Before I started writing professionally, I filled notebooks and scratch paper with scraps of poetry and fiction. In high school, I aligned myself with the Art Literary Magazine, which published some of my work and I even served as a fiction editor one year. Looking back at yearbook inscriptions, my friends all predicted I’d be a famous writer. But in college, I moved away from writing because I was scared to fail at something I really loved so much.

I found my way to writing despite myself, through journalism and communications work. But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I made my way back to creative writing. In facing the uncertainty and the anxiety of COVID-19, I finally realized that I had nothing to lose in putting my own work out there. I returned to short stories that had been languishing in a Google Drive since, well, Google Drive first launched. I am writing. I am engaging with other writers on social media. And I am submitting my work to any place I can find that seems like a plausible fit.

I have received 20 rejections since January 2021, but I’ve also had five stories accepted for literary sites or readings so it seems worth it! I carve out little windows of time to write and revise each week after my day job. And I am excited to be sharing my work with a small circle of friends, and hopefully, soon with a wider audience!

Check out recent pieces and upcoming events on my Creative Writing page.