Bios

Fall 2012

During Fall 2012, I somehow never got around to gathering bios of all my students. This is a shame. They were a very interesting bunch.  

Spring 2012

Section 002 (T/Th)

Erynn Ellsworth is a senior at Ball State University. She will be graduating soon with a degree in English Studies and a minor in Creative Writing. She has been raised on the rock and roll of the 60s, the smooth sounds of the 70s, and the guitar solos of the 80s. She’s been writing stories since 1^st grade, and has many unpublished works stacked in a drawer somewhere. Her favorite authors range from Sylvia Plath to David Morrell to J.K. Rowling and everything in between. Her dream is to become an acquisitions editor and write a book while living in a small cottage in the English countryside. Sometimes she writes words at http://erynnlove.blogspot.com/

Tyler Fields is from Texas.

Tyler Fields runs for a long time every day.

Tyler Fields writes with ever-growing frequency.

Tyler Fields designs covers for things that don’t exist (yet).

Tyler Fields edits his university’s English blog.

When he’s not editing, Tyler Fields answers phones.

In this photo, you’ll notice that Tyler Fields is a fan of dancing.

Tyler Fields is also a fan of words.

And painting.

And film.

And music.

Tyler Fields hopes to share these things with you one day.

Tyler Fields hates the idea of definitives.

            Love,

            Tyler Fields

Lacey Fisher is her last semester of her senior year at Ball State University.  She is majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Fashion Merchandising.  After she graduates, she plans to become a proof-reader and write children’s stories on the side.  She is also open to other options that appeal to her and would enjoying working with children.  She enjoys writing flash fiction and short stories.  This semester she hopes to gain knowledge about how to write a novel so that she may begin writing her own children’s novel.  Her favorite authors are Elizabeth Chandler, C.S. Lewis, and Shel Silverstein. She hopes to one day either move somewhere down south or receive a job that involves traveling.

Ray Gibson is working through his fourth year at Ball State as a Journalism/Telecommunications major and a Creative Writing minor. While there is plenty of writing on his slate from news courses already, he manages to make time to pursue the fruits of novel writing. In the near future he aspires to write for a daily while balancing time for the pleasure of fiction.

Adam McLachlan studied at Ball State University where he is currently an Administrative Coordinator majoring in Creative Writing and Women’s and Gender Studies.  He’s interested in the intersections of class and gender as they pertain to the artist and how these affect authority, location (real or imagined), and asceticism.  He writes poetry and is currently working on his first novel.  He’s an INFP.  You can read more of his work at adam-mclachlan.blogspot.com or 02abmclachla.wordpress.com.

Ryan W. Murphy is a senior at Ball State majoring in Creative Writing. After spending two unfulfilling years studying meteorology, he got his head on straight and started taking writing seriously. Some of his favorite authors are Haruki Murakami, George R.R. Martin, James Joyce, and Jack Kerouac. This semester he’s working on a project imitating Ulysses, because he hates himself. You can read some of his older work and more pieces as they are written here.

Daniel Na is a creative writing major at Ball State University. He plans to attend graduate school and get an MFA in something that will hopefully keep him from starving on the streets later. This is a problem for Future Daniel and he plans on letting that guy take care of it. Daniel enjoys a healthy diet of reading, playing video games, sleeping, and occasionally writing bios about himself. The future, frankly, scares the pants off of him, but he dares to dream one day to be a fantasy novelist and make lots of money and buy a boat or something equally extravagant and unnecessary. Follow him on tumblr and probably get spammed with pictures of people with Nigel Thornberry’s face: unrelatedstatus.tumblr.com

Mo Smith is a senior at Ball State University. She was born in the 80s, loves the music from the 60s & 70s, and is inevitably a 90s child. She is a creative writing major and has therefore accepted the fact that she will be broke for life, being a college student has already prepared her for such a life. Mo's been obsessed with Bon Jovi since she was eleven, and even though she got a late start, she knows she is their biggest fan. She once smelled Jon's sweat and was quoted saying it was the best day of her life. (It really was.) She's an odd girl whose favorite authors include guilty pleasures such as Nicholas Sparks and Dean Koontz. She took a Psych class because her friends call her "the therapist," but she decided conventionalism wasn't for her. She dreams of living in Middle-of-Nowhere, Southern USA where she lives as a writer and moonlights as a rebel liberal.

