"The Urg" Wins Best of the Net 2019

Best of the Net 2019 Anthology (Cover image: "Surrendered to the Air" by Rhonda Lott)

I’m so honored and excited and humbled to share that my short story “The Urg” was announced as a winner of Best of the Net 2019. It is a dream come true to see my name written alongside the likes of Camille T. Dungy, Kristen Arnett, and Roxane Gay, and I am so incredibly grateful to Megan Giddings and Sundress Publications for selecting my work, as well as the entire team at Porter House Review for nominating my story. “The Urg” was originally published by Porter House Review, as the winner of their inaugural Editor’s Prize for Fiction.

Check out the Best of the Net 2019 anthology here, or read “The Urg” here.

New YA Class in Asheville, NC: Writing the Young Adult Novel

Join me on Saturday, October 26th, at the Writers Workshop of Asheville in NC for a day of discussing your Young Adult novel. We’ll discuss such things as: distinguishing between YA and teen protagonists in adult fiction; making your teen experience relevant to today’s young readers; sex in YA; relevant, teen-specific details, and more. We’ll do a mini workshop, and you can bring up to 3 pages and a synopsis to review. Tickets are $75, with a discount for members, and can be purchased here: https://www.twwoa.org/workshops.html.

Hope to see you in Asheville!

Winner - Porter House Review Prize for Fiction

Please forgive the extremely late announcement, but I am so thrilled to share with you that my short story “The Urg” won the inaugural Porter House Review Prize for Fiction in March 2019! I completed this story while working with Willy Vlautin and Jack Driscoll at Pacific University, and am so, so grateful for their advice, feedback, and support. I am also incredibly grateful to the team at Porter House Review, and so proud of an accomplishment that four years ago I believed impossible.

Read the “The Urg” here, but please be warned, it involves disordered eating, which may upset some readers.

Writing YA Fiction Class - 2/23

On Saturday, February 23rd, I’ll be teaching a course on Writing YA Fiction at the Writers Workshop of Asheville. Come learn about establishing an authentic voice, common pitfalls to avoid, how to deal with more adult themes, and more. The class meets from 10–4 p.m., and costs $75, or $70 for Workshop members.  https://www.twwoa.org/workshops.html

I hope to see you there!

New Fiction on LITRO

I am so thrilled and honored that Litro chose my newest short story, "What the River Takes," for their #SundayStory feature. Litro is one of the UK's leading arts and literary magazines, and has been a long-time dream publication for me. This story is about guilt and consequences, and feeling like you don't belong, and I'm so excited to share it with you. You can read it online here.