As a writer and writing teacher for the last twenty years, I've helped students across the United States cultivate a deeper understanding of their lives through storytelling.

I love to use ordinary objects from our lives (the living room couch, the kitchen table, the bathroom sink) as well as old photographs and journals to help students unpack sensory, physical memories that then become scenes that then, when put together, become compelling stories. I'm also particularly interested in finding the ways that narrating the stories of our personal and professional failures can lead to better and more honest writing, as well as (hopefully), better and more honest living.

"EPIC Fail: How Narrating the Stories of Teachers' Professional and Personal Failures Can Help Students Cultivate Resilience" (for Educators); "EPIC Fail: How to Find the Deeper Story in Our Past Failures" (for Multiple Audiences); "What Happens After: Helping Veterans Process Their Military Experience Through Narrative" (primarily for Veterans and Military); "Are You What You Eat?: Using Food to Tell Our Stories" (available in different formats for a variety of audiences); "World-Building in Memoir: Crafting Scenes from Memories" (using photographs, journals, emails, texts to help shape a personal narrative--for multiple audiences); "HAIRstory: How Writing About Our Own Hair Can Help us Unpack Stories of Identity" (for multiple audiences);"Tragi-comedy: How to Tell Your Funny, Sad Stories or Sad, Funny Stories Well" (for multiple audiences); "Intro to Memoir: How to Collect, Structure, and Begin Shaping a Book-Length Personal Narrative" (for multiple audiences, primarily adult). Other workshops available by request.