Nicole Rudolph is a senior at Ball State University. Although her major is Photojournalism, her passion remains in her minor of Creative Writing. Her reading and writing interests currently reside in the theme of the supernatural, but she still enjoys the classics like Jane Austen. One of her many dreams for the future includes hoping for the chance to work with a publishing company as a book editor, so that she can work by doing what she loves most, reading books.


Sarah Sutherland will graduate college with a major in Japanese, and minors in history, classical culture, and creative writing. She hopes to achieve the writing status of J.K. Rowling or Tolken, but if need be, being a Japanese translator will be fine. She enjoys reading, watching TCM and AMC, writing, and watching movies. 

Kellie Suttle is a writer, fibre artist, and Japanese major at Ball State University. She was born in America in the 20^th century and spent the early part of her childhood pretending she was a vegetarian lion. Upon the invention of television she abandoned the outside world in favour of the fictional. In order to maintain her residence therein, all time spent outside of her house is spent in books. She intends to revisit the real world periodically after graduation, but will move away permanently after retirement.

Chelsea Westbrook is a junior at Ball State University. She has a major in Creative Writing and minor in Theatre Tech and Design. Her interests include reading and writing; original works and fanfiction. Chelsea is a big fan of horror and works at Scarevania Haunted House as an actor and make up artist. Her freshman year she got her creative short story published in the class text book. Chelsea hopes to publish a novel someday. You can read her fanfiction here. 

Section 003 (M nights)

Ryn Bailey is a senior Creative Writing major with a minor in Digital Publishing and a working knowledge of photography, feline breeds, and anything Pokémon or Zelda. She writes mostly in fiction, finding a comfort in getting lost in someone else's head so she doesn't have to be trapped in her own for too long. She is fond of spouting John Green quotes at the earliest opportunity and flipping game boards when the odds just aren't “ever in her favor” that day. When she isn't worn down from writing, she does even more writing at http://fantasiaproject.blogspot.com where she frequently displays her inadequate musical training while dissecting the works known as Fantasia and Fantasia 2000.

Phoebe Blake is a Creative Writing major at Ball State University, with an imagination persuaded by the wild surprises of life. Her passion in writing is flash fiction and controversial, yet somewhat romantic novels. Inspired by author Joan Didion, Phoebe likes to write nonfiction as well, focusing on Literary Journalism and the Personal essay. In addition, with a great love for Sylvia Plath, Phoebe also enjoys attempting neurotic poetry. When she is not writing she's kick-boxing to awfully loud, beat bumpin' music, reading from a never ending list of contemporary American literature, cooking recipes that take too much time, and playing Mario Kart with her friends.

Angela Brewster is a senior at Ball State University majoring in Psychology and working on a minor in Creative Writing. After she graduates, Angela is thinking about attending cosmetology school to give herself more options on the work front. She loves writing and music and has been in bands including the Ball State University Singers band since she started playing bass guitar her freshman year of high school. As for writing, Angela has written poems since she was in fifth grade and started multiple stories for her and her friends to enjoy. She is hoping after this final semester at Ball State, she will have completed a draft of a much longer project.

Amy Brookins is a Junior at Ball State and is looking forward to being a super Senior in the future. She has a major in Secondary English Education and is minoring in Creative Writing and Studio Arts with an emphasis on ceramics. She has written poetry since elementary and has always had a passion for reading. She really doesn’t know what she’s going to do with her life, but she’s going to have fun with it one way or another. Her favourite color is green and the she’s prone to snorting if you get her laughing to hard. You can follow her Twitter at @_amy_yma_ or follow her blog at Thoughts Exposed.

Sarah Chaney is a senior at Ball State, double majoring in Creative Writing and Japanese with a minor in professional writing. She specializes in writing fiction, but has recently dabbled in screenwriting and has two screenplays that are currently in production to be turned into short films at Ball State University.  She wants to work in the publishing industry either as an editor or translating Japanese literature into English.  If all else fails, she will find a career in holding up cardboard signs on the side of the highway, collecting change from good Samaritans who pity her and her Australian Shepherd, Toby. During this time she will continue writing, of course.

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Mia Hanneken is a senior at Ball State University, studying Creative Writing. Though graduation was in her imminent plans, sometimes things change. Now, Mia will spend another year earning her teaching license with the intention to foster young adults’ writing and reading skills. Mia primarily writes non-fiction personal essays, though her ultimate goal is to publish a novel. Many of these works are in progress.

