Vanessa Childers

I’m Vanessa Childers.

Author. Word nerd. Millennial goof.

Forthcoming from Gremlin Books Reed Press Fellow 12K+ readers

The book

Touks Made Me Write This

A memoir-in-essays and creativity-CPR manual for over-optimized millennials — a weirdly heartfelt collision of nostalgia, cringe, reinvention, and pink sparkle. Out 2027.

Book deets

For you

The Mess.

Instant Mess — strange little Substack essays on nostalgia, reinvention, and the cringey, tender, over-thought stuff I used to filter out.

Get in, loser → 02

For weirdos

The Toucan.

Meet the mystical tropical bird who coaxed this very unserious stream-of-consciousness style out of the woodwork — and refuses to shut up.

Squawk → 03

For hire

The Glow-Ups.

Same brain that’s writing the book, now loose on your homepage. For people whose work slaps and whose site… womp-womps.

Peep the glow-ups →

Reviews

Tiny internet compliments.

I swear these are real.

“She is the Kurt Vonnegut for the 90s kid.”

“Best writer here. And embarrassingly prolific.”

“Your writing really gets me hooked. It’s a masterpiece.”

“I am absolutely mesmerized by the way you use words.”

“Never stop writing like this.”

“You’re a poet and a soothsayer.”

“God this is electric.”

“This is absolutely glorious. We are not worthy.”

“So good! More. MORE!”

“You are quite good at ode-ing.”

“You could put all these into a book. I’d buy it.”

“I feel like I just lived a John Hughes film.”

“This is probably the most beautiful thing I’ve read today.”

“Publish! Publish! Publish! And then, do it some more!”

“I feel seen. And I feel gloriously beautiful. Thank you!”

“OMG what a pure piece of literature.”

“You’re the reason strangers feel less alone at 2 am.”

“I woke my husband laughing out loud. Thank you.”

“Allow me to neurodivergently collect you somehow please.”

“This is raw, hilarious, and profoundly relatable.”