about

I believe that writing is a means of reflecting on lived experience and that every good story is a writer's answer to a question. I am interested in the beautiful: the Sonoran desert, quiet snowy nights in the mountains, standup comedy, home design, native gardening, visual arts, music, ideas, and the imperfect object. 

I was raised in the lovely small town of Olean, New York (whose statuary ode to the native black squirrel you may explore at your leisure here, and I encourage you to pay particular attention to Cutter the Cutco Knife Squirrel), moved to Phoenix, Arizona at the age of 17, and then to Tucson and Los Angeles before doing my current stint in St. Louis, MO. I have two daughters, two cats, a bamf for a husband and a penchant for talking too much when I get tired. I have an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, two Pushcart Prize nominations for Transit and The Pragmatist, and a published ecology paper on bird foraging habits. My favorite books include The Wizard of Earthsea, Discourses by Epictetus, pretty much anything by Juliet Marillier and Gillian Bradshaw, and The Snowy Day. I also think that people who only read literary fiction are artificially limiting themselves to books with one setting.