I write stories about regular people carrying irregular things.
I'm a writer of literary fiction (sometimes historical, sometimes contemporary) focused on the emotional landscapes of ordinary lives. I'm an extrovert in person, but my writing explores grief, resilience, and the quiet, often unspoken dynamics within marriage, families and friendships.
I am always interested in the space between people who love each other but no longer know how to reach one another: grief that doesn’t have a name, and silence that slowly becomes a habit. I write about relationships not in crisis, but in suspension. About the long middle—where nothing breaks completely, but nothing heals either. My characters do the quiet, stubborn work of finding their way back. They endure before the understand.
In addition to my fiction work, I have a professional background in writing, community development, and the performing arts. I can't count the years I have spent helping organizations tell meaningful stories, secure funding, and build programs that strengthen communities...there are too many! But the experiences have informed my understanding of people, place, and purpose.
A native Minnesotan and Washingtonian, I now reside in (and work for) the beautiful City of Las Vegas! My husband and I are empty-nesters who are literally living our vacation. Our adult boys practice politics in Wisconsin and performance in New York. We all need to be in a 12-step program for adopting rescue dogs from the local shelter. The first step is recognizing you have a problem...
If you’d like to hear about upcoming work, behind-the-scenes notes, and early access to new writing, you’re welcome to join my mailing list. You can also find me on social media, where I share reflections on writing, history, and the stories that stay with us. @margeriebruceww
Thanks for reading!
-M.B./M.R.