An archive of Tracy’s posts can be found HERE.

Tracy Hahn-Burkett wasn’t always a writer. But no matter what her stage of life or how she employed her creativity, writing was always in the background, waiting to come out.

When Tracy was nine years old, she was given a diary. Its plastic cover was styled to appear like a denim jeans pocket—the manufacturer understood well its audience—and, best of all, it had a lock. For Tracy, who didn’t really fit in with her school classmates, the chance to have a place to puzzle out her thoughts and feelings was full of promise. She loved that diary.

Then one day, she walked in on her little sister reading it…out loud…to her friends.

Tracy had written so much of her pre-adolescent self into that notebook, including a crush on a teacher. The mockery that followed left a scar, and it would be decades before Tracy could keep a journal for more than a few months without destroying it.

This discouraging incident combined with a few others persuaded Tracy not to write anything creative again for almost thirty years. During that time, she pursued a gratifying career as a congressional staffer, a Justice Department lawyer and a public policy advocate. She even had an earlier life as a ballet dancer. But though she always considered scribbling her thoughts and seeing where that might lead, she rarely wrote outside the demands of whatever job she had at the time. Then Tracy left her public policy career with its full-time-availability obligations to focus on her new son, and she took an online essay-writing class.

She hasn’t stopped writing since.

Over a decade ago, Tracy moved to New Hampshire with her husband, toddler and cat, donning blue jeans and fleece as required by state law. Her household now includes two children and two slightly insane cats, all of whom provide fodder for the longstanding adoption and parenting blog she founded, UnchartedParent.com. Tracy has published a short story and dozens of essays and articles, and recently won a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. She is currently revising her first novel. Tracy’s website is TracyHahnBurkett.com.

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