Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I begin to describe my experiences as a writer? I started writing poetry as a child. My first grade teacher had us write a poem from our spelling words and it was magic. Words were magic.  When I started writing seriously I was an undergrad at Westminster College and went on to be the editor of Ellipsis: Literature & Art. From 1999 - 2001, I was the president of Writers @ Work. I taught writing at the University of Utah for 20 years and spent 4 of those years as the director of the University Writing Center. 

I am a true believer in practice over inspiration. I write every day. I rewrite constantly.  As Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer says about the practice of writing every day, "it doesn't have to be good, it only has to be true." 

Peggy Shumaker, Jacqueline Osherow, Galway Kinnell, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer,  Matsuo Bashō, David Lee, Anna Akhmatova, Sherman Alexie, Katharine Coles, Louise Gluck, Donald Revell, Lucie Brock-Broido, Agha Shahid Ali, Adrienne Rich, Paisley Rekdal, Hilda Doolittle, Rumi, Thomas Sleigh, Rainer Maria Rilke, Leslie Norris, Lisa Bickmore, Lucille Clifton, Maya Angelo, Eleanor Wilmer.