“The directness of this essay is jarring in the best way possible. In unearthing dark truths, and honestly exploring the sides most of us wish to keep hidden, the author shows the truth about our own complicated desires.”

Mina Manchester, final judge of 2023’s Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest,
on my essay “Pervert”

The popularity of memoirs in the 90s and the re-emergence of the personal essay in the past decade has been immensely freeing and exciting for those of us who often find ourselves scribbling down thoughts on a long subway ride home or as a way to clear our dusty brains in between working on the latest chapter of a novel.  I love the personal essay because I generally can write the first draft in a single sitting, which is both rewarding and reassuring.  Unlike my fiction, my creative nonfiction pieces generally are motivated by current events, which renders me extremely sad or frustrated, or just some nagging issue that pulls at me enough to distract me from my longer writing projects. Whether based on real life or written from my imagination, I still draw heavily on narrative techniques and devices to bring readers into the story.

While I have published more than a dozen essays in lit magazines, below are links to those of my published essays currently available online:

Pervert, Honorable Mention, Winning Writers’ Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest 2023, First published in a slightly different form in ACM: Another Chicago Magazine, Vol 39, this essay explores the nature of ambition and how far we are willing to go to achieve our dreams.

Some Thoughts on Cancel Culture, Areo Magazine, November 22, 2021.  The embrace of cancel culture by both the right and the left in the United States poses a real danger to democratic principles.

Hope in a Jar, Mr. Bellers’ Neighborhood, August 23, 2008.When vanity meets Madison Avenue, how do you find the ultimate cure for wrinkles, dark spots and the horrible feeling that time is moving much too quickly?

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