People ask me, "What do you do?"    

    When some people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them that I'm a writer, they pause and look at me with a knowing gaze that says back to me, "Sure you are."  Those are people who have never dreamed.  They're people with no creativity, no imagination.  Yet sometimes I look at certain people after I tell them what I do and they say, "Cool.  What do you write?"  I generally make those people my friend.

Where I've Been and Where I Am Now    

    I've been lucky, having had my first magazine article published when I was twenty-three.  I've written for Emergency Services Magazine, Mahogany, the Angelo Art Magazine; I had a column in The Corydon Democrat that ran irregularly over 2 years.  My work has also appeared in Hear & There literary magazine, The Courier-Journal, the IUS Review, the IU Southeast Undergraduate Research Journal, and the IU Southeast Research Journal:  Special Edition.

     I've also won numerous awards and citations for my fiction and research writing.

    Currently I freelance for About.com.

When I'm Not Writing...I'm Writing    

     In my spare time, I enjoy creative nonfiction and essay writing.  I'm working on a book based off one of my award-winning short stories.  I also dabble in poetry, but everyone is safer when I stay away from that specific genre as much of my poetry sounds like diary entries penned by a thirteen-year-old girl.

Multi-media Influences 

My influences are David Sedaris, Truman Capote, Augusten Burroughs, and Jhumpa Lahiri. 

I am influenced by the visual storytelling of Paul Thomas Anderson, M. Night Shyamalan, and J.J. Abrams. 

 I also find influence by the music and lyrics of Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, and Madonna.

And finally, the art of Theodore Gericault, Gusatv Klimt, and Frida Kahlo influence my work.