Author. Mom. Potter. Workout routine: coffee, cookies, read, repeat. THE BELOVED WILD (2018) & UNLEAVING (2019 @FeiwelFriends) Rep’d by Faye Bender @thebookgrp
Holley, NY
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First day of school, & poor Mocha keeps looking out the window, wondering, How can I keep the kids safe if they don’t stay close? (Or is that just what I’m thinking?) Before she left, my daughter told me, “Don’t cry. It’ll be okay.” Might have been telling herself this, too.💔
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Got my flu shot, got my Covid shot, made a hearty Tuscan soup yesterday, & pulled these blue & green soup bowls out of the kiln this morning. Feeling ready for fall. Happy Wednesday, friends.🩵🍁💚🍂
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Making big vases today. Here’s a new one in stormy blue & ivy. Happy Wednesday, friends.🌸💚🌸🩵🌸
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My grandma was admiring my pasta bowls when she visited earlier this fall, so I thought I’d make her a set for Christmas. Glazed them glossy green & Mediterranean blue. Hope she likes how they turned out. Happy Saturday, friends. #pottery 💚🩵🎄
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Unloaded the kiln yesterday & shipping many pots far & wide this morning. Besides filling orders, I used this May firing to try out my new ivy green glaze. Here it is paired with Mediterranean blue. Check out the overlap. Magical!🩵💚💙 #pottery
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Big bowl from my last firing. Loving the glossy green with the stormy blue. Happy Wednesday, friends.💚🩵
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Threw this pot and don’t know what to call it. Too wide for a vase, too narrow for a bowl. Maybe a utensil holder? It must hold something. All #pottery is made to hold.💚
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New vase in Mediterranean blue and green. And new potterly/writerly #blog post:
melissaostrom.com/blog/
Happy Tuesday, friends.💚💙
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Made some cups with lids for the slow sippers who worry about their coffee getting cold. I’m not one of them. Good morning, friends. #pottery 🤎☕️
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My younger sweetie turns 13 today. Here he is, exactly 7 years ago, looking so little. But he’s always had a big heart. As kind as they come.🧡
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Looking forward to my big sister and her family visiting us this weekend. Here we are as little tykes, hauling around our baby dolls and laughing. She still makes me laugh like that, the helpless, irrepressible, lasting sort of laughter. The best kind! Happy Friday, friends.🩵🩵
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Can’t remember what these yellow flowers are called, but they look so beautiful under this blue sky. Happy Sunday, friends. #FlowerReport 💛🩵
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It’s my birthday & my 12 yo said she’s going to brush my hair for 20 minutes, my 11 yo said he’d scratch my back, & my husband plans to pick up our supper from my favorite restaurant. Mocha, I’m sure, will spoil me with love, as always. A happy day!🌺❤️
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Celebrating my birthday today and enjoying the colorful fanfare of these dazzling daylilies. Happy #FlowerReport, friends!🌸
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Soup bowls in fog & stormy blue. The one in front must have sat in the kiln beside a pot that dripped glaze because there’s a splash of a surprise color in all that blue. A happy accident! Good morning, friends. #pottery🩵
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Mocha & I hope Twitter doesn’t implode. We’d miss you & your beautiful stories, poems, wit, & pics.
