I grew up on a ranch in western Nebraska and started writing poems in high school. I earned a BA in English and business administration with endorsements in secondary education from Nebraska Wesleyan University. I won the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize, the Denver Woman’s Press Club Unknown Writers’ Contest, and others. From 2011 – 2016, I taught poetry to hundreds of elementary and high school students as a writer-in-residence for the Colorado Humanities Writers-in-the Schools program. It was fun work, and I learned a lot, but the program ran out of funding. I recently quit my job of eight years as an office manager of a law firm and am looking forward to spending more time on my writing.