“My writing process has always placed emotion at the center. I am often looking inward—retrieving memories with emotional impetus and distilling them until there’s just the feeling, the beating heart of the story. From there, I get to play surgeon, transplanting this emotion somewhere where it still functions the same, if not better. Often, my stories work through themes of grief or regret, though I am particularly drawn to coming-of-age themes and the notion of cycles."