What are your hobbies and passions (other than writing)?
Adding to my physical TBR pile (which is 3 full bookshelves at this time) and collecting art supplies. (Doing the reading and the crafts are totally separate hobbies.)
What sparked you to become a writer and how did that journey begin?
Funny thing. I didn’t actually want to become a writer. When I was little, I loved reading and wanted to be a Reader when I grew up—like, my job would be to read books all day. (And I totally still hope to find that job!) I got the writing bug in 3rd grade when we had to write a spooky story. I wrote about a world without books. It was the most terrifying story I could imagine.
What’s your favorite kind of chocolate?
I LOVE chocolate! Like, all chocolate. Like, way too much. When I was little, I’d get a little Whitman’s Sampler heart at Valentine’s and kept the cardboard hearts for months to open them up for sniff long after the chocolate had been consumed.
In a fancy chocolate store on Dupont Circle in DC, the beautiful chocolatier, William, helped me procure the makings of a chocolate party featuring the top five chocolate bars in the world. I walked out with $180 of amazing chocolate. The party was delicious.
I started Chocolate Thursday in a previous office job, which featured a different bar or two each week. It was at a company where folks frequently travelled internationally, and they started bringing back chocolate to share. I’d arrive to work and the Chocolate Faeries would have left some wild chocolate from Africa or Ireland or Singapore. It was magic!
What’s the most challenging part of writing for you—plotting, drafting, editing, marketing, etc.?
Yes.
What are your favorite/least favorite genres or forms of writing to create?
LEAST FAVE WRITING GENRES: Thankyou cards, birthday cards, quick notes to say hi. That’s not to say I am not thankful, glad you’re still here to celebrate another year, or just want to say a quick hello—I am! I do!
The challenge is that any blank page comes freighted with the same level of trying to create a new world and story and character depth as a novel. Like, I have to examine the whole relationship, my worthiness as a person, what (I think) the recipient expects of me. If they know that I’m a writer, they expect it to be well written, pithy, smart (or at least, that’s what I think they expect—cue social anxiety spiral). I’m a slow drafter and definitely an adherent of Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Draft” (and drafts 2-14), so my inner writer balks at things that must be quick and jaunty, yet express the sincere and genuine depths of my heart. Ack!
How do you deal with writers’ block and/or procrastination?
Chocolate and binge reading. I’m not saying that’s effective.
Actually, when I get stuck, I’ve got a couple of things I try until one kicks me out of the rut and back on the writing track.
Sometimes it’s jumping ahead a scene or two, then coming back later to fill in the missing parts. That often helps me make the emotional connexion I wasn’t grokking.
Sometimes it’s making a list of the next ten or twenty things that could happen, even if they’re ridiculous, just to get the brain out of the rut. Asking the character what the heck is going on and letting them “answer” me back by doing some stream of conscious, don’t-let-the-pen-stop writing (I first typed “righting” and that’s also kinda accurate) can help.
Stepping away and coming back to something fresh the next day is often helpful.
And back to chocolate and bingeing a book or a show—that’s often helpful even when it’s not the same genre or story-telling mode or situation my characters are going through. There’s usually a small moment that will pop out and go “Hey, your hero needs to see someone else having a moment of connexion with a sibling or partner that reflects what they’re missing/needing,” or “the story definitely needs a talking hedgehog sidekick,” or some such.
Do you like to re-read books or are you a one and done kind of reader?
I don’t reread many books, but I have two reasons (categories?) of books I reread—nostalgia/comfort reads, and then books that blow me away craft wise. I have a few foundational comfort books I’ve reread a few bazillion times. I discovered Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books in 6th grade and read the covers off of two sets through the years. I still pull them out to reread every few years. (Also, totally embarrassingly, I developed an obsession with drinking white grape juice in my teens in imitation of the Benden Wine that’s a featured beverage in the books.)
I read the heck out of Harry Potter when I discovered those in my late 20s and 30s. I got to re-read them a few years ago when my niece turned seven and started reading them. More recently, I discovered both the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and the Farseer books by Robin Hobb. Those were my emotional support books through the pandemic. Both series are these giant door stoppers with a few million words each, and I’ve been through them twice in three years.
Craft-wise, I love Anne Patchett’s State of Wonder (and really, pretty much everything by her), The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Stroudt to name a few. I discovered Naomi Novik a few years ago and have devoured her amazing faerie tale retellings. I’m about to reenter N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy. Her storytelling is phenomenal.
Are grammar rules meant to be broken, bent, or followed to a T?
There is one ironclad rule: Oxford Comma or Die. Everything else is a stylistic choice.
What do you wish you knew when you first started your writing journey?
Create with wild abandon and experiment profusely and relentlessly and playfully without judgement or grades.
A few years ago I read about a study in art school where they divided the pottery class in two. Half the class was graded on working 50 pounds of clay/making roughly 200 cups. The other half only had to make one perfect cup, but that was their whole grade.
The assumption was that the students making the perfect cups would create the best art; however, it was the other half of the class that created better art overall. The 200 cups side got to experiment, iterate, and try and fail lots of times without the pressure of “perfect”, so they got to play more and be creative and innovative. The students making just one cup felt a lot more pressure and didn’t experiment much or try different techniques.
With that freedom, I’d like to think I’d have written dozens and dozens of short stories and plays, experimenting with different techniques, styles, genres, voices. I’ve been working on letting go of creating the “one perfect novel or story” and trying to take the pressure off, trying to play a little more in the writing.
We put so much pressure on even our first stories having to be perfect right out of the gate. (And they must be best sellers, prize-worthy, and ready for Hollywood to snatch them up!) After trying only a few short stories, I jumped right into a novel, but not just that, I decided it needed to have four point of view characters, a multi-level timeline, and a complicated social milieu happening. It took a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time to write that, and longer to finally let it go so I could write other things (fortunately I’ve gotten a bit faster and *maybe* a tiny bit smarter).
I share the 200 cups story with students and fellow writers (and remind myself often) so we can collectively take the pressure off and give ourselves space to experiment and practise and play.
Upcoming classes you might enjoy
Nap-a-thon: a fundraiser for people who are tired. Which, statistically, is everyone.
Nap Ambassador sign ups close Sept 30.
Napping and fundraising happens Oct 1-31.
Come share a meal with other writers and talk shop—craft, process, money, motivation, publishing, rejection, weird writing habits, and whatever’s currently living rent-free in your brain.
Friday, Sept 18 | Noon–1:30 pm
Ages 18+
Get your novel out of your head and onto the page in this 6-month novel-writing cohort with Daryll Lynne Evans.
Begins October 5 | Ages 18+
A 12-week, 6-session critique class for writers ready to move their work forward—with kind, constructive feedback and a welcoming crew of fellow creatives.
Every other Tuesday. Fall Memoir/Creative Nonfiction cohort starts Oct 6, 2026 | Age 16+
A 4-week writing accountability and co-working group to help you make real, steady progress on your writing.
Wednesdays 3-4:30 pm | In person or online | Next cohort starts Oct 7, facilitated by Daryll Lynne Evans | Age 16+
Share your words in sweet community at our monthly open mic emceed by spoken word poet Jorah LaFleur.
Second Thursdays, September through June | Age 14+