Another excerpt from my memoir-in-progress was recently published by Dorothy Parker’s Ashes. You can read it here. Inspired by Annie Lamott’s challenge, “Writing is telling the truth,” I am starting to dig into some tough material.

Writing:

Writing has been an integral part of my working life.  Always.

The bug first bit, as well as I can remember, in my sophomore year of college.  It was a thousand years ago in a lawless land and my best friend and I did something kind of bad.  I could not bear to do an essay for a history of philosophy course, and she could not fathom writing a concert review for her dance class.  So we switched assignments.

My friend was an excellent student and, not unexpectedly, I did very well on the essay that she wrote for me.  The big surprise however was that when she got her dance criticism paper back the professor said it was the best piece of dance writing she had ever seen at the college.  Let’s just say that I wasn’t hearing praise like that about my academic work every day.  I suddenly believed that I had something to say, and I loved the process of figuring out how to say it.  I was hooked.

So in my 20s I did a bunch of writing about dance that made it into various New York publications.  Later, in my 30s and 40s, when I became involved in oral history, I found the process of refining and honing interview transcripts some of the most satisfying hours of the job.  Soon I also began to write about oral history for conferences and journals.

Most recently I have been writing about yoga and meditation, as well as random thoughts on the way that the practices intersect with daily life.  These pieces can be found in my newsletter and on this site’s blog, as well as on elephant journal and Yoga International .

My writing life today also includes working as a coach, mentor, cheerleader, editor, and even full fledged writer for a number of wonderful beings for whom the written word does not come easily.  I can help you figure out what you want to say, as well as how you’d like to say it.  I’ve even been called a Website Whisperer…

So whether you are tearing your hair out, losing your mind, or simply want to refine and polish your writing, you will find a patient and compassionate listener who will help you untangle your ideas and comb them into words.

Contact me for rates and references, as well as more examples of my work.