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New butter dish, glazed in fog & stormy blue.🤎💚🩵 Finishing up early in my studio this morning because my grandma’s visiting this weekend, & I have a lot of baking to do. Happy Friday, friends.🍏🍂🍁 #pottery
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My grandma’s visiting. Made her a French silk pie. Hope your weekend is sweet, friends. See you on Monday.🤎
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Mug & soup cup in stormy blue & glossy green. I’m liking these colors together. That wild overlap!🩵💚💙 #pottery
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Had to take Mocha to the vet yesterday, but she’s on an antibiotic now & earlier this morning was feeling good enough for a little walk. Giving her extra lovings today. Happy Friday, friends.🍁🐶🍂🤎
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I was writing earlier, and my paper turned pink. Looked up, and the wall was red. Turned, and this sky was pouring through the window. Good morning, friends.❤️
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Making big bowls in the studio today. Here’s one from my last firing. That leap of stormy blue!💙🩵 #pottery
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New soup bowls & sandwich plates in two shades of blue, stormy & chambray. The latter leans toward violet. Beautiful blues! Happy Friday, friends. #pottery
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Wee bowls in sea glass green & cream. Shades of spring! Happy Wednesday, friends.💚 #pottery
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Big bowls coming out of the kiln. This blue, olive, and teal one turned out neat. Happy Wednesday, friends.🩵💚💙 #pottery
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New serving bowl, glazed green & stormy blue. A waterfall of turquoise in that overlap. Happy Thursday, friends. #pottery 💙🩵💚
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Pulled some soup bowls from the kiln. Marbled blue and cream, veined with green. Nearly soup season, friends. Happy Tuesday. 🥣🍁 #pottery
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New lidded mugs, marbled blue & white, looking suitably wintry this snowy morning. Happy Tuesday, friends. ☕️❄️☕️ #pottery
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Seems like every year I get on a pottery kick—expresso cups! Tiny teapots! Yarn bowls!—and some years that kick is a color combination. Right now I’m loving the clear glaze on a white clay body, paired with stormy blue. Happy Sunday, friends!💙
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Big bowl in fog & stormy blue. The glazes swirled into some sort of creature. A sea monster, maybe. Good morning, friends. #pottery🩵
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Oh, my goodness, what an honor! Thank you for making my day with this lovely news, @LiteraryRuby and @april_bradley! I’m thrilled!😍
Congratulations & Best of Luck to our BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES nominees @patriciabidar, @RobinZlotnick, @d_marcusa, @melostrom, @AliceKaltman!
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Glistening berries, buttery biscuits, copious cream…
First strawberry shortcake of the season.❤️
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My younger sweetie turns twelve today. He asked for a lava lamp, an ice cream maker, and a book for his birthday. My kind of person!❤️
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Making tiny bowls & baby vases in the studio today. Lots of little sweetnesses. Here’s a wee stormy blue & cream one from my last firing. Happy Saturday, friends.💙 #pottery
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At my front door stood Winter, their arms laden with snow.❄️❄️❄️
Good morning, friends. Stay cozy.🩵
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Pulling big bowls from my kiln & liking this one. Oh, the wild merging of fog & stormy blue.💙🩵🤎💚 #pottery
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Still experimenting with the new ivy green glaze. Matched it with speckled cream on this little vase. Think I’ll finish some cups in this combination. Very springy. Good morning, friends! 💚🤍💚 #pottery
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Cold day but the kiln’s keeping me warm. Unloading some commissioned work, gifts, too, & a few pots I made just because, like this green & blue vase. Every pot starts as clay, soft, shapeless. It’s the heat that transforms it into the lasting, the fire that makes it strong.🩵💚
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A window filled with lilies, hollyhocks, roses, & clouds. Happy Sunday, friends. #FlowerReport🌸☀️🩵
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New mugs, awash in greens & blues. Something festive about this glaze combination. A blue-spruce vibe! Good morning, friends, & happy December. #pottery☕️🩵🌲
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Well, my WIP is almost at 100,000 words, but I’m thinking I might keep going and shoot for a million. I love my characters and could stay in their world forever. Good morning, friends. Here’s my front yard, full of snow.❄️❄️🩵❄️
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Pretty sunrise this morning & the last of the hollyhocks. Happy Thursday, friends.☀️🌺
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I'm so happy to have a flash in @xraylitmag, a journal I've admired forever. Thank you, @crowjonah and @copcoat and the rest of the team. An especially big thanks to @lzcrowder for her brilliant help.❤️
Here's "Passion" if you'd like to read it, friends: xraylitmag.com/passion-by-me…
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Enjoying the Christmas lights this morning. Had a busy house last couple days & more fun arriving tomorrow, but right now, “all is calm; all is bright.” Happy holidays, friends.❤️
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A lovely acceptance from a journal I very much admire. Thanks for making my weekend, @xraylitmag!❤️
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My brother just sent me this picture of my nephew wearing a cabbage leaf, so today is already a good day. Hope yours is, too.💚🥬
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New big bowl in fog & stormy blue. Some interesting iridescence in those overlapped glazes. Good morning, friends. #pottery 🌈🩵
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Unloading the kiln this morning. I’m excited about these cookie plates. Happy Friday, friends.🩵💚💙🍪 #pottery
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New soup bowls & coffee cups in chambray & stormy blue. There’s some lavender blooming here, too. #pottery💙🩵💜
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Scared to bring my kids to the grocery store, to take them to the mall, to send them to school, to let them leave the house. This isn’t the land of the free but a realm of daily terror. #GunSafetyNow
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Some daffodils & a Mocha for you. First daffs to bloom! Happy #FlowerReport, friends, and happy #SaintPatricksDay!🍀🐶🌼
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I'm so happy to have a prose poem in @CeaseCowsMag today. (Thanks for giving my calfling a sweet home, Cease, Cows team.)
