Consulting

When I began publishing poetry over a decade ago, I was working at a corporate job and reading as much poetry as I could on the side. After countless community readings and writing workshops, what started as a clandestine passion had become a serious center of my life. While I was getting recognition for my work locally, I wasn’t sure what my next steps were supposed to be. Quit my job and get an MFA? Keep writing while I still had a 401k, potentially to be in the same position ten years later? It seemed that I was constantly weighing my economic security against my desire to improve my writing and to find a community of peers and mentors.

The rest, of course, is history. But I’ve never forgotten what it felt like to crave mentorship, community, and a close reader who could help my writing get to the next level. After responding to writers at all stages of their journeys at The Reading and working with students from undergraduates to working adults, I now understand this is a natural step in the growth of a writer.

Teaching in the low-residency MFA program that started it all, the MFA Program at Warren Wilson College, has made me especially attuned to the power of individual attention and feedback, and the consulting services I offer are designed for writers at those crucial moments when a precise and encouraging reader is needed, whether that’s the tipping point between a pile of poems and a collection or the first time new drafts are getting compiled for a much-needed residency application or sought-after journal’s submission portal.

The writers I can serve best often remind me of where I was: now past beginners, they have put in the work and gone as far as possible alone. Whether you are an emerging poet or seasoned one, these are my offerings to ease those bends in the road. I look forward to hearing from you.