Essays
Essays is the home for my nonfiction writing.
These pieces grow out of experience and attention to the forces that shape private lives: family, care, responsibility, identity, power, and belief. Some essays stay close to the personal. Others step back to examine patterns, systems, or tensions that resist easy resolution.
What connects them is not argument or conclusion, but a commitment to looking carefully and allowing complexity to remain intact.
When Did We Become Cowards? Book Bans and Censorship
A reflection on book bans, censorship, and our growing fear of difficult ideas—and why courage, not silence, is required to defend free speech.
My Wicked Good List of Universal Truths About Writing Fiction
Writing fiction comes with its own set of truths—ignore the wisdom of these truths at your own peril. This is my ongoing record of the lessons I return to when the work gets hard.
An Excellent Sample of My Authorial Voice
A craft-focused reflection on authorial voice, comparing critique feedback, literary influences, and an AI-generated rewrite to examine how my writing is developing.
Do You Know About the Prechter Bipolar Research Program?
A personal and research-informed look at the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Program and why greater awareness of bipolar disorder research offers real hope.
How To Use Authorial Voice To Find New Reads
A practical exploration of authorial voice, showing how understanding an author’s voice, or writing style, can help readers find new books and writers deepen their craft.
Hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing: Perspective on Pursuing Life Goals
Hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing tested my limits in ways I didn’t expect. Battling wind, cold, and uncertainty, I found myself confronting the same questions that surface when pursuing any meaningful goal: when to turn back, when to persist, and how growth often comes not from reaching the summit, but from continuing when the outcome is unclear.
Personal essays on meaning, idendity, and care
Process, practice, and making stories
Exploring ideas, systems, and hard questions
Books, authors, and ideas in conversation