About

I am a writer, teacher, writing coach, and freelance developmental editor based in Brooklyn, New York, with nearly two decades of industry experience. 

I taught creative writing and queer literature at CUNY Hunter College for over fifteen years, and for the last seven years I’ve led one of the most popular classes at the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop—a manuscript generator class focused on fiction and non-fiction. 

As a consulting editor for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry manuscripts, I work one-on-one with writers at all levels and from around the world (from Siberia to Sag Harbor!) to develop, optimize, and refine their work. Many of my clients have found representation with top agents and been accepted into top MFA programs, and have seen their work go on to print with major publishing houses like Simon & Schuster, Viking, Norton, and Harper Collins.

As a writer, I am a jack of all trades. I have published fiction and essays in literary journals and magazines, and I am the author of the poetry collection Obliterations—co-authored with Jessica Piazza (Red Hen Press)—and Memory Future (selected by Carol Muske-Dukes as the winner of the University of Southern California Gold Line Press Award). My background in poetry makes me uniquely focused on language, voice, and structure, which are important in all forms of writing. 

My goal as an editor is to help writers realize their manuscript’s full creative and market potential. My goal as a teacher and writing coach is to get writers writing, to break the cycle of self-doubt that creating in a vacuum can perpetuate, and to offer structure, motivation, support, and solution-oriented critical feedback. I want my students to walk away from our time together feeling inspired, capable, focused, accomplished, and ready to take the next step on their writing journey. 

When I’m not reading or writing, you can usually find me doing one of the following: idling on a river bank with my beautiful wife as she tries—with endless patience—to teach me how to fly fish; skiing with my sons; traveling; or on a yoga mat—or very much needing to be.

I look forward to the possibility of working together.