Author Editor Therapist

70 MICRO-MEMOIRS, 70 WORDS EACH

Coming February 27, 2026  / Stay tuned for pre-order information. 

In Escape Velocity, a genre-bending constellation of 70 micro-memoirs of 70 words each, Deborah Sosin unravels a story of family entanglement with her loving but overbearing parents. Too much intrusion. Not enough space. What one therapist later dubbed “a mirage of intimacy.” A feisty, perceptive girl, Sosin strains against her family’s gravitational pull in search of a separate self. While navigating the confusing terrain of 1970s feminism, she endures a near-rape, enters a fraught romance with a gay man, and makes a momentous choice about an unexpected pregnancy. 

Anna Hall’s evocative illustrations add depth and humor to the scenes, which include transformative therapy sessions, an empowering alpine road trip, a clothing-optional retreat, and some miserable midlife dates. Escape Velocity also features Sosin’s poignant, often hilarious teen diary excerpts and provocative “psychology interludes” that weave in concepts she learned as a therapist. At 70, Sosin faces the loss of both parents and the challenges—and delights—of flying solo. Escape Velocity sheds light on what it means to claim our true selves without severing our close family bonds.

ADVANCE PRAISE

“Deborah Sosin’s cleverly conceived Escape Velocity is a potent mix of intimacy, wit, and mounting angst over the inevitability of aging, offered in crisp, 70-word capsules of remarkable honesty. Sosin portrays a fascinating, surprising life, ending on a perfect note of hope and resilience.”

—Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic & Desire and editor of Brevity Magazine

“In this collection of short moments chosen from a life of confusion, resentments, mistakes, epiphanies, friendship, loss, and laughter, Deborah Sosin traces the bumpy path she has taken to become who she is now: a woman complete in herself, imaginative, curious, full of life, and perhaps best, someone she can rely on. Anna Hall's illustrations are marvelous, perfect. I loved this book.”

—Abigail Thomas, author of Three Dog Life and Safekeeping

“Combining the psychological insight of a therapist, the sensitivity of a poet, and the skill of an expert storyteller, Sosin has pulled off a dazzling magic trick, capturing seventy years’ worth of transformation in seventy meaning-packed moments. Escape Velocity is a shimmering ode to the strength of the human spirit, and to the surprising ways our constraints can set us free.”  

—Nicole Graev Lipson, author of Mothers and Other Fictional Characters

“In Escape Velocity, Deborah Sosin's crystalline 70-word micro memoirs chart a decades-long journey to liberated selfhood, proving that freedom—hard-won and glorious—can arrive at any age."

—Darien Hsu Gee,  author of Allegiance and Other Small Histories

“With the tactile skill of an old-world artisan, Deborah Sosin has conjured a wide-ranging palette of miniature vignettes for Escape Velocity, each with the vivid tone and luster of a colorful mosaic tile. And she has assembled these precise singular fragments into a cohesive self-portrait of a life journey that is both intimate and far-flung, glistening with themes of independence, love, loss, sexual awakening, psychological constructs, family ties that bristle and bind and evolve with the author’s emerging self-awareness.” 

—Robbie Gamble, poetry editor at Solstice Literary Magazine

“In spare, illustrated morsels infused with psychological insights, Deborah Sosin unfurls a moving, later-in-life coming-of-age story that will resonate with many—especially those who have struggled to untangle themselves from complicated family dynamics and limiting societal expectations.” 

—Sari Botton, author of And You May Find Yourself...Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo and editor-in-chief of Oldster Magazine

“Sosin’s beautifully precise seventy-word entries are expansive, deeply thoughtful, and often very funny explorations of the moments that shape a life. Generous, heartbreaking, and evocatively illustrated by Anna Hall, Escape Velocity reminds us of the transformative power we hold when we tell our own story.”

—Hester Kaplan, author of Twice Born

Stay tuned for more praise for Escape Velocity, coming soon!

For the backstory on this project, read "The Macro Micro-Memoir Challenge," on Brevity Blog, January 22, 2025, which chronicles the conception and construction of Escape Velocity.