Welcome! I’m Shari MacDonald Strong. I was born Shari Jean MacDonald. In 1997 I married a lovely man named Craig Strong. (Yes, Lensbaby fans, that Craig Strong.) I like both last names. Yes, together, they are a mouthful.

Craig and I live in the Pacific Northwest with our three children: twins Will and Mac, born via gestational surrogacy (our genetics, a generous friend’s womb—hi, Jolene!), and Eugenia, adopted from a Siberian region of Russia. Having children deeply stirred my political conscience. Having kids can do that to a person.

I’m passionate about lots of things (besides adoring my family and friends, and besides writing), including the political aspects of motherhood, peace, progressive politics, connection with the Sacred (or God or the Other, whatever you call it), and, most notably, the suffering of orphans in the world. If you can figure out a way that together we can help all of these children—raise enough money to feed and care for them, train and empower those living on the streets, and reunite orphans with their families whenever possible and, whenever not, to bring them into our homes—say the word. I’m in.

I spend my days juggling my work as an editor and columnist at Literary Mama, working on my other writing, and being a disorganized and highly affectionate mom. I have more favorite books than I can count, but ones that stay consistently at the top of the list are David James Duncan’s The Brothers K and God Laughs and Plays: Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right, as well as John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meaney, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi, Paulo Coelho’s  The Alchemist, and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. I reserve the right to add to, or rearrange, the list at any time.

I grew up as a conservative evangelical. I didn’t fit into that world very well. Today, I’m a progressive, feminist, intuitive, sometimes-agnostic, often grateful Quaker with green-leaning tendencies. A long time ago, I wrote a bunch of romance novels (genre fiction). I wrote them during my conservative Christian days. You can still find them, and they’re not bad. But they’re not representative of progressive, feminist, intuitive, sometimes-agnostic, Quaker, green-leaning tendencies, just so you know; they’re more of the sweet, I-love-God-and-I-love-falling-in-love variety. (I still love God/the Sacred, and I still love love, and the man I fell in love with; I just tend to approach them all in new ways, these days.)

Thanks for stopping by! There’s nothing I love more than connecting about motherhood, politics, having a social conscience, writing, and life. Lest it all begin to feel too serious, I often lean toward the silly on my blog. You have been warned.