For some, writing and traveling are tasks – things to do. Lists must be made, cards must be sent, family requires attention. But for others, present company included, writing and traveling aren’t just activities, they are a way of life, a definition of self. I am a writer. I am a traveler. As equally as I am a daughter and a lover and a friend.
Lucky for me, I discovered a passion for both at once in a sleepy town in the Irish countryside. Frank McCourt, Rita Dove, Joyce Carol Oats — they were all there. They read, and together we wrote. I was 16 and the experience changed my life. Now, nearly a decade later, my living room shelves, chairs and tables are covered in magazines, books and newspapers. The travel sections are neatly filed in color-coded files: “Weird Places,” “Places to Retire,” “Honeymoon?,” “Favorites.”
Professors at the University of Missouri, Columbia — Charles Davis, Jacqui Banaszynski and Berkely Hudson, to name a few — served as more than just my teachers; they were my temporary idols. Under their guidance, I cleared a solid path toward goals that had previously just been visions. And now, here I am, with pen and passport, living the dream.
For more information about my education and professional experience, please take a look at my full Resume
