Education:

Bachelor of Arts in with honors in English, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Masters of Science in Library Science, UNC Chapel Hill.
Certified Mentor, Education for Ministry, Sewanee, Tennessee.

Workshops and Study:

Palm Beach Poetry Festival, Marilyn Nelson, 2006.
Great Smoky Mountain Writers Program, Cathy Smith Bowers, 2006.
North Carolina Writer's Network, Master Class, Katherine Byer, 2005.
Appalachian Writer's Workshop, Hindman Kentucky, 2002-2005
Great Smoky Mountain Writers Program, Katherine Byer, 2004.
North Carolina Writer's Network, Master Class, Michael Chitwood, 2004.
Hambidge, Georgia, workshop with Katherine Byer and Judith Harway, 2003 and 2004.
North Carolina Writer's Network West, workshop with Keith Flynn, 2001.
John C. Campbell Folk School, Master Class, Katherine Byer, 2000.
Great Smoky Mountain Writers Program, Cathey Smith Bowers, 2006 to 2009.
Whidbey Island Writers MFA residency, David Wagoner, 2007, 2008.
Great Smoky Mountain Writers Program, Katherine Soniat, 2011.

Publications:

Rendering the Bones, Wind Publications, 2011.
Brevard, Images of America. Arcadia Publishing, 2004.

Poems have appeared in publications including The Lyricist, Icarus, Wind, Appalachian Heritage, Passager, The Asheville Poetry Review, Lights in the Mountains, Pinesong, Main Street Rag, Pisgah Review,Mourning Katrina, and Kakalak (anthology of N.C and S.C. poets)
Short Story Tender of Last Things, Lonzie's Fried Chicken, 2001.
Short Story The Spirit Tree, Appalachian Heritage, Fall, 2003.
Short Story The Spirit Tree anthologized in Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, 2010.
Smoky Mountain Living articles include: French Broad Riverkeeper; RiverLink; Southern Highland Craft Guild; The Wagon Train; Flying With Southwings; Past Voices of the Mountains; Adelaide Key; Teresa Pennington; Writing from Home; Independent Bookstores; Plum Orchard Forge; Going Back in Time with Ranger Heather; A Day in the Life of a Park Ranger; Hugh Morton, the Man Who Loved a Mountain; Judith Duff of Cedar Mountain Artworks; Stoney Lamar, Mountain Sculptor.

Awards:

Woman in Backyard, finalist in N.C. Poet Laureate Award, 2008
Violins Disintegrate in Flood, winner James Larkin Pearson Free Verse Award, N.C.
Poetry Council, Bay Leaves, 2008.
Spell, 2nd place Charles Shull traditional form, N.C. Poetry Council, Bay Leaves, 2008.
Drawing from Inside Out Honorable Mention, Kakalak, 2006.
The Killing Can, Finalist, Poet Laureate Contest, NC Poetry Society, 2006.
Altars Everywhere, Honorable Mention, Joanna C. Scott Contest, NC Poetry Society, 2006.
Soldiers in World War I Read Maps by the Light of Glow Worms, Honorable Mention, Passager, 2005.
Rendering the Bones, Honorable Mention, James Still Award for Poetry, Appalachian Writers Association, 2004.
The Spirit Tree, Honorable Mention, Denny C. Plattner Award for Excellence in Writing, 2003.
The Third Owl, Honorable Mention, Once Upon A Story sponsored by Crossroads Press, 2003.
In Mendel's Garden, Honorable Mention Now & Then Appalachian Poetry Competition, 2002.
Blue Ridge Mourning, Honorable Mention, Lonzie's Fried Chicken, 2001.

Organizations:

North Carolina Writer's Network
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
South Eastern Outdoor Press Association
North Carolina Poetry Society
Appalachian Writers Association
North Carolina Poetry Council

Work:

From 2002 to 2010, contributing writer and editor-at-large for Smoky Mountain Living magazine, a quarterly magazine covering the mountain counties of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Articles include dining reviews, craft, history, environmental and outdoors emphasis, and pieces on people of interest in the region.

Currently at work on a second Brevard book for Arcadia Publishing as a part of their "Then and Now" series which pairs vintage photographs with modern ones.