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      • Clear Out the Static in Your Attic: A Writer’s Guide for Transforming Artifacts into Art
      • Polska, 1994
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A Geography of Reading

"It is by reading novels, stories, and myths that we come to understand the world in which we live." -Orhan Pamuk

Creative Writing

When I’m not reviewing books or working the day job, I’m a freelance writer and novelist. Here are some projects I’m working on:

Books

Clear Out the Static in Your Attic: A Writer’s Guide for Transforming Artifacts into Art

Your guide to endless inspiration. Order a copy today.

Polska, 1994

A coming of age novella about a young girl’s quest to find out why her mother never came home after being arrested by the secret police. Download your copy today.

Works in Progress

I’m hard at work on a second book of fiction as well as a collection of poems. When either is ready for public consumption, I’ll write about it here, until then, please come to a reading to hear excerpts from works in progress.

Other Creative Projects

Books, Writers, and the Publishing Industry

  • Portrait of a Press: Write Bloody Fights to Bring the Stage to the Page (PDF)
  • Portrait of a Press: Canadian Biblioasis Thrives in “South Detroit” (PDF)

The Art of Writing and Editing

  • The Art of Concision: How to Effectively Make Your Point in Fewer Words (PDF)
  • Storytelling 301: Site Content as Story (PDF)
  • For Writers Only: Secrets to Improving Engagement on Your Content Using Word Pictures (and I Don’t Mean Wordle) (PDF)
  • Healthy Practices to Care for Yourself and Your Writing Muse (PDF)

Travel

  • Enduring Paris (A Maptia Editors’ Pick) (PDF)

Additional Information

Information about my professional life and corporate writing projects are available here. For even more information about me, check out my artist resume, artist statement, and contact page.

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My Books

Polska, 1994

Polska 1994

Clear Out the Static in Your Attic

Clear Out the Static in Your Attic_cover

Recent Posts

  • On Creativity and Asking Questions
  • SimCity, Barkskins, and Progress
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  • Woman No. 17, It. Goes. So. Fast. and Writing the Complex Balance of Motherhood
  • Ai Weiwei, The Bicycle Book, and the Art of the Tangible

What I’m Reading

Isla's bookshelf: currently-reading

Birds of America
Birds of America
by Lorrie Moore
The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc.
The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc.
by Jonathan Lethem
The Souls of Black Folk
The Souls of Black Folk
by W.E.B. Du Bois
Bomb: The Author Interviews
Bomb: The Author Interviews
by BOMB Magazine
On Writing
On Writing
by Jorge Luis Borges

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