She graduated from Wichita State University with a B.A. and M.F.A.
Sometimes considered a "writer's writer" for her dense prose that pays close attention to craft, she has had short stories published in literary journals including Shenandoah, The Kenyon Review, Quarterly West, Black Warrior Review, Southern Review, Image: A Journal of Religion and the Arts, Chattahoochee Review, Kansas Quarterly, New Virginia Review, Blackbird, American Short Fiction, and Southwest Review,.
She lives in Virginia and teaches at Old Dominion University.