About this Service

I am offering manuscript critique, editing, guided reading, and private tutorials on short fiction. If you're struggling to bring your work to its deepest level, let's meet. Fiction is medicine, in my view, both for its author and its readers, and the writing of fiction should be a healing process, a growth opportunity for the creator. If you share your work with me, I will read and comment, return it to you for your review, and then we can talk about what the piece wants to be, your process, and what's in its way.

About this Lister

I have a career in, believe it or not, public transit, but I also hold two degrees in creative writing and am the author of a handful of well-regarded short stories. My teachers were phenomenal. I learned from them how to read evolving work and the honorable task of standing nearby as its creator brings it to its fullest manifestation. I enjoy listening to and speaking with writers. I also enjoy giving deep attention to written work and asking questions to help guide further development. My reading list is old school. There is much very contemporary literature that I know is excellent, I just return to the medicine that has worked to make my fiction better and that I can confidently consult. I don't read genre work -- it's just not my gift.

Background and Expertise

My work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, The Georgia Review, Lumina Journal, and Exquisite Corpse. It has been anthologized in Best Stories of the American West, and 18 Lies and 3 Truths. My stories have been nominated for a Pushcart and received a Pushcart Special Mention. My first published short story was listed as one of 2010's Top Sex Stories by Narrative Magazine.