Writing chose me, rather than the other way around.

I generated a lot of crazy, roadtripping fiction as a young teen, mostly to get a laugh out of my classmates. But my twenties and beyond have been spent NOT writing, but living: traveling, studying languages, spending seventeen years in Western and Central Europe, Canada, China and Australia. I most recently did a three-month stint in Central America, coinciding with some cool writing classes that have helped me fine-tune my work.

Now I'm back in the Pacific Northwest, editing stories and book drafts. Gimme, gimme stories. The edgier, the better. Stories should fill you up and make your nose burn, like wasabi. They should continue on in your mind, off of the page.

I like to write memoir, short fiction, and the occasional crazy poem. My stories/articles have been published in Hip Mama magazine (the print one out of Portland) and ORBIDA. I also founded a literary magazine, Penduline (www.pendulinepress.com), with Issue 1 coming out in June 2011.

I'm excited about my first book—it was vetted by my writing peers in Seattle, Portland, Santa Fe, Charlotte, and Northern California, and I hope that readers will enjoy the ironic, social-commentary twist put on the standard murder mystery formula. I think it's fun read for anyone about to go do some vacationing in Costa Rica.

I'm not done writing about Central America, either...the gringo-meets-Tica/Nica theme has all kinds of flavors of crazy to it. My next murder mystery is set in Nicaragua, and is an indirect continuation of my first.

All book proceeds (after my publishing costs) are going toward sponsorship of Central American students ages 11-25 to continue their secondary and higher education. So buy & read my book, and tell your friends to, too. Support BECA.org, la-esperanza-granada.org, and other worthy grassroots programs!

Website: http://pendulinepress.com
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