Here's "Exercised Loss" if you want to check it out, friends: ceasecows.com/2022/04/27/exe…
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A pal asked me if I ever glaze pottery just one color. Rarely! Part of the fun is seeing how hues interact. Here’s a new mug glazed in ivy & stormy blue. By themselves, the colors are lovely. Together, where they overlap: That’s a story. Happy Thursday, friends. #pottery💙🩵💚
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Tried a new recipe for cranberry swirl shortbread & yum. I’ll be making it again. Happy Sunday, friends.❤️
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Taking the kids to the beach today, as soon as I finish trimming a set of plates. Here are some wee ones in glossy green & speckled cream from a recent firing. I can picture oatmeal cookies on these. Happy Friday, friends.💚🍪🍂🍃🍁 #pottery
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Making mugs in the studio today. Here are some stormy blue & cream ones from my last firing. Happy Thursday, friends.🩵💙☕️🤍 #pottery
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Fired many stormy blue & glossy green pots this week, mugs, bowls, creamers, pitchers… I like how this curly-knobbed butter dish turned out. Happy Wednesday, friends.💚🩵💙 #pottery
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My sister and her family are coming to stay with us, so I made a chocolate cream pie and am fixing an Italian almond cake next. I can’t wait to see everyone. Mocha’s excited, too! Wishing you a wonderful holiday weekend, friends.💚🐶☀️
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Daffodils, daffodils. Daffodils blooming everywhere.🌼🌼🌼 Mocha & I wish you a happy morning, friends.💚🐶
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Baked an almond ring coffee cake. I’m a sucker for anything almond. Still have to make & drizzle the glaze. I’ll be cooking up a storm today since my sis & her family are coming for a visit. Can’t wait! Wishing you a wonderful weekend, friends. See you on Monday!🌼💚🐣
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My daughter and my Mocha share a birthday, and it was yesterday! We had so much fun celebrating the occasion. Here are my little birthday sweethearts when they were even littler.🥰😭 Good morning, friends.💜💜
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Made some ivy & blue cups. For soup or nuts or pudding. Or ice cream! Happy Wednesday, friends. #pottery💙🩵💚
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Shipping this stormy blue & clear vase to California today. So happy it found a good home.🩵💙💛 #pottery
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Your morning Mocha. Her expression made me laugh. Looks like she’s taking in the wintry weather & thinking, Welp. Got friends staying with us this weekend. Hoped to welcome them with daffodils, not more snow. It’ll be cozy anyway. Catch you on Monday, friends. Happy Friday.🐶🤎☕️
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Just finished my book club homework, Kazuo Ishiguro’s NEVER LET ME GO and wow. Haunting, moving, beautiful, devastating and plotted so skillfully. A remarkable novel.📚❤️💔
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New glossy green & Mediterranean blue bowl. Happy Friday, friends! #pottery 💙💚🩵🧜🏼♀️
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Wish I could give you a slice of this strawberry rhubarb crostata. Leftover pie is my favorite breakfast! Happy Friday, friends.❤️🍓
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Morning walk with Mocha. So windy & warm. Feels like spring! Opening all the windows today. Happy Tuesday, friends.🩵🐶
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The soup bowls I shared earlier this week, along with this stormy blue & fog vase & sea green & cream mug are on their way to Ohio. Have to admit, it was a little hard to let the bowls go. Every so often, the firing temp & kiln placement finagle something special.🩵 #pottery
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