I waddled over to the tall bookcase, my socked feet sliding on the floor. With great care I slid out the books one by one, examining their shiny spines and the meaningless words on the covers. When I had gathered a stack as big as my short arms could hold, I struggled back to my spot on the rug and gingerly added the new pile of books to the existing stack I had collected. Hunkering down next to the tower of literature (now as tall as I was) I lifted the top book and began to delicately turn the pages with my four-year-old fingers. I pulled each page by the corner as if it were an ancient sacred text. Books like "The Pokey Little Puppy", "Jungle Book" or the Bernstein Bears. I examined every spread with a critical eye--words, picture, picture, words.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is a picture with words worth? I believe a thousand words can be used to create a unique picture in the minds of those who read them. Design is communication. Writing is communication. This is why I study both disciplines: to increase my repertoire of human language. Although my focus is creative nonfiction (essays, literary journalism), I have been known to produce anything from poetry to short stories to scholarly-enough research essays. I am interested in writing projects, design projects, combinations of the two, or anything in between.