author + editor + teacher
I have news! My third novel, Girlfriending, will be published in February of 2026 by Third Rail Press. Girlfriending is a spinoff of my story, “The Goddess of Illicit Choices,” which won the 2024 Zona Gale award for short fiction.
My debut novel, Stiltsville, was awarded the 2011 PEN/Bingham prize, and my second novel, Sea Creatures, was a Target Book Club pick. I’m a graduate of Columbia University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and was a Teaching-Writing Fellow at the Writers’ Workshop and a Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow at the UW Institute for Creative Writing. I’ve been awarded fellowships at UCross and the MacDowell Colony, and my writing has been published widely.
In 2013, I co-founded the Madison Writers’ Studio with author Michelle Wildgen. We offer high-level, deep-dive workshops live on Zoom and in person in Madison, Wisconsin. Before MWS, I taught creative writing for ten years at University of Iowa, UW-Madison, and Madison College.
My online course and community, Write Your Novel, is the culmination of everything I’ve learned about starting, getting through, and finishing a novel.
XO,
books + stories + essays
let’s work together!
An intense, high-level workshop for writers of all experience levels and genres. High-level feedback and focused attention. Meant for writers who can commit to reading as well as writing.
A self-paced support program designed to help you write a stellar first draft, plus community forums, office hours with me, writing exercises, accountability check-ins, and more.
EDITING + COACHING
One-on-one feedback as you write or rewrite your novel or memoir. Meant for writers who want personalized feedback, deadlines, and encouragement.
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