Selected Published Writing
“My Father Makes Breakfast, 1971.” Flash essay. under the gum tree. Forthcoming.
“Precarious.” Essay. The Sun Magazine. March 2021.
“Executive Order.” Cross-genre. The Clackamas Literary Review, Volume XXII. Spring 2019.
“Chasing Our Elusive Voice.” Essay. Brevity. January 2019.
“Handyman.” Short story. The Louisville Review. Spring 2019.
“How the Light Gets In.” Interview with Heather Sellers. Creative Nonfiction. Spring 2018.
“The Congenitally Wonder-Addled Brian Doyle.” Essay. Brevity’s Nonfiction Blog. May 2017.
“Tricks of the Trade: How to Have Fun on the Job.” Feature. Creative Nonfiction. Winter 2017.
“The Importance of Play: On Finding Joy in your Writing Practice.” LitHub.com. February 2, 2017. (Originally published in the Winter 2017 issue of Creative Nonfiction.)
“Q&A: Ebola, Ecology, and the ‘Next Big One.’” Interview with Author David Quammen. The American Oxonian. Winter 2016.
“Anger Dragon.” Prose poem. Penny: Online Illustrated Flash Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Prose Poetry. February 2016.
Water: Writers in the Attic Anthology. Introduction. The Cabin. August 2016.
Fighting the World’s Fight: Rhodes Scholars in Oxford and Beyond. Memoir excerpt. Third Millennium Publishing. 2016.
Writing Awards and Nominations
- Artist-in-Residence, Surel’s Place, Garden City, Idaho. November 2020.
- Covid Cultural Commissioning Fund Award. Commissioned to write a work of creative nonfiction about my sister’s release from prison during the pandemic. May 2020.
- Idaho Commission on the Arts Individual Project Grant for artist residency and time off from teaching to work on memoir-in-fragments. July 2020.
- “Seven Poets, Three Poems, One Virtual Reading.” Featured local author for The Cabin’s Writers at Home onlineseries. Invited six other writers to collaborate on Renga poetry during quarantine and organized a virtual reading. May 2020.
- Idaho Writers Conference. Workshop Presenter. Spring 2019.
- Artist-in-Residence at St. Gertrude’s Monastery. Summer 2019.
- Alexa Rose Foundation Grant for Literary Artists: 2017 and 2018.
- “Journeyman.” Short story. Finalist for 2017 Montana Book Festival’s Emerging Writers Contest.
- Idaho Commission on the Arts Professional Development Grants: 2016, 2018, 2019
- Full Scholarship, “Into the Fire” Writing Retreat, The Sun Magazine, Esalen Institute, 2015.
- “Fly Right.” Short story. Finalist for Glen Balch Fiction Contest, Boise State University, 2008.
- “Isolation and Identity in Mary Clearman Blew’s All But The Waltz.” Academic paper and presentation. Finalist for the J. Golden Taylor Award, Western Literature Association, 2006.
Teaching Experience
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Boise State University, Instructor
The Memoir in Pieces: Spring 2021
How to Write a Short Story, Part II: Spring 2020
Short Story: Spring 2019
Memoir: Spring 2018 and 2017
The Cabin Idaho—A Center for Writers & Readers, Instructor
Your Memoir: A Guide to Getting it Done: Fall 2020
Gutsy Writing: Summer 2020
Reading to Write: Fall 2019
Poetry: Fall 2018
Creative Writing: Spring 2018
Memoir: Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017
Boise State University, Adjunct Faculty
Fall 2012, Spring 2011, Fall 2010, Summer 2010, Fall 2009
Guest Instructor
The Atlanta School. September 2019. “Excavating the Artifacts of Memory: A Workshop on Writing Memoir.”
Trinity Lutheran Church Storytelling Series. September 2019. “Claiming the Wisdom in our Hearts: A One-Day Memoir Writing Workshop.”
Editorial Experience
Literary Mama. Profiles Editor and member of editorial staff. 2017 to present. Contributions include “A Profile of Pat Schneider” (March/April 2021); “A Conversation with Emily Ruskovich” (Sept/Oct 2020); and “A Conversation with Karen Raney” (May 2020).
Quest Magazine. Editor. 2010.
The Idaho Review. Editorial Staff. 2008.
Community Involvement
Featured reader for “19 Love Stories” a collaborative photo/video installation between Incarceration Nations Network and Photographer Angie Smith. Boise City Hall. October 17, 2020.
BLOOM Summer Reading Series. Sponsored by Storyfort and the Idaho Botanical Garden. Excerpts from memoir-in-progress. July 25, 2020.
Contributing blogger. TVPrays.org. Reflections on what it means to live in community during pandemic and quarantine. 2020 to present.
Judges panel for Alexa Rose Foundation Grants. May 2019.
Contest judge for Water: Writers in the Attic Anthology. The Cabin. August 2016.
Member of The Cabin’s Board of Directors, 2009-2015.
Education
M.F.A., Creative Writing, Boise State University
M.A., Philosophy, Politics, Economics, Oxford University, Great Britain
B.S., Finance, University of Idaho