Who am I? Why connect?
A writer, a teacher. A human.
It is my belief that 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.
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, 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. Read some of my work here.
After teaching creative writing for over a decade, I began to coach writers 1:1 and offer idea-to-publication services through Unleash Creatives, a holistic arts organization I founded and co-own. I also teach meditation and qigong at Insight Timer and Aura (30-day free pass link).
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 or that I find interesting. 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 certain posts. Bonus: You get to see my typos before I can correct them. In other words, you get it all, and you get to support me. Writing is hard work. I’ve invested a lot, and I hope to offer a lot here.
Any support is valued and seen. THANK YOU. Another way to support me is to buy my books. Links are below.
