I’ve been a high school English teacher, marketing director, violinist, and riverboat deckhand (in no particular order). I love rhubarb, Provencal villages, heated blankets, a good ol’ fashioned hootenanny, Thanksgiving dinner, the Lowcountry, and long-haired dachshunds. My 12 and 16-year-old daughters have introduced me to the joys of soccer, rock-climbing, marching band, Gen Alpha slang, and getting “barricade tickets” to every popular artist concert. I’m equally a homebody and wanderlust addict.
While I’m currently querying a novel (YA modern re-telling of Rumpelstiltskin), I’m also writing a recreated Beauty and the Beast fairytale that bridges an ancient poetic desert civilization with our futuristic post-pandemic society. Stay tuned…In the meantime, you can ready my short stories and flash non-fiction here at Paper Doll Tales, or I’m published in The Fourth River, Quarter(ly) Press, Muleskinner, and elsewhere.
I believe in the power of love, redemption, and chosen family. I believe in Jonathan Swift’s encouragement: “May you live every day of your life.” We can discover so many snippets of the worthwhile, if we have the eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to cherish, and hands to cultivate.
I was born in Phoenix, Arizona, grew up in rural Pennsylvania, and have made my home in Pittsburgh, PA. I graduated from Grove City College with degrees in English and Communication. After beginning in new media marketing (and I still dabble in communications consulting), I pursued a lifelong passion: teaching English. I hold a Masters of Arts in Teaching from The University of Pittsburgh and currently serve as a Teaching Director for Community Bible Study.