I’m a writer, and writing coach.

My book of essays, Souvenir,  and a poetry collection, Immortal Village, were published by Carnegie Mellon University Press. I’m also the author of Near Breathing, a memoir, and editor of the anthology Survival Stories: Memoirs of Crisis. My work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Harvard Review, Massachusetts Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, and elsewhere. I write screenplays with my sister, Cecily Rhett, and our Hallmark Mystery, “Abracadaver,” premiered in 2020.

I’ve taught for many years in MFA programs and open-enrollment workshops, working with dozens of writers at every age and stage. The recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship in nonfiction and a fellowship at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, I’m a Professor of English at Gettysburg College, where I teach creative writing to undergraduates. My degrees are a BA (Humanities) and MA (The Writing Seminars) from the Johns Hopkins University, and an MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.

I live in the city, love the country. I’m a cat person who also has a dog—call me even-tempered.