Traci Moore

About Me

Aside from sunny climates and smoothies made from dark, leafy greens, I really like dogs. I also like listening to people tell stories. I value good writing pens, soft papers, the weight of books, and postmarked envelopes containing handwritten letters.

My first pen pal lived across the street. For years we wrote to each other on tiny slips of paper imprinted with Hello Kitty designs. Like spies, we quietly delivered our letters to shoeboxes taped outside each others’ bedroom windows.

I write short fiction and the occasional personal essay. I’m a feet-on-the-ground kind of writer who likes the slow process of uncovering layers of a person or character. You could say I’m sort of a spokesperson for the little details.

My husband is an avid reader, big-thinker, massage therapist, writer and teacher. We are a good combination. He helps me remember to look up at the sky from time to time.

Why do you write?

The painful or funny or weird stuff out there. Quirky kids I met in grade school, awkward relatives, people with whom I worked boring jobs.

I’m really curious about people. In my head I think, What happened during their childhoods that caused them to choose xyz? I want to illuminate these people-- the seemingly ordinary ones who might not be so ordinary.

Any favorite authors? Books?

Recent favorites: Megan Mayhew Bergman, Jane Smiley, Kevin Fenton, Sadie Jones, Abraham Verghese, Sharman Apt Russell, Jhumpa Lahiri, Lysley Tenorio. Literary magazines: One Story, Carolina Quarterly, Alligator Juniper, Gettysburg Review. Old dependables: Ron Carlson, Annie Proulx, early John Updike, Elizabeth Berg’s Durable Goods, Julie Orringer, Wells Tower, Natalie Goldberg, Jeanette Walls, Elizabeth Gilbert, Brenda Miller, Steve Coughlin. Poetry by Peter Pereira, Dorianne Laux, Jimi Berlin, David Chorlton.