About
Book publishing is the only work I’ve ever done.
I’m profoundly grateful to have landed in this career at the tender age of twenty-two. I’ve worked across many segments of the industry, and support authors to get published—traditionally and independently (hybrid or self-publishing).
I started my publishing career in 2000, and worked for traditional publishers for my first thirteen years in this industry. In 2012, I left my job as Executive Editor of Seal Press to co-found She Writes Press with Kamy Wicoff, founder of SheWrites.com. I tell the story of why I left traditional publishing in my TEDx talk: “Green-Light Revolution.”
I offer writing coaching and professional publishing consulting to a broad range of clients who are looking to write and finish their books, get published, build their author platforms, and better understand the complicated world of publishing. I work with novelists, memoirists, and entrepreneurs and thought leaders who have big-idea nonfiction projects or self-help books they’re ready to write and launch.
In coaching, I’m interested in helping writers write the best book they can write, to enjoy the process along the way, and also—importantly—to get the work publish-ready.
That said, the journey matters—and sometimes we can be so focused on the end goal that we lose direction or passion, or start to feel like the writing is a burden. My job will be to support you and devise strategies to propel you forward and help you access your untapped, forgotten, or ignored passions and energies that will get you moving, no matter if you’re completely stuck or charging ahead at a zillion miles an hour toward a hard deadline.
Outside of coaching and publishing, I teach and facilitate lots of memoir courses through Write Your Memoir in Six Months, a program I co-founded with Linda Joy Myers, President of the National Association of Memoir Writers. With a true passion for memoir, we offer a biannual six-month mentoring program, as well as shorter intensive boot camps and other courses. Together we’ve co-authored two books about memoir, Breaking Ground on Your Memoir and The Magic of Memoir.
In 2018, I launched the podcast, Write-Minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers with my co-host Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. This podcast is a collaboration between SheWrites and NaNoWriMo.
I’m the author of three solo books about writing and publishing:
- Write On, Sisters! Voice, Courage, and Claiming Your Place at the Table
- Green-Light Your Book: How Writers Can Succeed in the New Era of Publishing
- What’s Your Book? A Step-by-Step Guide to Get You from Inspiration to Published Author.
I bring a wide range of disciplines and interests to coaching, including the Ennegram and the Diamond Approach®. I’m a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI), a leading program in coaching that’s accredited by the International Coach Federation.
I earned my B.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University, and my M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from San Francisco State University. I live and work in Berkeley, California, and below are some photos of me in my yard, and with my golden retriever, Bee.