Jordan Martich writes fiction and non-fiction out of Indianapolis, Indiana, his hometown. He expects to graduate in July of 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in magazine journalism and a minor in creative writing. He published a short story in the Fall 2010 issue of blazeVOX.org and will publish a non-fiction piece with the Invictus Writers Group at the end of Spring. He is currently working on his first novel, a comic book, a literary magazine, and plays music in an eclectic mix of bands. He blogs about thinking about blogging about writing at jordanmartich.wordpress.com, sometimes. Jordan hopes to one day let DIY musicianship and writing take him around the world.

Cindy Martin is a senior at Ball State University. She is majoring in Journalism Graphics with a minor in Creative Writing. She now knows that she should have been a Creative Writing major and will probably remedy that situation by going to graduate school for writing. She loves to read sci-fi, fantasy and mystery novels. Her favorite authors include James Patterson, Douglas Adams and Orson Scott Card. She also has a fairly unhealthy obsession with movies and T.V. shows, which she hopes will one day lead her to become a screenwriter.

Maye Ralston works as a freelance journalist, and as a professional writer and consultant specializing in marketing and public relations media. She has several years experience with online site development, writing, and marketing including deploying websites, blogs, and social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and incorporating intersecting media.  She has facilitated workshops for adult learners on a variety of related topics. She is currently studying creative writing at Ball State University, where she has also continued to explore emerging media.  She is planning to apply to MFA programs in the near future. In addition, Maye has published songs and poetry, and enjoys reading, writing, playing guitar, photography, nature hiking and bicycling. Follow her on Twitter: @MayeRalston, on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=88631201&trk=tab_pro, on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maye.ralston, and at her blog: The Well of Creativity.

Tyler Trosper is a Ball State University senior majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Professional Writing and Japanese.  He has loved creating his own worlds and characters since he was a child, immigrating himself to fake worlds to ignore the real one.  Beyond the traditional realm of novels, Tyler has fallen in love with the visual novel medium in the past few years, so much so that he is (trying) to make his own episodic visual novel series:  http://thanatoscontract.godsibb.net/  Otherwise, Tyler is a big nerd when it comes to all things Xenosaga and Neon Genesis Evangelion related, a video game series and Japanese anime respectively.

Sondra Riley is a senior at Ball State University majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in French. She has also taken a few classes under the Professional Writing minor. While her life now consists mostly of a love for music, writing, and her ever-growing movie collection – growing from what some would consider a slight obsession – she will be marrying into military life this summer and struggling to find a way to use her degree wherever the command decides to place her and her husband. At this point Graduate School (after a year off) in hopes of eventually teaching at the college level is a tentative plan. 

Fall 2011

Lauren Burch is a senior at Ball State University and is majoring in Creative Writing. She was an intern reporter at The Corydon Democrat for the summer of 2011, and is a teaching assistant for the fall semester in this course.  Lauren enjoys reading, writing fan fiction and original works, knitting, costuming, and attending comic conventions.  She would eventually like to write for a living, and hopes to publish novels.  She can be found on Twitter, at @LaurenEBurch, or on Livejournal at lauralot.livejournal.com.

Casey Alexander is a senior with a major in Creative Writing and a double minor in Anthropology and German. Writing and reading interests reside heavily in fantasy, science fiction, and horror. She is an avid “persona” fiction writer, call it fan fiction if you want, and has over forty stories on the internet. Favorite authors include: Hunter S. Thompson, Amelia Atwater Rhodes, Jane Lindskold, Alice Borchardt, Pamela Freeman, David Sedaris, and Sherman Alexi.

Alec Brenneman is a senior creative writing major, planning to graduate at the end of the semester. From this point, he plans on to continue his education by earning either an MA or MFA in scriptwriting from a college yet to be decided. He enjoys writing, producing, and directing short films, playing video games, and watching cartoons. He hopes to one day write and produce a TV show along the epicness of Dragon Ball Z and Avatar: The Last Airbender as well as make big Hollywood blockbusters. Follow him at @AcBrenneMAN on Twitter and check out his website phictionalstoodios.com.

