Welcome! I’m an author, editor, and Southern transplant in Maine, ridiculously obsessed with dogs, alphabetized spice racks, and the futile pursuit of making sense of human behavior.
The author of nine prescriptive non-fiction books from Big 5 and major independent publishers, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Overcoming Procrastination (Penguin, 2012), I now focus on creative non-fiction. A surprise DNA discovery in 2016 made me a person with an NPE, or Non-paternity Event, a genealogy term that basically means “Your dad is not really your dad.”
After seven long years, I’ve recently completed the manuscript of No Finer Place, a 96,000-word memoir about the DNA test results that brought me a whole new brood of genetic kin, a mess of family secrets to untangle, and an identity crisis that fractured my connection to every place I thought I belonged and to everyone I thought I belonged with.
Podcast Guest Interviews
DNA Surprises Podcast
Host Alexis Hourselt
Michelle Tullier’s DNA Surprise
Season 6, Episode 9
November 7, 2023
Family Twist Podcast
Hosts Corey and Kendall
Guess What? My Dad is Not My Dad. Episode 44 • June 13, 2023
Everything’s Relative Podcast
Host Eve Sturges
Michelle: It Was If My Life Suddenly Made Sense, Even Though I'd Never Thought It Didn't Make Sense
Episode 99 • September 8, 2023
Speaking
Untangling Our Roots Summit
Louisville, KY • April 2, 2023
and
Denver, CO • April 27, 2024
Genetic Identity Crises and Careers - How to Find Your True Self at Work
Articles
Clear as Fog
March 7, 2023
By Michelle Tullier
“Are we related to anybody famous?” I asked my mother when I was about twelve years old.
I didn’t like that the answer was “No,” so I repeated the question until she walked over to our encyclopedia set and took down the volume for the letter L. Her finger made a quick skim of the index, and she flipped to the page covering Louisiana.
“Him. We’re related to him,” my mother said.