As a teacher and spiritual director, I hold the space for others to heed and participate in the creation of their own sacred stories.   I do this by teaching skills (in listening, in the craft of writing, in giving and receiving feedback), asking questions, offering ethical and relational guidelines, and fostering community. I am particularly interested in how the creative process can become a fruitful spiritual practice.

Classes:   For a listing of upcoming class offerings, click here.   I also offer private classes in advanced memoir in Minneapolis; please contact me if interested.

Workshops, Speaking & Retreats:   I can present on the following subjects for congregations, libraries, retreats, and writing festivals.   Please contact me if interested. If you are a Unitarian fellowship, please see www.stonetreeuu.org for my Unitarian offerings.

• Journaling the Inside Out
• Spiritual Memoir:   Where a Life Meets Mystery
• Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
• Introduction to the Personal Essay
• Writing as a Spiritual Practice
• The Art of Revision
• Writing about Transformation
• Elements of Style
• Reading as Writers
• Coming Out as a Sacred Process
• Spirituality and Sexuality
  

As a writing coach, I am committed to supporting authors of literary fiction and nonfiction in the creation of honest, artful, and fully-realized work.   I specialize in facilitating writing as a spiritual practice and teaching the craft of writing to those whose passion resides in a profession or avocation, who desire to share stories about their subject.  

Because I understand writing to be a process and the creation of a book to be a journey into new ways of seeing a subject, I most often work with authors and their projects over a period of time, offering manuscript critique, conversation about the writing process, and support through revision.   For this reason, I limit my work to those with established writing practices.   If you think you'd like to work with me, please contact me.   If it seems like a good fit, I may request a writing sample or we might meet to discuss our potential work together.

I tailor my services to meet each writer's needs.   Our work together might include:

• Support in the creative process.   I can offer exercises and support for maintaining a lively and nurturing writing habit.   I can provide deadlines for those who thrive on pressure.
• Feedback on written work.  
• Early drafts:   I offer suggestions for deepening manuscripts by asking questions and making observations.   I often give exercises that teach writing skills beyond the parameters of a particular piece.   I specialize in guiding writers to shape a literary work--in other words, to revise.
• Later drafts:   I can read your manuscript for thematic integrity, narrative arc, pacing, character and scene development, structure, openings and endings, as well as more cosmetic elements like sentence structure and word choice.   I do not do editing work.
• While I always write marginal comments and a comprehensive letter of feedback, I find it helpful to meet with authors to discuss their draft.   In my experience, new insights and questions rise from our conversation.

I only take on projects I believe in.   If I am unfamiliar with your work, I will request a writing sample and telephone conversation to see if we're a good fit.

I charge $65/hr for one-on-one consultation and $40/hr for reading time. For manuscript reviews, I will ask for a deposit.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.