ABOUT

Like it says around every corner here, I'm Andrew.

When I was leaving high school and thinking about what I would do, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the chores that I didn't mind doing. Practicing scales on a musical instrument was out. So was writing out each step of a math problem. I didn't have the patience to develop careful technique with a paintbrush. But I could write and rewrite sentences, edit punctuation, or stew over a stanza for a week and half. So writing it was.

From there, I studied linguistics (to figure out the language), creative writing (to hone the craft), and rhetoric (to immerse myself in the theory of effective writing). I've also taught college composition and creative writing, and I've spent some time in writing program administration. At every step, I've been looking for ways to write things that matter, and I've been discovering ways to write them that engage more than my readers' intellects. I stand by the obvious but often overlooked truth that readers are people and not computers. And if we're not having a nice time together, why even bother?

Avid indoorsman that I am, I've gotten involved in various projects along the way. This website is meant as a sort of central hub, a place to collect my interests, work, and wanderings. It is, and will surely remain, a work in progress.

Indeed, as Robert Frost once put it, "A poem may be worked over once it is in being, but may not be worried into being." I've found that's good advice for more than just poems.