More about me and my writing journey

I have been writing in one form or another all my life.

In some ways it was more inevitability than choice. I come from a family of writers. My father is a journalism professor and writer, and his father wrote countless articles as well as several novels for young people (one of which was made into a little-known Disney movie).

My first story was about a dinosaur I rode to school. I wrote it on that paper that is part lines and part

blank space for drawing pictures. My first-grade teacher hung it in the hallway for open-house and

remember looking up in awe at the display and think, “Yep, this is what I want to do.” Of course, I

didn’t stay quite as sure about that as I grew. I always wrote, but it became more hobby than future

career path, really until recently.

As an undergraduate I studied music education and planned on being an elementary school music

teacher. I love being around kids and watching them grow and I loved learning about another form of

storytelling, but because of life (read marriage, a move across the country, and the arrival of kids), I

never pursued teaching as a career.

It was as a stay-at-home mom that I really started to work on my writing again. I started with a YA

novel that may someday, after a rewrite, escape the land of my computer and make it into the wide,

wide world. While I was writing that story, I was invited to be a contributor for a new City Moms

Blog starting in my then-home city, Albuquerque. I loved being about to write about the difficulties

and triumphs of motherhood through this blog. Several of my pieces were picked up and shared on

the national site and I even later became the editor, which was a challenge I greatly enjoyed. My

journey with Albuquerque Moms Blog reintroduced me to my love of story and after moving back to

my hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, I decided I wanted to develop my craft and pursue a MFA.

I am beyond grateful for my experience in the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s MFA program. It

improved my craft and introduced me to some of my now favorite authors. And, most importantly, it

connected me with my writing clan.

Since graduating, I have been editing and submitting stories, as well as collecting ideas for

new ones. I am a flash fiction reader for the Good Life Review and a new special education

paraprofessional at my neighborhood school. My days are full of chaos and toddlers, and of course,

lots and lots of stories.