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 was published in June 2025 by the Mareas imprint of Bindery Books. It’s a literary novel about disasters, climate change, faith, and the unknowable. You can buy it wherever books are sold (except, like, garage sales).

I’ve also written three books that are waiting to find their publisher, although one of them isn’t very good.

I started writing noticements — “moments worth noticing” — in 2020 as a way to survive the isolation of Covid lockdowns. It was 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 about books, life, and everything in between.

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 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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