Writing, Publishing, and Performing Résumé

This artist résumé is divided into four sections. Feel free to jump around to any section you choose, and to read in any order:

HONORS, AWARDS, AND PUBLICATIONS

My debut essay collection, Invisible Violets: A Mixtape in Lyric Essays, was published by Wandering Aengus Press in March 2026.

Won the Dennis Stovall First Edition Award in the Book Publishing master’s degree program at Portland State University, with this commentary from my program director, Rachel Noorda: “Chrys is an all-around achiever with strengths in design, editing, ebook production, and audiobook production. Such a range of high performance is unusual . . . Curious, self-directed, and always expanding her skillset, Chrys is an all-around exemplar of the Book Publishing program’s mission.

Won the Friends in Art scholarship based on a writing portfolio of three essays.

Won the Wandering Aengus Press Nonfiction Book Award for Invisible Violets – read my post about this award and see the graphic from the press here.

Won Second Place in the Kay Snow Writing Contest (through Willamette Writers) in the graduate student category for my memoir chapter “Eclipses of Jupiter.”

Won Third Place in Kay Snow Writing Contest (through Willamette Writers) in Non-Fiction for the essay “Seeing and Not Seeing.”

Received R.L. Gilette Scholarship for Literature for the short story “Dark As Roses.”

Memoir excerpt “Warding Off Eclipses with Sex and Music” published in Shark Reef literary magazine.

Selected for publication in the “Readers Write” section of The Sun magazine for the short piece “Parties.”

Chosen for the Orcas Artsmith weeklong writing residency.

Named as a finalist twice in MTV’s I’m From Rolling Stone writing contest. During the first week, was one of five finalistss (from over 500 submissions) to receive praise by Rolling Stone editor, Joe Levy.

Received Sophie Kerr scholarship in Creative Writing at Washington College, given to three incoming freshmen each year, based on writing portfolio.

PROFESSIONAL WRITING AND PUBLISHING EXPERIENCE

Currently working as the interior book designer for Wandering Aengus Press (they published my book, and then they hired me!) creating layouts for memoirs, flash nonfiction, poetry, and anthologies – starting 2026 – see examples of my book interior design work here.

Independent Editing Work – developmental edits and copyediting for books in the genres of memoir, academic, narrative nonfiction, YA fantasy, and self-help
Here are some notable recent projects:
Developmental Editing (3 rounds) and indexing for Harnessing the Power of Museums: A Guide to Programs for Well-Being by Elizabeth Lahti and Lisa Abia Smith (forthcoming from Bloomsbury in Feb 2027)
Developmental Editing for Conception: A Miscarriage Journal by Alexis Rehrmann (forthcoming from University of West Virginia Press)

Served as manager of the Digital and Audio departments at Ooligan Press – 2025–2026
See samples of my work on epub and digital accessibility here.
For samples of my audio work, I will update this page when the audiobooks for Short, Vigorous Roots and Promise the Sky are released by Ooligan Press.

Publishing Professional at Ooligan Press – 2024–2026
See samples of interior book design and layout work here.
See samples of cover design work here.
See samples of my copyediting work here.
See samples of my developmental editing work here.

Hired to write artist bios and press for the Opening Doors Art Show for three years.

Worked as a writing coach with individual clients.

Copyedited for the online music magazine The Scene LA.

Taught fiction writing at Orcas Island Library.

PERFORMANCES AND READINGS

Performed Stand-up Comedy at a showcase at Curious Comedy Theater in Portland.

Performed essay “More Than Sums of Slivers” as part of the BREATHE storytelling series at OHSU in Portland.

Read excerpts of my book, Invisible Violets, at events at BOLD Coffee and Books, Broadway Books, and Annie Bloom’s Books in Portland, and over zoom as part of a publisher-hosted reading series.

Performed essay “The Cost of Living” (otherwise known as the Invisible Violets B-side) at Apothic House Coffee in McMinnville, OR, as part of a storytelling show on the topic of Risk.

Performed at the Interstitium narrative medicine storytelling series on the topic of Trust and Mistrust in medicine at Lewis and Clark College in Portland.

Performed work regularly at the Growth Factor live storytelling series about growth through struggle in medicine at various coffeeshops, venues, and zoom (pandemic times) in Portland.

Read the first chapter of my memoir, Moonchild, at “The Best Memoirists Pageant Ever” at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.

Gave a reading of memoir work in spoken word reading at Kangaroo House at Orcas Artsmith on Orcas Island.

Read work at Hugo House‘s Write-O-Rama in Seattle.

Organized, advertized and held a two-hour live performance of my memoir chapters and poetry on Orcas Island to raise funds to get to The Sun’s writing retreat (and to pay rent).

Read at the Island Women’s Summit as a featured performer on Orcas Island.

CLASSES, WORKSHOPS AND GROUPS

Graduate classes in Book Editing; Book Design Software; Typography, Layout, and Production; Intellectual Property & Copyright; Developmental Editing; Copyediting; Advanced Book Design; Book Design (independent study); Literary Agents and Acquisitions; Research in Book Publishing; Publishing Studio; Publishing Lab (six terms); Book Publishing for Writers; Book Marketing; Digital Skills; and Entrepreneurship in Publishing for the master’s degree in Book Publishing at Portland State University (Grad: 2026)

Undergrad college classes is Personal Essay, Fiction, Short Story, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Screenwriting, TV Scripts for the 1-Hr Drama, as well as several general creative writing courses for my Arts & Letters degree at Portland State University. (Grad: 2017)

Regularly participate in Willamette Writers Groups such as Sunday evening Write-Ins, Coffee at Your Kitchen Table, Screenwriters Happy Hour, as well as workshops hosted by different chapters. Attended my first WW Conference in 2026 (finally!) and took part in my first dedicated Author Cohort program in 2026.

Took classes on Writing the Query Letter, Writing the Book Proposal, and Memoir Writing through Writers Online Workshops.

Attended Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference in Seattle.

Attended The Sun magazine’s weekend workshop on “The Power of Personal Stories” at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA

Attended weekend memoir workshop with Janet Thomas on Orcas Island.

Attended weekend writing workshop on metaphor, symbolism and imagery with Susan Zwinger on Orcas Island.

Took author Janet Thomas‘ memoir class for five quarters on Orcas Island.

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