What we can work on together

• Turning a vague idea into a clear, compelling premise.

• Building protagonists with strong goals, flaws, fears, and arcs.

• Strengthening plot, causality, stakes, and escalation.

• Developing antagonists, opposition, and conflict.

• Creating supporting casts and relationship arcs that matter.

• Outlining a novel before drafting.

• Diagnosing structural problems in a messy draft.

• Turning feedback into practical next steps.

• Building a drafting or revision plan you can actually follow.

My approach

I believe good story guidance should be specific, kind, and useful. You won’t leave with vague encouragement or a pile of confusing notes. I aim to provide you with an understanding of what’s working, what needs attention, and what to do next.

My work focuses on helping writers see the shape of their stories. Let’s discover what the protagonist wants, what pressure drives the plot, what emotional change the story is building toward, and how each part of the novel can work together!

Experience

I bring a mix of creative, editorial, teaching, and deeply human experience to my work with writers.

My work has appeared in The First Line, Hare’s Paw Literary Journal, Stoneboat Magazine, and This Ink Runs Cold, an anthology edited by Scott Morse. I’ve also worked with traditional publishers such as PUG Publishing and Cryptozoic, where I provided creative consulting and novel outlining for novels, games, and other commercial media.

I began my career as Editor-In-Chief of the Lakeland Mirror Newspaper and assistant editor for the literary magazine Seems under Karl Elder. After working as an AmeriCorps literacy tutor and archival specialist for the Department of Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL), I spent years as a professional dating coach — work that sharpened my understanding of desire, conflict, vulnerability, communication, and the strange, complicated ways people try to connect. I also worked as a professional songwriter / touring artist, and have been part of the Steel Bridge Songfest and writers collective alongside artists including Pat MacDonald and Jackson Browne.

I hold a degree in creative writing from Lakeland University and completed the PocketMFA fiction writing program in 2023. I’ve studied writing in intensive community settings, including Laura Davis’s Stories That Make Us Whole: The Power of Writing in Sacred Community at Esalen and the Esalen Writer’s Camp with Writing by Writers.

I currently teach courses on novel workshopping and outlining, helping writers move from early ideas and messy drafts toward stronger, clearer, more intentional stories.