Michelle is the author of A River Runs Through Us: What Remains After Life Breaks Open; its companion journal, Write the River; the children’s book Skeleton Street; the memoirs The Gift of Sam and You Smile When You Show Me Grace; and The Write Road, a college-prep composition course and textbook for high school students.

Michelle earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from Winona State University. Before returning to academia for her graduate studies, she and Phil served for over ten years as Chi Alpha campus pastors, during which time she homeschooled three of their children. Later, she completed her Master of Arts in English at Bemidji State University, where she taught as a graduate student and instructor before joining Minnesota North College’s Hibbing campus as an English instructor. Today, she teaches composition and literature, encouraging students to find their own voices and stories.

Her writing is deeply personal and often explores the intersections of family, faith, loss, and love. In her memoir The Gift of Sam, Michelle recounts her experience of becoming pregnant in college and making the difficult decision to place her son for adoption—a story that comes full circle in the second edition, You Smile When You Show Me Grace, which chronicles their reunion nineteen years later. Through memoir, children’s stories, and reflective essays, Michelle invites readers to find meaning in their own lives, weaving recurring themes of faith and American values throughout her work.