About

I grew up in a rural area on a farm that didn’t truly function as one. My grandparents no longer had the strength to maintain the land, so they rented out their plots for income. For seven years I lived in near isolation. My family rarely socialized, and because of that I turned inward, toward the fantastical, toward story-driven companionship. That inward turn is something that still drives me to create the written work today.

For the next seven years, I lived in a small rural town, where I found a small group of like-minded friends who lived nearby and shared an interest in the arts. In the seven years that followed, I moved to a small city that I came to call home for many ears. I worked night shift jobs and lived on the south side of the city, spending my days reading both non-fiction and fiction.

During middles school and high school, I developed a deep passion for writing and studied it as I could. When discussing my future, however, my family encouraged me to pursue something more financially secure. I followed that path and ultimately failed out of that college program. I failed out of art school, simply because it was not a true passion of mine. For years I drifted away from my real path as a writer, even become a perpetual starter programmer, but I almost failed out of that program in the current university I attend.

After taking a difficult look at my habits and the things that truly bring me joy, I realized it is time to pursue what has always been there: writing. Whether it remains a hobby or becomes a profession, I know that before I leave this earth I need to write, to release the stories waiting in the dark alleys of my mind.

My educational background now focuses on technical writing, but throughout my semesters at Iowa State University, I have detoured into creative writing and have found a passion in those areas. My degree is in Technical Communication, but my body of work focuses on fiction, non-fiction, and some poetry.
My future professional interest is pursuing an MFA in creative writing studies! A new adventure I didn’t see coming, but was energized by the process. In the future, I could teach at a community college or return to communication positions. At this point in my life, my ultimate goal is to say I can write for a living.

Some of my strengths are original/unique narratives, strong emotional resonances, and interesting hooks/ideas. Some of my weaknesses are clarity between scenes, characters and between fantasy/realities. The big focus is clarity. I can understand, because with my pieces so far I’ve been trying to experiment with surrealism with a slice of life. I enjoy the ambiguity of narrative stories, the weirdness, unpredictability, and uncomfortable situations we find ourselves in at times—I enjoy the author playing out the story, but not giving me details on why. It’s up to me to piece the narrative together to formulate my own perception of the world and that energies me as a reader and writer. I think I can do that, but balancing (and understanding the right tools)  clarity without giving too much away. 

I value open-minded bodies of work, and I want to convey that in my pieces as well. The world is full of artificial challenges, but we need written works to describe human experiences for future generations fully.