People ask me, "What do you do?"
When some people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them that I'm a writer, they pause and look at me with a knowing gaze that says back to me, "Sure you are." Those are people who have never dreamed. They're people with no creativity, no imagination. Yet sometimes I look at certain people after I tell them what I do and they say, "Cool. What do you write?" I generally make those people my friend.
Where I've Been and Where I Am Now
I've been lucky, having had my first magazine article published when I was twenty-three. I've written for Emergency Services Magazine, Mahogany, the Angelo Art Magazine; I had a column in The Corydon Democrat that ran irregularly over 2 years. My work has also appeared in Hear & There literary magazine, The Courier-Journal, the IUS Review, the IU Southeast Undergraduate Research Journal, and the IU Southeast Research Journal: Special Edition.
In my spare time, I enjoy creative nonfiction and essay writing. I'm working on a book based off one of my award-winning short stories. I also dabble in poetry, but everyone is safer when I stay away from that specific genre as much of my poetry sounds like diary entries penned by a thirteen-year-old girl.
My influences are David Sedaris, Truman Capote, Augusten Burroughs, and Jhumpa Lahiri.
I am influenced by the visual storytelling of Paul Thomas Anderson, M. Night Shyamalan, and J.J. Abrams.
And finally, the art of Theodore Gericault, Gusatv Klimt, and Frida Kahlo influence my work.