About Me

I've worked in higher ed since I was about 23, first as an administrative assistant at Northwestern University and then at DePaul Law School, and then I went to grad school at Penn State, where I taught as an adjunct and worked as a communications assistant for the College of Liberal Arts. I left State College after six years and moved to Philadelphia. In Philly, I worked at Temple, Drexel, and the University of Pennsylvania in various communications roles. Along the way, I continued to write short stories, and had several published in journals like Permafrost, Pleiades, Minnesota Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, and other literary journals and anthologies. My short story, “Ducklings” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Pleiades. In 2012, I won first place in Zoetrope’s All-Story Fiction contest with a story called "A Good Thing."

My story collection, Wonderful Girl, was awarded the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction and published by the University of North Texas Press in 2007.  My second collection of stories, Animal Shelters, placed as a finalist in the BOA Short Fiction Contest and will be published by Running Wild Press in 2018.  Over the years, I've written for magazines, for websites, and kept a personal blog since 2003. I'm also a member of the board for Philadelphia Stories and write a column for every issue about the writing process.