The Recovering Academic features exclusive interviews, essays, and craft resources for writers.
Paying subscribers get access to:
Behind the scenes interviews with PhDs who have successfully transitioned to industry roles, such as Gertrude Nonterah, a medical communications professional, and Larry McGrath, a senior researcher for Amazon.
Thought pieces on higher ed, including longform reporting on faculty fleeing the profession, opinion pieces on branding and budget priorities, and more.
Original essays, including new work and excerpts from my book, Down from the Mountaintop: From Belief to Belonging.
Craft resources for writers of all levels.
Founding members get all this plus a signed copy of my memoir, an electronic version of my unpublished novel, and one free coaching session.
Free subscribers get two-week access to public posts.
If you belong to the recovering academic community or know someone who has left academe, check out my tees or hoodies!
Coaching and editing
Do you have a manuscript that you want to take to the next level? Or an idea for a project, but you don't know where to start? Let’s set up a free consultation to see if we’re a good fit for each other.
I specialize in literary memoir, but I also help clients with personal statements for graduate school and op-eds for popular and academic magazines.
About me
I am a writer and award-winning teacher with 20 years of experience in publishing and editing. My mentor was Ted Kooser, former Poet Laureate of the United States and Pulitzer Prize winner. My work has appeared in more than 40 magazines, including these.
My memoir Down from the Mountaintop: From Belief to Belonging was shortlisted for the 2016 William Saroyan International Prize. It is available on Amazon, at The University of Iowa Press, and at many other places where books are sold.
I co-produced an oral history podcast, Mid-Americana: Stories from a Changing Midwest, which you can hear on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. Season 1, “Homecoming,” features stories from native Iowans who left the Midwest and then came back to stay. Season 2, “Immigration,” features stories from people who left their native countries to make a home in the Greater Midwest.
I am also father to three fantastic kiddos, who sometimes humor me with backcountry adventures and help me plan each year’s garden. In the hours before breakfast, you can usually find me running the back roads in central Pennsylvania or pumping iron with the other early birds.
