Recent Writing
Chrysalis (from book-in-progress, Good Enough Writer)
:: This is a chapter-to-be from my book-to-be, Good Enough Writer: A Guide for the Outsiders, the Misfits, and the Beautifully Complicated
Life Is an Endless Pivot
:: We don’t find ourselves one day. We are in a constant state of discovery, and that’s a wonderful thing.
Some things take time
:: There’s something special in that freedom we feel when writing certain kinds of stories. And I hope that when people read the book, they feel that freedom inside them, too.
Recent Books
I've written more than fifteen books: novels, hybrid nonfiction, and memoir. Learn about them all.YOUR KID BELONGS HERE (2025)
Your Kid Belongs Here: An Insider's Guide to Parenting Neurodiverse Children (Johns Hopkins 2025). Stories and research come together to support parents of neurodivergent kids.
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"Essential reading for parents, teachers, and professionals." -Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures
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"Pryal provides a sensitive and comprehensive resource. Parents, teachers, and others working with neurodiverse kids will find this a boon." -Publisher's Weekly
A LIGHT IN THE TOWER (2024)
A Light in the Tower: A New Reckoning with Mental Health in Higher Education (Kansas 2024). Evocative storytelling plus incisive research bring a new eye to the mental health crisis that higher education has faced for decades.
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**Winner of the 2024 IPPY Bronze Medal in Education**
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“Essential reading for anyone in academia with a disability, but also those without one to know how to better support their colleagues and classmates.” -Eric Garcia, author of We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation
Read My Substack: "The Misfit Manifesto"
Why “The Misfit Manifesto”?
Every week, I write about creativity, writing, and the messy work that comes with living with a brain that works differently.
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I believe creativity is an essential part of being human. For some people, tapping into our creativity can entail a different, and sometimes dangerous, process of shaking off society’s expectations of who we are supposed to be.
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My mission is to give my fellow misfits affirmation and advice on how to find a life of peace and creativity.