Who am i?

Born and raised in Fayetteville, Arkansas, I spent my youth frolicking in the woods and losing myself in books.  Even at this age, the allure of crafting worlds of my own pulled at something deep within me.  I ventured to St. Louis for college, majoring in English, and learned an invaluable lesson: I couldn’t write.  Not feeling unemployable enough, I returned to Fayetteville to get a master’s in English, and then settled, for some reason surprisingly, into a year of semi-unemployment.

I then embarked on a career I truly love: teaching high school English.  I am in a state of perpetual wonder at who my students are—the vitality of their passions and the courage with which they bear all the burdens of youth.  And most rewarding is seeing the same passion for reading I felt at their age ignite within them as well.  Seeing this over the years is what propelled me to try my hand at writing again.  My deepest hope is that my own works can carry the fire to others.

Currently, when I’m not writing, I spend my time falling in love with my wife and romping around with my son.  I also board game.  A lot.

What am i reading?

I just picked up Marie Rutkoski's Winner's Curse and am loving it!  

I also recently fell in love with V. E. Schwab's This Savage Song.  The prelude chapters are a perfect example of how to start a story--they engage you immediately with characters who have a distinct voice and ease you into the complex world they live in.  I already plan on using them in my creative writing class!

What am I playing?

In my weekly game nights, I've been playing the delightful legacy-style dungeon crawler Gloomhaven, though I occasionally take a break to get games like Scythe and Mansions of Madness 2nd Ed. to the table. My favorite game, though, is Star Wars: Imperial Assault. In Skirmish, I placed in the top 16 at Worlds this year, and hopefully I can make the top 4 at Gen Con! So many games, so little time...