About

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I have a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley and an MFA in fiction from the University of Florida. As an undergrad, I won first place in UC Berkeley’s Julia Shrout Short Fiction contest and have had pieces from my story collection, THE PIG FLOWER, published in small journals.  I'm inspired by Edward Gorey, Roald Dahl, Haruki Murakami, Flannery O'Connor, Angela Carter, Kurt Vonnegut,  Shirley Jackson, and David Lynch. I recently finished writing my third book, a literary horror novel called RADIOGIRL, and am currently at work on another one: a dark tale about best-friendship and the Church of Satan.

My own early attempts at writing were self-conscious and painful. I built eerie, tottering worlds full of criminals and devils, casinos and liars, zombies, sharks, murderers, mothers. I spent hours writing in loud cafes, drinking cold coffee, chain-smoking Camel Lights, and fine-tuning my words with the exaction of a savant while internally berating my abilities.

Thankfully, I’ve changed my writing process. I’ve done it by writing, by giving myself permission to create without the stranglehold imperative that what I produce must be “good.” Sometimes I give myself the direction to “write something crappy” today—which is great motivation, and of course when I “fail,” I rejoice in that. Set it up in your head so that the thing you love, that is your calling, that rolls you out of bed in the morning to live your truths, isn’t something you turn against yourself!