I’m the author of Joker Joker Deuce, The Deeper Dark, and A River in the Ocean.
I’ve also written the children’s book When You Miss Me.
I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I was raised between Virginia and Maryland. Manassas is the first place I can remember in Virginia, but I’ve also lived in Fairfax, Warrenton, and Fredericksburg, where the setting for A River in the Ocean is right along the Rappahannock River.
In Maryland, I’ve lived mainly in Cumberland, but I did a bit in Baltimore. That was back when I was a Correctional Officer at the Maryland House of Corrections.
At 18, after graduating from James Monroe in Fredericksburg, I joined the Marine Corps. I served from 1988 to 1993 and was Honorably Discharged as a Corporal. That’s when I decided to put myself through college.
I spent two years at Allegany College and earned an A.S. in Political Science. Then, I earned my Bachelor’s in English at Frostburg State University. I taught English at Northern High School for three years but was offered an amazing opportunity that I couldn’t pass.
A year into teaching, I was offered a book deal and that changed my life forever. I have always believed I was born a writer. The first poem I ever wrote was called “Slick Move” when I was six years old. It was about people slipping on banana peels and oil slicks because they weren’t watching where they were stepping. What can I say? I was six.
I was born to be a writer, and now, here I am. Doing what I was born to do.
Find me everywhere you want to be:
