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filler@godaddy.com
About me
I grew up fishing the rivers and lakes of Iowa and have spent many years writing about them. I also cover food, travel, and the people who make life worth living.
I live my spouse and two dogs, and I walk Walnut Creek every morning, trying to leave the place where I live better than I found it.
Work
I've been a rock writer, investigative reporter, high school English teacher, Big Band radio DJ, storyteller for The Moth, and both a local newspaper and national magazine editor. My work has appeared in Esquire, National Geographic, Gourmet, NPR’s All Things Considered, Chicago Tribune, Better Homes & Gardens, No Depression, Travel with Rick Steves (Lowell Thomas Gold), and others.
I teach magazine, brand, and multimedia at the School of Journalism & Mass Communications at Drake University, a Hearst-award winning writing program, where I advise student publications and direct the E.T. Meredith Center for Magazine and Multimedia Education.
MFA in writing, Bennington Writing Seminars, 2019
Books
My first book, Running Away to Home, received Best Nonfiction Book of 2012 from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (a peer award) and the 2012 Iowa Emerging Author Award.
In 2016, Midwest iconoclast Raygun released a limited publication of my environmental love story, Water. In 2023, Water was chosen for the CCI first-ever book club pick.
In 2015, I contributed to the National Geographic book Journeys Home, edited by Andrew McCarthy.
In 2020, my short story, "Them Boys" won Honorable Mention in the final issue of Glimmer Train.