: About Me

I grew up and now live in Canada's capital, a city joggers, families, and gorgeous greenscapes. My love of culture and inspiration came from four years in Montreal studying English and discovering grungy hipster cafes and bars. And my beat is travel, adventure - from sailing down the Mississippi to the Caribbean on a tall ship, to stumbling upon a market in Kenya in all its riotous color, to ghosting past mating whales at sunset on the east coast.

My passion is ...

torn between travelling, and sailing, and writing about both

I know too much about ...

rigging brigantines

My parents always told me ...

treat the world and the people around you with care

My childhood ambition ...

if I had stopped to think - to be a writer

My favorite memory ...

my fathers eyes when he smiled

Why I write ...

on impulse, and to make the things I see and feel clear and beautiful

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

always changing

My first job ...

other than two days at Dairy Queen, Petty Officer on a sail training vessel

My best moment ...

(one of many) screaming under the bridge at the Straights of Mackinac, under full sail at a good eight knots, gripped by sheer exhaustion and the anticipation of turning her bowsprit south at last

My inspiration ...

my experiences - what I see, feel, and hear around me

Creative Writing > Novel Excerpts Novel excerpts: Life

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The seas crash against her full breasts, her sculpted gilt ringlets, and her painted Mona Lisa smile. Her shoulders thrust seamlessly out from the pointed prow a proud, living figurehead. A hundred feet away, I can feel the spray she flings at me, laughingly. My hands are on the smooth wood of the helm; I guide her into the troughs, rocking her gently. The ship's sails luff quick puffs of breath. I match the rhythm of my breathing to them. My lungs fill as the ship's sails grow taught in the quickening breeze. * * * Her breath beaded delicately on the plastic oxygen mask. I could barely se...

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