"I am not a daily writer. I am a marathon writer. I prefer large, uninterrupted chunks of time to fully immerse myself and get into a flow."

"I gave Cindy's eulogy—I was 18 years old—and the job never quite felt finished."

"I’m working on a collection of essays about faith, art, and conversion—more specifically, about the way devotional art can act as a sort of vehicle for “translating” religious ideas into a vocabulary that’s more hospitable to secular audiences."

"Giving myself permission to experiment with something new—like writing an essay in the form of dictionary entries modeled after Bob Flanagan's The Book of Medicine—is so exciting and invigorating."

"I knew in high school that I wanted to study Cinema and Screenwriting, so I was looking for a university with a rigorous writing program, in a location that would foster my love for art."

"I was thrilled to come to the University of Iowa and join the awesomely diverse writing communities here (poets! novelists! essayists! comic writers!)"

"Being able to create art or write about something that directly relates to the world around me currently makes me feel like I have a special place in history."

"Translation is a craft that requires a lot of discipline and focus, and I usually try to find large chunks of time (4+ hours) rather than small increments."

"For me, the biggest source of inspiration for any translation project I’m working on is the source text itself! Translation forces you to read intimately, and you have to be quite intimate to rewrite the text in a different language."

"...the entire city seemed to glow and support its students. I fell in love with the literary walk downtown and the numerous cafes that undoubtedly housed so many aspiring writers."

"I am a near-daily journal-er; it's my precious, private place. Writing at night is akin to glory for me these days, and I love to light candles and enter my body in an extra-intentional way."

"And then I wake up, open the windows, make my coffee, think about places I’ve been and people I’ve loved. I send good morning messages, sometimes I teach Spanish classes, sometimes I go to the store to buy food for the week."