WELCOME TO A WAY WITH WORDS:
READING, WRITING, TEACHING, EDITING

I’ve always been a reader. When I was young, I often escaped household chores because my mother allowed me sit in the big red chair in the living room and read. When I grew up, I taught literature. I’m not sure what prompted me to begin writing creatively. Perhaps it was a desire to tell my children, who were in junior high at the time, about me—if they’d listen. I had to tell a good story; it couldn’t be boring or preachy. I learned to write at my dining room table with loud music and kids doing homework. I read to my dogs, whose ears pricked up—or didn’t. When my children were in college, I edited art and literary magazines and received an MFA in creative writing. For the last four years, I’ve been teaching at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I’m inspired by the opportunity to help others discover their own way with words.

News: The essay, “A Floater on the Course,” which was originally published in Hot Metal Bridge, is anthologized in Best of the Web 2009.