About Me

I am a writer and artist born and raised in the woodsy hills of northeastern Connecticut. I earned a B.A. in English from UConn and an M.F.A. in Creative & Professional Writing from WCSU. I'm now a PhD candidate at Binghamton University. My fields of study are creative writing, Gothic literature, and the contemporary thriller novel. I'm an instructor at Binghamton University where I teach academic research writing, creative writing, and oral communications. Currently, I'm working on a YA mystery thriller. I also write microfiction/flash fiction, short stories, and poetry. Recently, I've gotten into creative nonfiction and the merging of text + image. I'm a huge fan of combining and balancing digital and analog. I'm also a self-taught visual artist and photographer, which I've been involved with since I was a child in the '80s and '90s.  I have work published in 70+ literary journals. My work has been anthologized with Kasva Press (Israel), Running Wild Press (Los Angeles), and Scribes Valley Publishing (Tennessee), and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. 

Most importantly, I love writing and the creative life, and I cannot imagine thriving in this crazy world without it. Art for art's sake.

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For my visual art, I use various mediums, including acrylics, watercolors, crayons, colored pencils, pastels, pens and pencils. I like to play around with whatever feels natural in the moment. I also enjoy collecting tidbits from nature while I'm out hiking, like tiny flowers, chips of Mica, a bird feather. If the specimen is too big, I will photograph it and then draw and paint it. Sometimes, I will dry and press plants and flowers to use in my mixed media pieces. I'm also a big fan of collage, visual essays, that text + image element--the analog side of things although I'm a fan of digitally manipulating pieces by playing around with color, texture, saturation, layering. I am not a fan of AI and I do not use it in my professional, artistic work.  Bottom line, art is an organic process for me. It's a human process that reveals, exerts, and heals the soul. It's a spiritual process where artificiality has no place existing. It also needs freedom and space to flourish. It needs pain and joy. It needs heartbreak and destruction. It needs ecstasy and peace. It needs a soul--people care about where a creation comes from. People care about the story behind the creation. AI has no story. I also believe that my visual art feeds my writing, and vice versa. It's always been a symbiotic relationship. 

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I love the outdoors and anything that allows me to breathe in blue skies and green trees, or even snowy afternoons. I appreciate the four magical seasons that come with living in the northeast. I love hiking, walking, and gentle yoga. I like to study botany and art, and I read many genres. I also have a fondness for pop culture directly related to the '80s and '90s, especially music and movies, and these interests directly influence my work. Since I'm a self-taught artist, I take advantage of the plethora of art books out there and I'm always on the lookout for inspiring people--other artists, writers, creators, and educators. I'm open to collaboration if I can get excited about a project. I've been involved in many collaborations through the university, specifically the art and music departments. 

I'm also a road tripper, a traveler. Moonlit highways. Gas station coffee. Motel pools. The blue light of dusk. What more can you ask for?

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