My origin story

Since Grandma taught me to read my first book as a toddler, I’ve been a menace at the written word. My first record of trying to profit off of writing was a stack of handwritten flyers I worked up for the local used car dealership at age 6 - I didn’t get that account, but I did keep on with the writing.

After earning a B.A. in English/Communications from Truman State University, I started work as a reporter at a small weekly newspaper in Missouri, where over the course of five years I earned a number of state and national awards. I moved to East Tennessee, where I spent several years as a freelance journalist, legal assistant, temp, and professional poor person until I was hired in 2007 as an editor at an Indiana-based agricultural newspaper. These days I still do some freelance writing and editing from time to time, including recent contributions to Forbes.com.

For fun, I write occasional columns for this site, read history and sci-fi/thriller, learn more about cooking, sometimes tackle cosplay construction, and procrastinate about whether to tear down the old treehouse in my backyard. You can contact me via email.