Why does one person survive while another is lost? Can past transgressions be atoned for? What if someone were torn from a plane at 34,000 feet—and lived to tell the tale?
I write to explore the questions that unsettle us.
In my latest novel, The Falling, a woman plummets 34,000 feet—and survives, though survival is never as simple as it seems. In The Bears of Winter, a woman returns to her ramshackle hometown in remote Alaska to uncover secrets about her past, discovering the fallibility of memory. This story was partly written in an off-the-grid yurt one cold Alaskan winter. My first novel, The Long Thirst, was born from months spent drifting across Northern India on a shoestring budget. It’s a modern-day female Siddhartha story about a woman transporting her husband’s cryogenically frozen body across those arid plains.
My stories are about seekers, often women who must find their strength—stories where the landscape is a force of its own. At the heart of my work is the belief that even in our darkest moments, meaning can be forged, lost power can be reclaimed, and even when we are most unmoored, there is still something to tether us—if only we reach for it.
My work has received the Zola Award, Jean M. Auel Mainstream Novel, at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference; 1st runner-up for the William Faulkner/William Wisdom Award, novel-in-progress; 2nd place for the Kay Snow Award, Willamette Writers Conference (Oregon); and was a finalist for the UNO Award. My shorter works have appeared in Seattle, Aboard, Northwest Travel, The Rozella Review, Transitions Abroad, Mature Living, The Double Dealer, and more.
I am a flight attendant by trade, which keeps me on the move, always collecting stories. When not traveling, I live on the shores of the Puget Sound with my partner and enjoy cooking, gardening, and exploring the bountiful Pacific Northwest.
All three novel manuscripts are complete, and I am now seeking new representation (or publication).