Priscilla Long grew up on a dairy farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She is a Seattle-based writer, poet, editor, and a longtime independent teacher of writing. She writes science, poetry, history, creative nonfiction, and fiction. She is author of nine books (to date), including the how-to write manual The Writer's Portable Mentor. Her work appears in numerous literary publications, both print and online, and her science column "Science Frictions" ran for 92 weeks online at The American Scholar. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Washington and serves as founding and consulting editor of HistoryLink.org, the free online encyclopedia of Washington state history. Her awards include a National Magazine Award (for feature writing), and ten of her essays have been honored as "notable" in various editions of The Best American Essays.