Education

• MFA, Creative Writing, Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University
• B.A., American Studies, Whitworth University, summa cum laude

Current Positions

• Senior Development Writer, Whitworth University, 2008-Present
• Editor, Whitworth Today Magazine, 2017-Present
• Creative Nonfiction Editor, Wandering Aengus Press, 2018-Present

Selected Editing Credits

• Copyeditor, When I Say the Bones, I Mean the Bones, poetry by Amanda Hawkins, Wandering Aengus Press, forthcoming 2025
• Copyeditor, Studio of the Voice, essays by Marcia Aldrich, Wandering Aengus Press, 2024
• Creative nonfiction editor and proofreader, Rock & Sling: A Journal of Witness, 2010-2023
• Craft essay editor, Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, 2008-2023
• Copyeditor, Meditations for a New Century, essays by Lucy Ferris, Wandering Aengus Press, 2022
• Copyeditor, In Praise of Inadequate Gifts, essays by Tarn Wilson, Wandering Aengus Press, 2021
• Copyeditor, Going Feral: Field Notes on Wonder and Wanderlust, essays by Heather Durham, Wandering Aengus Press, 2019
• Copyeditor, Vanish, poems by Kevin Miller, Wandering Aengus Press, 2019
• Copyeditor, Washington 129 poetry anthology edited by Tod Marshall, Washington State Poet Laureate 2016-18, Sage Hill Press, 2017
• Assistant nonfiction editor, Being: What Makes a Man – Nonfiction and Poetry  University of Nebraska Gender Programs, 2014
• Assistant nonfiction editor, Becoming: What Makes a Woman – Nonfiction and Poetry, University of Nebraska Gender Programs, 2012

Published Works

• Interview and case study, Invisible Art: A Field Guide to Literary Editing, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023
• Essay, “If Swans Could Speak,” New England Review, 2021
• Essay, “Shadow Animals,” This Impermanent Earth: Environmental Writing from The Georgia Review, University of Georgia Press, 2021
• Memoir, The Solace of Stones: Finding a Way through Wilderness, University of Nebraska Press, 2016 (Fun aside: The Solace of Stones was selected for the 2023 Iced Tea & Porch Reads program through Spokane County Library, which recommended pairing the memoir with mint tea: “Mint is cool and refreshing like an evening breeze. It can be sweetened by honey, but it also has a bite.”)
• Essay, “Shadow Animals,” The Georgia Review, 2013; received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention; nominated for a National Magazine Award (Fun aside: A section of the essay is featured in the “citing journals” portion of The MLA Handbook 9th ed., 2021)

Online Essays

• “Water I Gladly Drank,” Rock & Sling
• “Sweet Child, You Are Loved,” Rock & Sling
• “Camp Elohim,” How to Pack for Church Camp
• “Less Me, More We: Transforming the Personal into the Collective,” University of Nebraska Press Blog
• “Slow Down: Interrogating the Past Takes Time,” Brevity Blog
• “Skip the Cotton Candy: Writing Is Sweeter,” Rock & Sling Blog

Selected Readings, Workshops, and Panels

• Guest speaker, graduate seminar course, Publishing Nonfiction, taught by Professor of English Lisa Knopp, University of Nebraska-Omaha, 2023
• Listen to Your Mother Spokane, “These Words Are True,” May 2018
• Workshop leader, “Navigating the Perils of Writing about Family,” Safety Harbor Writers and Poets Conference, Clearwater, Fla., 2017
• Reading and craft Q&A, Visiting Writers Forum, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, Fla., 2017
• Reading, BookPeople of Moscow, Idaho, 2016
• Creative nonfiction panel, with Cindy Hval and Elissa Washuta, Get Lit! Festival, Spokane, Wash., 2016
• Reading, Q&A, and book signing, with Marc Beaudin, Get Lit! Festival, Spokane, Wash., 2016
• Reading, Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane, Wash., 2016
• Reading, Garfield Book Company, Tacoma, Wash., 2016
• Panel, “Writing the Natural-World Memoir: Discoveries of Self and Other in the Wild,” Montana Book Festival, Missoula, 2016

Other Literary Citizenship

• Manuscript Review, University of Nebraska Press, 2018
• Nonfiction Judge, Annual Kenai Peninsula Writers Contest, 2014
• Essay Contest Screener, Annual Artsmith Literary Award, 2008-2012

Teaching Experience

• Recurring guest instructor, Department of English, Whitworth University:

EL-344 Personal Narrative
EL-347 Creative Nonfiction Writing
EL-348 Literary Editing & Design
EL-356 Environmental Writing
EL-444 Advanced Writing Workshop
EL-498 Senior Portfolio

Employment History

• Editor, Whitworth Today Magazine, Whitworth University, 2018-Present
• Senior Development Writer, Whitworth University, 2009-Present
• Associate Editor, Whitworth Today Magazine, Whitworth University, 2009-17
• Public Information Officer & Assistant Editor of Whitworth Today, Whitworth University, 1998-2008
• Features Correspondent, The Spokesman-Review, 1998-99
• Court Reporter and Photo Archivist, The Spokesman-Review, 1995-98
• Editorial Assistant/Reporter, Journal of Business, 1994
• English Instructor, Shikoku Gakuin University, Japan, 1993-94