Portfolio

Susan’s essays, poetry, photography, and sermons have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post’s “On Faith section,” Spirituality & Health, Horizons, Writer’s Digest, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, Typishly, Patheos, the Tattooed Buddha, Journal for Preachers, Church & Society, Read the Spirit, and other publications. She blogged for the Huffington Post for years for their religion section with her 10 Wedding Tips for Your Big Day going viral and translated in a number of languages.

Susan’s poetry collection Doe, published by Finishing Line Press, came out in April 2019. One of the poems from Doe was featured on The Writer’s Almanac, read by Garrison Keillor in August of 2019. It became a Kirkus Reviews “recommended” read and was featured in Kirkus Reviews in May 2020. Susan’s poetry was featured on WGLT-FM Poetry Radio and her sermons have been printed and heard on Day1.org, a global mainline Protestant radio program.

Susan has another poetry collection completed, a collection of spiritual essays, and a novel about Hattie Hays, a woman whose husband left to fight in a three month insurrection, which became a Civil War. Hattie farmed alone with her two small children and fought to keep them all alive in western Illinois near the Mississippi. Hattie was Susan’s great great grandmother. Hattie’s grandchildren (two of whom lived to be 106 and 107) would share stories, photos, and possessions of Hattie’s with Susan, and it was a resonant story for her as a mother of three children. She wrote this novel with Writing by Writers DRAFT program, with authors Pam Houston, Joshua Mohr, and Samantha Dunn as instructors. She took a master class at Hedgebrook and met her writing group, the ArmadillHers, at Breadloaf Sicily. The ArmadillHers are Teresa Burns Gunther, Jody Hobbs Hesler, and Charmaine Wilkerson.