About

I am a writer, poet, and teacher. I was born in Syracuse, N.Y. where I spent part of my childhood before moving with my family out to the suburbs. Our subdivision was still being carved from farmers’ fields, and I spent many hours exploring that acreage, often with numerous neighborhood dogs at my side. We had three family dogs – Snowball, Silky, and Tammy – and it was just natural that I’d pick up a few more in my wanderings. It’s no surprise then, that dogs play such a crucial role in my debut novel, The Dog Trainer, and that I gravitated to volunteering at my local animal shelter.

As an adult I moved north, and have been here ever since. For decades I’ve lived in rural areas on roads called “County Route,” with a yard that was measured in acres. In 2018 I moved to a village – my blog posts reflect that change.

My writing spans journal entries, poetry, short and long stories, and essays.

As a free-lance editor I have worked with writers to clarify their writing in books and articles, and I have created indexes. I’ve retired from classroom teaching. Beginning January 1, 2024, I’m a part-time staff member at my local shelter where I will continue to teach: my students now are dogs and shelter volunteers. It’s a good life.

PUBLICATIONS:

The Bangalore Review, 2023. Online. “Packing/Unpacking,” a short, short story.

Earth Care: An Anthology of poetry and essays about Ecology, 2022. Online. Two poems: “Irish Potato Famine,” and “Housing Development,” and an essay, “Redlining: An Inheritance.”

Main Street Rag, Fall 2020. “Nostalgia,” a short story

Obelus Review, 2020 (Fiction, Front page, No. 2) My first online publication, a flash nonfiction piece, “On Going Into the World, Instructions for a Bookworm.” Sadly it appears the publication has closed and the website no longer is available.

Dragonfly Arts Magazine, 2019. “Turning Point,” a poem

Tule Review, 2016, “The remarkable thing . . . ” a poem, with thanks to Howard Ensign Evans, author of “Wasp Farm”

The Aurorean, 2015, “Country Eyes,” a poem

Blueline: A Literary Magazine Dedicated to the Spirit of the Adirondacks, a book review of Jennifer Bove’s A Mile in Her Boots

JAEPL (an NCTE affiliated publication), Online“The Other End of the Kaleidoscope: Configuring Circles of Teaching and Learning,” an essay written with co-authors Victoria Levitt and Jennifer Mitchell

and links to resources I’ve found very helpful:

Jane Friedman’s blog : If you’re looking for practical advice on getting published, this is a great place to start and end. Jane’s advice is practical and straightforward – my favorite kind.

Susan Henderson’s blog, Lit Park: If you’re looking for company on the road to writing and encouragement to keep on, this is a great blog to browse – start with older blogs and read your way up so you travel along as Susan works from draft to draft to successful launch of her latest book.

Paul Brians’ Common Errors in English: If you’re looking for no-nonsense (i.e., my way or the highway) opinions about “correct” usage you’ll be in the right place. The organization is a little old fashioned (i.e., clean and simple).