About me

I’ve been punched in the face by grief on more than a few occasions. I keep getting back up, though, and I’m hoping to inspire others to do the same.  I am the creator of this website (brookecarlock.org, formerly known as Grieving Mommy) and blog, but you’ll mostly find me on my YouTube channel, Grief Sucks with Brooke Carlock. I am also the host of the “Mourning Coffee” podcast, author of the book Grief Sucks, But Your Life Doesn’t Have To, the “Libby’s Frontier” historical fiction young adult series, and co-founder of Live Like Libby (livelikelibby.org), a nonprofit organization that provides dance scholarships in my late daughter’s honor. 

I have been a middle school English teacher and freelance writer since earning my B.A. from West Virginia University and my M.A. from Johns Hopkins University.  I live in a tiny house by myself which makes my introverted heart happy.  When I’m not making videos, providing grief support, writing books, or wrangling middle schoolers, I enjoy reading historical fiction, baking, and going to farmers markets. 

20 questions:

  1. What is your favorite book? It’s a tie between The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, and Into the Wilderness, by Sara Donati.

  2. What would you choose if you had to choose one meal to eat for the rest of your life?  Turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn.

  3. What’s your go-to karaoke song? Despite being a singer in a band in my youth and singing in weddings, I have NEVER sung karaoke!! My first choice song to sing would be “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” by Bonnie Raitt.

  4. What was your favorite subject in school? Social Studies. I probably should’ve been a Social Studies teacher, but I majored in English because I wanted to write.

  5. Do you have a favorite sport? Not really. I was a gymnast, and then a cheerleader in high school and college. If I had to pick a sport to watch, it would be diving or figure skating. I will 100% watch shows related to sports, though — one of my all-time favorite shows is Ted Lasso, and I love Welcome to Wrexham.

  6. Where is one place you’ve always dreamed of going? My bucket-list trip is a Tudor tour of England— going around to see all of the important places in the history of the Tudor family.

  7. What’s your favorite movie? Ugh. It is so hard to pick a favorite, because I have so many that I love. Movies that I watch over and over and over again are Twister, Fools Rush In, The Holiday, The Shawshank Redemption, and Steel Magnolias.

  8. What’s your favorite TV show? Same thing — almost impossible to pick. Shows I’ve watched and re-watched multiple times include Ted Lasso, The Tudors, The White Queen, Jamestown, Downton Abbey, and Poldark.

  9. Favorite smell? Campfire on a crisp fall day.

  10. Coffee or tea? I hate tea. Like, I’ve tried every kind imaginable and it all tastes like dirty water. I drink coffee every day, but I don’t like black coffee. It has to be all doctored up so that tastes more like hot chocolate than coffee.

  11. What’s your favorite thing to do on the weekends? Go to farmer’s markets and bake stuff.

  12. Where’s your favorite place to travel? Anywhere historical — and bonus points if there’s a walkable main street that looks like something out of a Hallmark movie.

  13. What’s your favorite color? I love Fall colors— burgundy, brown, rust orange.

  14. What’s your favorite season? I love everything about Fall, but I’m a full-time teacher, so like pretty much every teacher on the planet my answer is summer because then I’m not exhausted every damn day.

  15. Do you have any recurring dreams? I have three that I’ve been having since I was a kid — tornadoes, tsunamis, and one where I can sort of “glide/fly” over things.

  16. Any secret talents? Probably decorating/interior design and singing.

  17. What do you do in your spare time? Read, listen to audiobooks, watch TV, cook, and organize stuff. I nerd out on anything that involves history, but especially American Colonial history and British Tudor history. I’ve also been getting into the history of expansion into the American West/ pioneer times.

  18. Where did you grow up? Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. And yes, I knew Amish people.

  19. What are your favorite guilty-pleasure snacks? Oh, there are so many. Salty= Doritos, bbq chips; Sweet= rice pudding, double-stuffed Oreos, peppermint bark, and chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream; Drinks = Cherry Pepsi.

  20. What is your most embarrassing moment? In high school my cheerleading squad was doing a dance routine in the middle of the gym. The whole school was watching. The finale was me doing a tumbling pass while the rest of the girls were on the floor in a V shape. I tumbled… and landed directly on the girl’s stomach at the point of the V. She screamed and the whole gym went silent, thinking I had killed her. (She was fine, but the whole rest of the year I was the “girl who landed on that other girl’s stomach.”)

Click the pic below to listen to my grief story: