Writing & More….

The Story of My Book

I never set out to write a book. Yet a manuscript is in the works and has been for many years. It details aspects of my personal journey through life, what I’ve learned, and how my relationship with myself has changed, deepened, and healed.

Interestingly, the experience of engaging with this written work has taught me to honor its natural timetable, including all the related expansions and contractions. For me, bringing this book into the world has mirrored the experience of birth, and I don’t want to interfere with or rush it.

While each spontaneous expansion propels me forward, every contraction invites me to pause and look at the growth work that’s needed so I’m free to move once again. By allowing this process, rather than forcing it to go the way I think it should, it becomes rhythmic and organic. The process is therefore characterized by more ease and less effort - qualities which appeal to me.

I’ve also recognized that the manuscript needs to rest periodically, just as I did in between the intense contractions that ultimately brought my four beautiful children into the world.

So stay tuned! More is coming on this for sure. I feel it in my heart.

Professional clients

Periodically I’ll take on a small number of professional clients to assist them in realizing their external communications goals. Together we develop and refine timely and impactful blog posts and articles, query letters, or social media content for their targeted audiences. Past clients have included an artist, a headhunter for the asset management industry, and an executive coach.

If you have a writing project in the works, and you’d like support to further refine or execute your vision, please contact me.

Legacy Writing and Creativity Workshops

I enjoy collaborating with private clients to create a custom legacy document that details the unique stories or lessons of their lives. Often photos, recipes, and genealogical information are included in these self-published books that are shared with beloved members of the author’s family.

My first legacy writing “client” was my own grandmother. After she broke her hip in her 80s I knew it was time to begin to capture all the colorful stories she’d shared with me all my life. I asked her to recount her experiences in Italy as a child, while immigrating to America on a ship that later sank, as well as memories about her life in New York City when she arrived in the late 1930s. I soaked it all in and wrote it down. My aim was to capture the unique cadence of her voice and manner of speaking, and get them on the page. I knew I’d been successful when, a few years after my grandmother’s death, my mother read the stories and said with wonder in her voice, “What a gift! I heard my mother’s voice again!”

After this experience, I wanted to connect with other legacy writers to discuss what I’d learned from working with my grandmother and her stories. I reached out to the 55+ parks & recreation coordinator in my community and she invited me to offer two free workshops on legacy writing to area residents. Subsequently, this led to the formation of two Artist’s Way Creative Clusters to help participants get in touch with, and express, their inherent creativity.