He received a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Ohio University in 2003, was a postdoctoral fellow in Creative Writing at Ohio University, and was a postdoctoral scholar in Creative Writing at the University of Kentucky while serving as the Associate Director of the Writing Program. He has been published in Pleiades, Gulf Coast, and Calliope, has had a short story nominated for a Pushcart Prize and another short story listed in “100 Other Distinguished Stories,” Best American Short Stories 2007. In addition to completing a collection of interrelated short stories, he has completed a full-length novel and two screenplays.