There was never a time when books weren’t a part of my life. They were my companions in an awkward childhood; some I read so many times the covers wore off. In the Army, a good friend gave me a reading list comparable to a college syllabus and I learned much about myself, the world, and the universe of literature. Thousands of books transported me from a Michigan factory town to many adventures, some in print and some inspired by words. I have had other passions in my life, but none as far reaching and, in this case, compelling me to try to create transformative tomes.
I have been somewhat of a vagabond during my life and my writing mirrors this. I have spent 10,000 hours of internship across many disciplines: poetry, short fiction, screenplays, animated series and TV pitches, and all of it culminating in the novel, an art form where my different writing backgrounds coalesce. I approach writing not just from an academic background, (I do have a master’s degree in writing from USC) but also from life experiences as a military interrogator, a copywriter, a technical project manager and marketer for products ranging from online psychics to satellite TV to online fax to dietary supplements. I have leaned hard into exploring the worlds I know best, focusing on details from life experience and crafting stories that I feel like only I can tell.
Shadow Dance, Regal House, Fall 2023, is my eleventh book, and draws on personal details from my time as an interrogator and integrates portions of a haunted family history. The novel’s protagonist made a cameo in another book and may have flitted through a couple of poems over the years. As far as my publishing history, my work has appeared in over three hundred magazines and twenty anthologies. I’ve been blessed to win two book awards—the De Novo prize, C&R Press, and the Sandeen Prize, University of Notre Dame Press, while also being a finalist for more than thirty other book awards. I have optioned three screenplays and continue to develop projects for screen, both original ideas and those drawn from my own fiction. I also have a blog Writeliving that has reached more than 30,000 readers in more than one hundred countries.
I am impressed with the editorial team at Regal House and thrilled to join the talented family of writers here. I am intermittently active on social media, including Twitter, and would love to share ideas and opinions with other book lovers there.
