Who am I? Why connect?
A writer, a teacher. A human.
Storytelling is about exploring the nuances of life—the anguish within beauty and the wisdom within pain. When we hold our stories inside, they weigh us down. When we release them, we find not only our voice but perspective and a different way of engaging with the world.
I was a high school dropout who went on to find purpose through writing, which led me to earn a BA in English from Otterbein University and an MFA from Bennington College. I worked multiple jobs for a decade to pay down educational debts and better understand what I did/did not want from my short journey here. All the while, I wrote. I explored. I came to conclusions and questioned conclusions. I began to study personal leadership.
At heart, I am a philosopher and unable to buy into too much dogma across any scale. But I also believe that writing has offered me something mystical and that creativity can tap potentials in humans that go beyond what we often see. Writing, to me, is like the reverberation of an elephant stomp or the rooted system of trees, a way of passing messages, like nutrients, to each other.
After some interesting work and a lot of written exploration, my short fiction and creative nonfiction are taught in classrooms and appear in over a hundred publications around the world, including The Best Small Fictions (edited by Amy Hempel), Chicago Tribune, Chicago Quarterly Review, Room Magazine, and The Saturday Evening Post. My collections include The Glass City (Prize Americana winner), and After the Gazebo (a Pen/Faulkner nominee). My first novel, We Arrive Uninvited, won the Steel Toe Books Award and is one of the top-rated projects of all time on Coverfly's Red List for family stories. My second novel, Chaos Magic, was released in February 2025.
At Work, a collection of interconnected essays, traces my journey from anxiety to curiosity as I sought to identify myself through the lens of myriad working-class roles in the 90s and early 00s will be out in 2027 from Cornerstone Press, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
My shorter work has won awards, including the San Miguel de Allende Award in Nonfiction, the CutBank Montana Award for the Essay, and the Flash Fiction Award. You can find many of my stories and essays here.
After teaching creative writing for over a decade, I began coaching writers 1:1 and offering idea-to-publication services through Unleash Creatives, a holistic arts organization I founded and co-own. I also began teaching leadership and practicing what I share in both business and volunteer efforts. I aim to practice the same curiosity and personal inquiry in my writing and what I share.
Why subscribe?
I’m fascinated by philosophy, storytelling, and personal development (along with a lot of charlatanism I see around personal development and pop psychology). These are the topics I like to unpack. As a teacher, I often offer exercises that have helped me. This life is an experiment, a journey, a joy. It’s also very strange. Let’s explore it all together.
Why get a paid subscription?
Paid subscribers also have access to audio meditations and all archived posts.
If you cannot afford a paid subscription but want to access a post, please let me know. I will grant you a year for free with no questions asked.
Any support, from likes to responses to financial support, is valued and seen. THANK YOU. Another way to support me is to buy my books. Click below to access my writing site, or buy my latest here.
