Selected writing
My writing moves between the personal and the reported, the literary and the cultural. I’m interested in the stories and ideas beneath the surface—whether I’m writing about a life, a place, a person, or a larger cultural question.
Below is a selection of my essays, journalism, criticism, and poetry. I also post occasional notes on writing, editing, ideas, and the things I’m curious about at the annotation room.
Want help turning your ideas into a finished piece?
I work with authors, experts, artists, and other professionals on substantial essays, articles, book-related writing, and ghostwriting.
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Essays & narrative nonfiction
“Wild Organic Apples” Farmer-ish, nominated for the Pushcart Prize and selected for Memoir Monday
“Grasping at Shifting Sands” Belt Magazine, selected as a top story of 2021
“The Position We Were In” Midwest Gothic, selected as a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2018
“Interstice” Split Rock Review, nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of Net
“An Untestable Question” The Hopper
“Midwest Remembering and Knowing and Lee Iacocca” Essay Daily
“Banya” Thread
Journalism
“Choosing to stay close to home: Five families commit to an underutilized neighborhood school” →
“Slice of success: Meet the woman behind your new favorite pie” (lead feature in Readers’ Choice best issue of 2021) →
“A trailblazing Oregon winery preps to debut a new sparkling wine” →
“A line in the sand: How Voters Not Politicians aims to end gerrymandering in Michigan” →
“Winning the Right to Be Heard: Melvin Thomas poised to engage youth in urban classrooms” →
“A Conversation with Eula Biss” →
Profiles for Crain’s Detroit Business
Dr. Patricia Keefer Detroit Water and Sewage Detroit Pistons Dr. Rochelle Larsen Our Next Energy Dr. Andrea Hadley and Sophie’s Place Music Therapy Team
Criticism
Cities at Dawn by Geoffrey Nutter →
Hear Trains by Caroline Knox →
Heart in a Jar by Kathleen McGookey →
Nineteen Letters by Kathleen McGookey →
Poetry
My chapbook The Sound a Car Door Makes won the ‘23 contest at Michigan Writers Cooperative Press.
The Sound a Car Door Makes is an irascible joy ride through late capitalist fallout. In finely tuned prose poems, one part whimsy, one part angst, one part rock and roll, Natalie Tomlin negotiates the culpability of our boundless mobility with speed, grace, and an engine’s low growl.
—Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, author of A Wake with Nine Shades and Her Red, a graphic poem
Available at Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Click below to buy from your favorite store.
Selected poems
“Backyard” “Grubs” “Temperature Blanket” Canary
“Lake Huron, 1989” first prize, Westminster Art Festival
“This Is It” River Teeth (online)
Have something you want to write?
You don't have to start with a finished draft. I work from ideas, interviews, research, conversations, notes, and existing material to help develop and write substantial essays, articles, book-related pieces, and other projects.
Explore Writing & Ghostwriting →