Experienced.  Professional.  Understanding. theWORDwright is Mark Leichliter, a fiction writer, essayist, editor, freelance writer, and former college professor.  I publish under the pseudonym Mark Hummel.  I write and edit full-time, having spent twenty years teaching fiction and essay writing to college students, guiding writing programs, and directing the UNC Rosenberry Writers' Conference.  I specialize in fiction and creative nonfiction editing, and in nonfiction I have a background in nature writing and environmental literature.  Many of my students and clients have gone on to publish their work and to enter MFA programs.  I live south of the Jackson Hole valley and the Tetons.  Certainly I live in a place that inspires me to write each day, and it is my hope I can share a bit of that inspiration through assisting you in polishing your work.  A detailed resume is posted below:

Education    MA              English. University of Wyoming, 1986.  Emphasis: Creative Writing.                   Thesis Directors:  John Edgar Wideman and Robert Roripaugh. BA               English, University of Wyoming, 1984.   Employment   6/07 -          Freelance writer, editor, and writing coach.   9/89 - 5/07   Instructor of English, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO.                    Conference Director, UNC Rosenberry Writers’ Conference, 2000 – 2007.                    Coordinator of the Writing Minor, 1996 – 2003.                    Chair, Neal Cross Lecture Series, 1993 – 1998. Courses taught:  Advanced Creative Writing, Introductory Creative Writing, Nature Writing, Advanced Exposition, The Essay, Composition, Literature and the Environment, Introduction to Literature, Honor’s courses.   9/86 – 9/89  Lecturer in English, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY.                    Mentor to graduate teaching assistants.  Writing Center. Courses taught:  Creative Writing, Critical Reading and Writing, American Classics, Composition, Introduction to Literature.   Publication   Short Fiction:   "In the Grip of Rust." Dogwood Literary Review.  (Spring 2010):  (Finalist for the Dogwood Prize.)   "Water Cycle."  Weber: The Contemporary West.  Volume 25, Number 3.  (Spring/Summer 2009): 32 -    36.   "Dissonance."  Arlington Literary Journal.  Issue 26. (2009).  http://www.arlijo.com   “A Month of Sundays.”  Talking River Review.  Issue 23 (2008): 171 - 186.   “Pretty.”  Zone 3.  Volume XXII, Number 1 (Spring 2007): 19 – 37.  (Honorable mention 2007 Zone 3      Fiction Awards Contest.)   “Water Cycle: Retreat”.  You Are Here: A Journal of Creative Geography.       Volume 8 (2006):  14 – 15.   “Resting Places.”  Matter.  Volume 8 (2006): 157 – 173.   “Confluence.”  Please Stay on the Trail: A Collection of Colorado Fiction.  Ed.      Matt Hudson.       Black Ocean Publishing.  Boston, MA. (2006): 47 - 64.   “Tipping Etiquette.”  Subtletea.com.  September/October (2004).        http://www.subtletea.com/markhummelprose.htm           “Sweetwater.”  Fugue.  Winter, Number 26 (2003 - 2004): 91 – 103.   “December Thunder.” A: Literary Arts Review.  Volume 2 (Spring, 2003): 1 – 12.   “Showers.”  Tucumcari Literary Review.  Jan/Feb, Volume IV, Number 1 (1991):  21 – 24.   Essays:   “Forgive the Asides.”  The Externalist.  February 2008.       http://theexternalist.com/Site/Hummel-786.html    “Stalking the Primitive.” Matter.  Volume 7 (2005): 98 – 105.   “Delivering.”  Porcupine Literary Arts Magazine.  Volume 9, Issue 1, Number 17 (2005): 62 –  63.   Poetry:   “Riverside Crosses.”  The Cherry Blossom Review. Issue 3, (Summer 2008).   “Time Pieces.”  Tar Wolf Review.  Issue 4, (Summer/Fall, 2005): 47.   “Winter Gardens.”  Poetry Motel. Issue 31, (Summer, 2003).   Reviews:   “Road Maps to Sanity.”  The Bloomsbury Review.  Oct/Nov, Volume 1, Issue 7 (1991):  7.      Reprinted in Contemporary Literary Criticism.  Ed. Deborah Stanley.  Gale Research Corporation,      1997.   “Mourning the Loss of a Generation.”  The Bloomsbury Review.  March 1991,      Volume 11, Issue 2 (1991): 1.  Reprinted in Black Literature Criticism.  Ed. James Draper.      Detroit: Gale Research Corporation. 1992, and in Contemporary Literary Criticism.  Ed. Roger      Matuz. Detroit: Gale Research Corporation, 1991.   Peer Reviewer:   The Bedford Introduction to Literature.  8th Edition. Edited by Michael Myer.  Bedford/St. Martin’s Books.   The Writer’s Way.  6th Edition.  Jack Rawlins.  Houghton Mifflin.   Thirty American Stories from the Last Thirty Years.  Edited by Porter Shreve and Bich Mihn Mguyen.  Longman Publishing.   Book Manuscripts:   Water Cycle (novel) In the Chameleon's Shadow (novel) Lost and Found (short story collection) Man, Underground (novel)   Editing and other Writing Activities   06/03 -                  Owner, theWordwright.  Freelance editing and critiquing service.   08/00 – 05/07        Director, University of Northern Colorado Rosenberry Writers’ Conference.  Fund-                              raised and managed annual budget of $30,000+.  Hosted numerous luminary                              writers, including Tim O’Brien, Barry Lopez, Michael Ondaatje, Sharon Olds,                              Grace Paley, Kent Haruf, Li-Young Lee, James Galvin, Pam Houston, Yusef                              Komunyakaa, Gary Soto, among others.   09/04 – 05/07        Judge for the University of Northern Colorado Writing Awards.   08/90 – 05/96        Chair, Neal Cross Lecture Series.  Coordinated visiting writers’ series for numerous                              writers.  Individual sponsor for Tim O’Brien, John Edgar Wideman, Terry Tempest                              Williams, Scott Russell Sanders, and Josip Novakovich.   11/90 – 05/97        Founder and faculty advisor to The Crucible:  A Peer Review.   02/88 – 05/89        Editorial advisor to Wyoming Law Review.   01/88 – 05/89        Assistant Editor, Owen Wister Review, Spring and Fall 1988 and Spring 1989 issues.