Stories are uniquely equipped to help us understand one another. They let us ride around inside someone else’s head for a while. That’s why I write about ordinary people shaped by hard choices, deep ties, and the quiet struggles of everyday life. What happens when they're up against the wall? What lengths will they go to get ahead? Or keep what they have? Or put food on the table? I grew up in the rural Midwest in a blue-collar family, and I still live here with my exceptionally creative wife and youngest daughter in a house full of half-finished art projects. I feel most like myself in quiet, open spaces. In my free time, I like to be outdoors fishing, kayaking, or walking along the Mississippi river near our home in southeast Iowa.