About noticements

My name is Denise S. Robbins. I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, lived and worked on the East Coast for fifteen-plus years, then moved back to Madison with my husband, whose name is Seth, and our two cats, whose names are Monday (Mondo) and Lasagna (Lazy). Yes, they are both Garfield. No, they did not enjoy the cross-country trip.

I write. A lot. My debut novel The Unmapping will by published in June 2025 by Bindery Books. It’s a literary novel about disasters, climate change, faith, and the unknowable. I’ve also written two books that are waiting to find their publisher, and half of two more books (as in, two books that are halfway done).

The thing is, publication takes a very long time, and I want to share my writing more frequently than, you know, four years after I write it.

Enter: noticements. “Moments worth noticing.” This started in 2020 as a way to survive the isolation of Covid lockdowns—a challenge to myself to discover, every week, something in the mundanity that was meaningful and interesting.

It’s since shifted in scope and frequency and now, I’m not sure what it is, other than a place for me put my thoughts into the world. I write about life. I write about how re-learning cello has helped me write, getting lost where I live, the joy of not knowing, how absurdity is realer than reality, the way soil feels like family. I write about the small things that feel like big things. Sometimes I write about Wisconsin. Sometimes I write about nothing at all. Sometimes I’m too busy to write for a month or so, though I’m trying to do better. Either way, it’s nice to be here.

A broken mirror on pavement. Even though the mirror was on the same plane as the pavement, the focus of the reflection appeared further away. Cameras can only focus on one plane at a time. It’s a metaphor, baby!

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