide that you're willing to do things that other people are not willing to do.

Adams Media: January, 2008