Mara Wilson Writes Stuff

It had been seasons since most of them had seen the sun. For years, the MacFarlanders and the Parkerstoners had waged war while The First Decadian Simpsonites huddled in their cave, hoping the bloodshed would soon end. All they could do was wait — wait and listen. Every Primetime hour, after the daring foragers returned […]

The past few weeks have been a bit hectic for me. My brother got married, my friend/director Max Reuben and I finalized a cast for the FringeNYC production of my play Sheeple, my Cracked article was published, I was on Katie Couric’s show, my Cracked article kind of went viral, I was on Australian TV, […]

When I was a child, Saturday was my least favorite day of the week. The Jewish sabbath day is supposed to be a day of rest, but to a child, rest is boring and boredom is death. We couldn’t turn on the radio or computer, and TV was strictly off-limits. We had to go to […]

I usually try to update this at least once or twice month. But in the past four weeks, I was on an episode of RISK!, did an interview with The Daily Beast, have done four live storytelling/comedy shows and have been preparing for three more, and have been busy working on all sorts of upcoming projects. When […]

Once a treehugger, always a treehugger.   I can remember the first time my sister said something intentionally funny. It was a Saturday morning, I was sleeping in, and as usual, Anna saw it as her duty to wake me up. She bounded into our room and onto my bed, and yelled, “Mara! Wake up! […]

A good portion of my adolescence was devoted to channeling my insecurities into a persona. Maybe I wasn’t thrilled with the way I looked or dressed or behaved, but at least I could play up my own awkwardness for laughs. Self-effacement was self-preservation. It seemed to work most of the time, so I was shocked […]

Preamble: Last year, I posted a birthday story for my brother Jon. He was happy to read it, though I felt a little guilty because I have three other siblings. It’s true that some of them enjoy being written about more than others, but as long as I have their permission — and funny stories […]

I hope everyone who celebrates holidays around this time of year had some good ones! Anyway, enough general greetings, I have two things to share. First, I was on a podcast! RISK! is one of my favorite podcasts: think of an R-rated Moth or This American Life. It’s very much for an 18+ audience. My story […]

This has been an exciting year for me, full of surprises. Perhaps most surprising is that people have started to ask me for advice on writing. It seems a bit like asking a first-time pregnant woman, “What’s it like to raise a toddler?” I’m only in my second trimester when it comes to writing: I […]

Welcome back to Mara’s Kitchen! Last time, I showed you How to Toast Bread in a Toaster Oven. (For those who missed it, the trick is to switch the setting from “Bake” to “Toast!”) Today, I was going to show you How to Make Cereal, but I’m switching it up a bit. Here is How […]