Written by S.G. Lichtstrahl, and illustrated by Abigail Anklam.
Find the book on Amazon, and check out some of the illustrations below.

“I found my name on the streets of Verily, where every brick is a story...."
Explore the streets and stories of Verily in this heartwarming tale, as one young girl struggles to find her father and her true identity. 
“City of Stories" is out on SunLit Story Time, a new podcast dedicated to telling bite-sized stories that leave you feeling great. You can download the episode here from iTunes, or here from Podbean. 

 
We could all use a little more light in our lives, don't you think? SunLit Story Time is a brand new podcast whose goal is just that: to make the world a brighter place with positive short stories that will leave you feeling great.

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I'm thrilled to announce that my story “City of Stories" was accepted as one of the inaugural episodes to be released on August 20th. Stay tuned for a link, coming soon!

 Plork = Play + Work
In May, I graduated from the University of Baltimore with an MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts. For the past three years, I've been learning the crafts of writing and book making in a free-spirited, creative environment. No studying, no tests—this degree was all hands-on experiential learning.
​     The first class MFA students take is called “Creativity: Ways of Seeing."  There, we were introduced to the concept of Plork, the idea that creativity is a combination of both work and play. “Creativity" students are encouraged to find their inner child and to embrace a spirit of fun, even in the midst of work. Homework for this class  included things like making cut-and-paste collages, keeping dream journals, and coloring. Basically, it was nothing like you might expect from a Masters program.
    The Plork Award was born from this spirit of play+work that's engrained in the program. According to the UB website: “The Plork Award honors a graduate student whose work best exemplifies the spirit of the M.F.A. program, exhibiting exceptional creativity, energy and personal achievement in the integration of creative writing and book design." This year, I was honored to be named the 2018 Plork Award Recipient.
    I'm going to attribute this award mostly to doodling. See, I've always doodled on my papers in class, but now here I was in an environment where doodling was not only accepted but encouraged by the teachers themselves. These were ideal conditions for me. I continued doodling confidently on everything, up to and including my final thesis project (word to the wise: published doodles are just illustrations).
      Receiving the Plork Award is an unexpected honor.
      I'll do my best to live up to it.