Welcome

This is the online haunt of editor, writer, designer, cartoonist and communications director Clay Wirestone. In other words, me.

I’m communications director at Kansas Action for Children and the Kansas Center for Economic Growth. Before that, I was news editor at The Topeka Capital-Journal in Topeka, Kan, and a columnist, weekend editor and designer at the Concord Monitor of Concord, N.H. I’ve also worked at The Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer. In my spare time, I’ve written short stories, freelanced for magazines and contributed to basic-cable history shows. I also draw comics, teach kids to draw comics and talk on the radio.

At this site, you’ll find a selection of my work in multiple fields, spanning the last few years. If that’s not enough, links throughout the site will direct you to bonus Wirestone-centric content.

You can send me e-mail at claywires@gmail.com. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Or try all three and see what happens!

RECENT NEWS

• I’ve started a new chapter at the Kansas Center for Economic Growth. Thanks to all who have supported me over the years, and here’s to an astonishing future! (11/6/2017)

• Happy sixth birthday to our own Baxter Charles! (4/13/2017)

 My husband Max Wirestone‘s second geeky mystery, The Astonishing Mistakes of Dahlia Moss, is out today. Buy it here. (3/14/2017)

• The site has been updated once again, to reflect my new job at The Topeka Capital-Journal and adventures in Kansas. (1/10/2017)

My short story “The Call of the Concord Coach” appears in Live Free or Ride, published by Plaidswede Press. It’s available now.  (9/22/16)

I sign off from my Concord Monitor column with a reflection on the news business and where I’m heading next. Read it here. (5/18/16)

• I’ve started a new series of podcasts for the Political Monitor. Listen to them all on SoundCloud. (8/21/2015)

• Ever heard of “Ashcan Copies”? I wrote about them for mental_floss. I followed up with an audio version for NHPR’s Word of Mouth. (3/13/15)