Essays (Creative Writing)

“The Poster in My Closet,” Under the Gum Tree, Summer 2026 (Issue 60), pp. 30-35

• My love letter to the music of Nirvana and the role their music has played in the darkest moments of my life (nonfiction)

“Mother Figure,” Empyrean, Summer 2026 (Vol. 5, No. 2), pp. 50-58

• A tribute to my sister, part confession and part celebration for all she’s done for me over the years despite our ups and downs (nonfiction)

“Road Trip to South Carolina,” Black Sheep: Unique Tales of Terror and Wonder, July 2026 (Vol. 35), pp. 94-114

• A celebration of Florida Gators football and a fictionalized retelling of a trip I took with kickball friends in a rented RV to a Gators game . . . and how it all went sideways (fiction)

“Trail to the Past,” Intervals (Apr. 20, 2026)

• A dreamy essay about a hike I took in the Little Big Econ State Forest, where the sights and sounds brought to life the history I never learned in school (nonfiction)

“Campfire Beside the Prairie,” Thorn & Bloom, Mar. 2026 (Issue 5), pp. 58-62

• An exploration about how my meticulous campfire habits have taught me about the personal eccentricities that help me cope with depression (nonfiction)

“Mardi Gras ’95,” The Night Writer Review, Mar. 2026 (Winter 2025/2026), pp. 39-49

• 2025 Golden Quill Writing Contest: 1st Place for Nonfiction

• The true story about an unplanned trip I took to Mardi Gras during my freshman year of college and what led me to decide at the last minute to go (nonfiction)

“The First Run of the Season,” Big Sky Journal, Feb. 2026 (Fly Fishing 2026), pp. 54-56

• A story about how an old man escapes from a world changing around him by boating down the Yellowstone River (fiction)

“Anger Sister,” The Gardan Journal, Jan. 2026 (Vol. 10), pp. 40-41 [reprint from The Florida Writer (Vol. 19, Issue 5)]

• A dedication to a friend I met while hospitalized for depression who helped me learn how to cope with internalized anger (nonfiction)

“Morning Coffee,” Ponder Review, Dec. 2025 (Vol. 9, Issue 2), pp. 6-11

• Nominated for Pushcart Prize

• A love letter to my wife about her heroic support through my battles with depression during our most difficult year (nonfiction)

“Baby Bear,” Bacopa Literary Review (2025), pp. 107-10

• A memory of playing with my daughter after a long day of work when she was a baby (nonfiction)

“Cognitive Distortion,” Life in Limbo Literary Magazine (Nov. 17, 2025) [reprint from Thorn & Bloom, Issue 3]

• An exploration, told through metaphors, of how I’ve learned to cope with my warped perceptions since childhood of myself and the world around me (nonfiction)

“Boynton Canyon,” Four Tulips (Nov. 12, 2025), pp. 28-32

• A time capsule about hiking with my wife and daughter during a spring break trip to Arizona (nonfiction)

“Anger Sister,” The Florida Writer, Oct. 2025 (Vol. 19, No. 5), p. 26

• A dedication to a friend I met while hospitalized for depression who helped me learn how to cope with internalized anger (nonfiction)

“Cognitive Distortion,” Thorn & Bloom, Sept. 2025 (Issue 3), pp. 54-57

• An exploration, told through metaphors, of how I’ve learned to cope with my warped perceptions since childhood of myself and the world around me (nonfiction)

“The Winter the Manatees Died,” Hogtowne Quill (Writers Alliance of Gainesville blog) (Aug. 25, 2025)

• An epitaph to the manatees that struggled to overcome food scarcity caused by nitrate runoff and warming waters during the winter of 2021 (nonfiction)

“Sunrise at Kissimmee Prairie,” FloridaHikes.com (Aug. 7, 2025)

• A collage of the views from my tent while I watched the sun rising over Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park (nonfiction)

“A Suburban Desk Jockey’s Weekend Adventure in the Green Swamp,” Wilderness House Literary Review, Summer 2025 (Vol. 20, Issue 2)

• A city-slicker adventure tale about my one-night backpacking trip to the Green Swamp and the Richloam Tract of the Withlacoochee Forest (nonfiction)

“Box Breathing,” The Florida Writer, June 2025 (Vol. 19, No. 3), p. 24

• A dedication to the therapist who helped me learn to cope with panic attacks during a five-week hospitalization for depression (nonfiction)

“Coining Out,” Four Tulips (May 30, 2025), pp. 33-34

• New Beginnings writing contest: Honorable Mention

• A memory of my final day in partial hospitalization for depression and my farewell to the patients and therapists who helped me there (nonfiction)

“A Forest is Reborn in the Green Swamp,” FloridaHikes.com (Apr. 8, 2025)

• A meditation about a forest I watched begin to regrow while backpacking there one weekend after a controlled burn (nonfiction)

“Panic Attack,” The Florida Writer, Apr. 2025 (Vol. 19, No. 2), p. 26

• A bad memory of a night when I was tormented by anxiety and depression and of how my wife and I struggled to cope (nonfiction)

“It’s Raining in the Ocala National Forest,” FloridaHikes.com (Feb. 27, 2025)

• A humorous account of how I contended with thunderstorms as an amateur backpacker during an overnight trip in the Ocala National Forest (nonfiction)