The Basics

I'm a child of God and, as Maya Angelou said, “I always carry that with me.”

Also, in middle school, while volunteering at our church's VBS, I met a guy with the same name as me; we flirted over cookie and lemonade breaks and then over the next eight years, we broke up and got back together 1,000 times and are now happily married. You need to know this story because it explains how I met my husband and demonstrates how very Baptist my upbringing was (the fodder for much of writing). Nine years later, Aaron and I are loving life in Jonesboro, AR with two happy and wonderful kids—Sam and Melody—in a 115 year old house.

The Job

I write and edit. Conventional marketing wisdom tells me I’m supposed to have one clear message about who I am and what I do, but guess what conventional marketing wisdom—I’m not a freaking brand. I’m a person who writes and edits, and I do this in a lot of different ways for a lot of different reasons.

I do it because we all feel alone sometimes, and reading the right words can help us feel understood, loved, and seen. I love writing those words for people.

I do it because I want to serve others. A lot of individuals and businesses have great ideas but don’t know how to communicate them. I love working with others to help them find their voice—taking their passion, vision, and wisdom and finding just the right words to tell their story.

I do it because I want to change the world. I work with clients who work, fight, educate, and advocate to help our most vulnerable neighbors. I’m all about using my love of words to join them.

Finally, I do it because followers of Jesus like me tend to get caught in the ditch of performance and rules and the grace of God frees us. I love helping myself and others discover the grace of God in our everyday lives—when we can't stop getting angry, or judging, or falling short of our own expectations.

The Rest

I'm usually joking around at times when I’m not supposed to be. I dance like a fool anytime I hear music. I draw gigantic smiley faces like the one at the top of this page. I love sun, and summer, and water parks. I’ve mentioned that in addition to being a writer and editor, I’m also a language enthusiast—starting a sentence with “There’s a linguistic reason for that” is my love language.