In the office of one of my English Department colleagues hung Mary Oliver’s warning: “The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” I have never been one to live life with regrets, so, these days, I consider myself fortunate to reside in North Carolina with my southern husband, intent upon writing a novel (historical fantasy) and the occasional poem or short form creative nonfiction. Because “geology is genealogy” (Terry Tempest Williams), you might notice the profound impact of both the Rust Belt and the Sun Belt on my work, as I always have one foot in each. Besides explorations of place and identity, in my writing you’ll find alternate history and witches, ethics and philosophy, a love of language(s), and female characters sick to death of confining gender roles.
Writers depend upon community. I am so grateful for my Charlotte Lit comrades and my friends in the Accountability Workshop (created by Tessa Fontaine and Annie Hartnett) for shaping my craft and keeping me afloat.
