Tom Molanphy received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana. His essays and short stories have been published by Colorado College Press, Pilgrimage Review, and Desert Sage Magazine. His memoir on his two years in Belize, Following Mateo, is available at www.amazon.com. His lesson plan on creative nonfiction was included in the 826 Valencia anthology Don’t Forget To Write. He is presently working on his second book, a novel.

Tom teaches undergraduate and graduate writing and literature at the Academy of Art University. He also taught composition at the University of San Francisco, and he occasionally tutors at 826 Valencia in San Francisco.

In answer to our question of why he writes, Tom responded:

“Writing is my favorite way of thinking. Life is mostly a jumbled mess, and writing allows me to tenderly fool myself that experience has an understandable beginning, middle, and end.

Writing is also my favorite way of connecting with others. Writing about my experiences offers me space and time to clarify myself, to avoid that constant evasion of self that T.S. Eliot warned about.

So I keep writing to keep thinking, to keep connecting. As long as I’m sincere in those efforts, success or failure, writing becomes not just my favorite way of thinking or connecting. It becomes my favorite way of being.”

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