ABOUT ME
Growing up, books were my refuge. Library and silent reading times were my favorite parts of school. In high school, my friends couldn't wait to read the stories I wrote. In spite of my love of words, I never considered becoming a writer until I was well into my career as a graphic designer. A co-worker joked that I was going to run out of books to read and I'd have to write my own. The seed was planted. Once I discovered "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg the seed flourished.
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I carved out my own writing path through books on writing, piles upon piles of notebooks filled with writing practice, classes I've taken over the years with writers like: Natalie Goldberg,
Elizabeth Evans, Simon Ortiz, Melissa Pritchard, Ron Carlson and Maureen Dunphy as well as various writing groups I've joined and created over the years.
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Mostly, I just write and read. A lot.
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Follow my work and journey here as well as on Substack, Wordpress, Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
RESUME
Publications, Education & Awards
Publications
“Mothering as Meditation” • Welcome Home
“Angels in the Sand” • Raising Arizona Kids
“Discovering the Sweet Bliss of Me, the Writer”• Y Write
Various book reviews • Y Write
“Flossing” • Swallow the Moon
“More Beautiful Broken Than Whole” • Swallow the Moon
“You Are Here” • www.literarymama.com
“Three Hundred and Ninety-Three and Counting” • Estella's Revenge
Various articles • elephantjournal.com
"How to Raise a Girl with a Voice, Not a Nice Girl." • The Tattooed Buddha
"Adventures of Turning 50." • The Tattooed Buddha
"Parts." • The Manifest Station
"Controlled Burn" • Hags on Fire
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Professional Experience
• Co-Director of Phoenix Writer’s Voice, September, 2002 – March 2003
• Teacher for Spring and Fall 2002 sessions of MothersWrite for Writer’s Voice
• Editor of Writer’s Voice newsletter
• Member of committee to plan and organize writing retreat for Writer’s Voice
• Facilitator of writing workshops at Writer’s Voice retreat
• Representative of the Writer’s Voice at the Y Arts Conference, Dallas, TX,
November 2002
• Facilitator of a 6-hour creative writing workshop for Mrs. Larwa’s 4th grade class at Spencer Elementary, January, 2004
• Teacher for adult and children’s writing classes for Brighton Community Education, Fall, 2004 and Spring, 2005
• Volunteer Editor for Elephant Journal, July, 2014 - present
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Education
• Master level fiction workshop with Elizabeth Evans through Writer’s Voice
• Master level fiction workshop with Simon Ortiz through Writer’s Voice
• A week long writing workshop with Natalie Goldberg
• A week long writing workshop with Ron Carlson, Hassayampa Institute for Creative Writing
• Graduate fiction workshop with Melissa Pritchard through Arizona State University, Fall 2001
• Walloon Writer’s Retreat, Fall, 2003
• Farfield Writing Retreat, March, 2005
• ENG 383, Oakland University, Fall 2005
• Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop with Ron Carlson, June, 2007
• Elephant Journal Editing/Social Media Apprentice program, Spring, 2014
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Grants and Awards
• Received a Professional Development Grant from the Arizona Council of the Arts, November, 2002
• First Place in seventh annual “Flash for Cash” flash Fiction Writing Contest, sponsored by Department of English at Oakland University, judged by George Dila
• Honorable mention in the WOW! Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest, Winter, 2011 as judged by Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency