Tricia D. Wagner

Novelist, Poet, & Short Story Writer

Biography

I am a writer. A sculptor of words. I take inspirations and whispers of ideas that lie someplace inside of my heart, like clay that is unformed and still wet, and I excavate them with bare fingers and mold them into living characters and the happenings of other worlds.

Publications

July, 2020 - Apple Gala (poem) appears in Eskimo Pie.
May, 2020 - Sea of Glass (literary fiction short story) appears in Literary Yard.
March, 2018 - Sea of Glass (literary fiction short story, first page) appears in the Midwest Review.
April, 2016 - The Curse of the Half Child (literary fiction short story, first page) appears in the Midwest Review.
November, 2015 - The Flight of the Moor Children (fantasy short story) appears in Chicago Newa.
October, 2015 - Brown and Dry (poem) appears in Escarp, a text-message-based review of super-brief literature.
October, 2015 - Water Slips on Fin (poem) appears in Escarp, a text-message-based review of super-brief literature.
August, 2015 - The Flight of the Moor Children (fantasy short story) appears in the Chicago Writers Association e-publication, The Write City Magazine.

Awards

September, 2020 - Awarded second place for "Nocturne" in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Writers' Institute Page Contest in the young adult fiction category.
March, 2019 - Awarded second place for "Goya's Apprentice" in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Writers' Institute Page Contest in the mainstream / literary fiction category.
March, 2018 - Awarded second place for "The Star of Atlantis" in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Writers' Institute Page Contest in the mainstream / literary fiction category.
March, 2017 - Awarded first place for "Sea of Glass" in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Writers' Institute Page Contest in the mainstream / literary fiction category.
March, 2017 - Magic of Moments Passing won the University of Wisconsin, Madison Writers' Institute Essay Contest.
October, 2016 - Music of Egyptian Spheres (poem) is a winner in the Ogle Winnebago Literary Society poetry in prose competition.
February, 2016 - The Slaying of the North (poem) is a winner in the In Print 5Y5W writing contest.
January, 2016 - Star Strider (poem) is a finalist in the 2015 poetry contest on www.festivalforpoetry.com.
March, 2015 - Awarded second place in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Writers' Institute Page Contest in the mainstream / literary fiction category.

Articles

April, 2016 - "You Never Know" appears on the In Print Professional Writers Association website.
October, 2015 - "Writing around the Box" appears on the In Print Professional Writers Association website.
September, 2015 - "Yes, And..." appears on the In Print Professional Writers Association website

Inside the Page

I work in the areas of science fiction, fantasy, mainstream / literary fiction, and poetry, and I have completed manuscripts for novels, novelettes, and short stories.

Science fiction appeals to me because I am obsessed with science. I can hardly believe my luck that I was born into an age where we know so much. I generally stagger about, stricken by awe, that we have the ingenuity and the means to see inside the atom and outside the boundaries of our solar system, to find healing properties in the wings of silk moths, to discover exoplanets from our own backyards, and to answer questions about the composition of the universe by examining tiny pion particles. I write because I have to do something with that love.

Fantasy is another favored genre because it provides a way to drag magic out of ordinary experiences and things and make them glow with a deep beauty that I like to imagine is closer to the actual than the form that meets the eye.
When I am not writing, I serve as the Coordinator of English as a Second Language Programs Rock Valley College, in Rockford, Illinois. There I provide leadership to academic and support service programs that assist adults with literacy development, basic and secondary skills, and English language acquisition.