Christine Gyselinck is a young writer currently attending Ball State University from a small town near Chicago where she grew up in a sheltered, yet comfortable life.  She is a Creative Writing major and a film studies minor. She is aspiring to write films, sitcoms, as well as novels. She has a small, caring family that is often supportive of her track. Also, she has a few close friends that she would do anything for, and she is sure they feel the same. She decided she wanted to write when she became obsessed with all kinds of different ways to express herself. This became her reality, which was also her being involved with fantasy. Her goal is to write for Disney, or even make a name completely for herself. She wants to be known as a master of fantasy.

Anne Haben is a junior at Ball State University and is majoring in Creative Writing and Advertising.  She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago until moving to Muncie to further her education.   During high school she worked on the school newspaper and was the features editor.  Anne also helped create her high schools literary magazine and had a few poems published in it.  She mostly write short stories but you can frequently find her writing poetry and scribbling down ides and expanding on them to try to create her first full length novel.  Ready set write!

Spencer McNelly will accomplish the following in the distant future pending death isn't in the near future:
1. Overrule Anna Wintour and take over Vogue
2. Get a picture with RuPaul
3. Invent a new type of Lyrical dance called the Post-Modern Jazz Technique that will be instructed by Charo.
4. Get into the groove in order to prove hisher love to Madonna
5. Write one book like Harper Lee and then never be heard of again
6. Come out with a one-hit wonder and then never be heard of again
7. Pull a Babs and write, direct, star, and sing in a movie about a modern cross-dressing castrato
8. Become a complete and utter fish
9. Narrate a documentary about the history of opium
10. Graduate Spring 2012

Jennifer Perov is a junior at Ball State University working toward a major in Creative Writing and a minor in Digital Media. Jen enjoys reading, doing crafts, and listening to music in her spare time. She hopes to write screenplays and fiction in the future and can be found on Twitter at @Jen_Perov.

Maye Ralston is studying Creative Writing at Ball State University and is planning to attend an MFA program in the near future. Her goal is to improve her creative writing skills and to become a published author. Until recently she worked as a journalist and professional writer, and has published songs and poetry. Maye enjoys reading, writing, playing guitar, photography, nature hiking, and bicycling. Follow her on Twitter at @MayeRalston.

Meredith Sims is a junior at Ball State University and is majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Telecommunications. When not in class she enjoys searching for fairies or going on treasure hunts with dangerous rogues. Her lifelong dream is to find the lost city of Atlantis, but if that doesn’t work out she would like to be a show writer for Walt Disney Imagineering. Her motto is that any deadline can be faced with faith, trust, and a steady supply of blue Pixy Stix. If you would like to reach her, she can be found @MereSims on Twitter.

Chris Smith is a Junior at BSU and is majoring in Creative Writing with a Film minor. He enjoys movies, reading, music, writing, among other things, and not in any specific order. He hopes to write screenplays one day, and perhaps land his own feature length film. He has been a member of the Collegiate Sketch Comedy group SomethingElseTV since he came to Ball State. He can be reached at cssmithnew@gmail.com or now on Twitter, @smithtwit99.

Mo Smith is a senior at Ball State University. She was born in the 80s, loves the music from the 60s & 70s, and is inevitably a 90s child. She is a creative writing major and has therefore accepted the fact that she will be broke for life. She is more than prepared to be poor because she is a modern day hippy and knows you won't understand. Mo's been obsessed with Bon Jovi since she was eleven, and even though she got a late start, she knows she is their biggest fan. She once smelled Jon's sweat and was quoted saying it was the best day of her life. (It really was.) She's an odd girl whose favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks and Dean Koontz. She took a Psych class because her friends call her "the therapist," but she decided conventionalism wasn't for her. She's been writing since she was a kid and when asked why, she just says, "because I have to." She dreams of living in Middle-of-Nowhere where she works from home writing genius-fiction and maybe even a script or two.

Aaron Wittwer is a senior at Ball State University, majoring in Creative Writing and Telecommunications. Several of his screenplays have been produced by Ball State students. After graduating this January, he hopes to find work as a writer in film or television. A rabid cinephile, Aaron has a special affinity for the discovery of those filmic oddities relegated to relative obscurity. He also dabbles in drawing, painting, poetry, and photography. You can follow him on Twitter at @ajwittwer.

Miranda Wuestefeld is a junior at Ball State University currently studying creative writing and telecommunications.  She’s interested in fiction, plays, and movies.  After graduation she is still unsure of her career path.  However, she hopes to write fiction novels, ads, or be a part of the screenwriting process.  She plans to continue writing creatively in any field open to her.  She can be found on Twitter at @MCWuestefeld.