Writing Services

 
 

Across the years, I am and have been a communications and marketing staffer for state and national nonprofits, a published poet, a communications lead for white people organizing for racial justice, a writing group facilitator, and an editor for colleagues, friends, and clients. I studied Creative Writing at UNC-Chapel Hill and continuously learn from and enjoy the power of writing.

topics

  • Writing for stress relief

  • Writing for changemakers

  • Writing for healing and resilience

  • Writing for people living with illness (patients and caregivers)

  • Writing for laughter and release

  • And more! Reach out to discuss.

Writing Services

  • Editing essays, interviews, communications, poetry, and more

  • 1:1 Writing coaching and support

  • 60-120 minute writing workshops

  • Weekly writing groups (usually 5-8 weeks)

  • Staff development and group building workshops

  • Sessions for retreats and conferences

  • Writing commissions

RECENT WORK

  • I work with Mike Gast to edit transcripts of rich and rambling conversations into powerful, digestible Substack posts for his Organize the Rich project, examining the lineage of and lessons learned for moving wealthy people and wealth toward social justice. I find and name key ideas, suggest the flow and order, and edit for clarity and concision.

  • This five week restorative writing group encouraged participants to start the year fresh by writing down what they carried and making room for new ideas. Prompts included art, essay, poetry, music, and more. Each week, participants met online to learn and practice a new technique to generate writing. Take-home prompts stoked inspiration between sessions.

  • I currently work with a writer in Arlington, VA. I am reading through hundreds of her old drafts and snippets to help her identify essays and topics for inclusion in a memoir book of essays.

  • I supported a client who wanted writing prompts, coaching, and editing to help him reflect and write about family and aging. Our check-ins motivated him to keep writing. His writing helped him connect childhood memories to current experiences with his child and grandchild as well as the many forms of prejudice and hatred he has witnessed across time and culture.

  • For two years in a row, I was delighted to co-lead this 8-week group in Chapel Hill, NC with Carol Henderson, a writer, teacher, editor, and coach (www.carolhenderson.com). Participants included people coping with illness and grief as patients and caregivers—or both. Carol and I guided participants through a series of writing exercises designed to help group members turn inward for wisdom, draw on existing literature as inspiration, and gain fortitude. The 2015 group gave a reading at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, on Sunday, March 16, 2015 and were met with a standing ovation.

  • I worked with Carol Henderson to facilitate a prompt-based, weekly writing workshop at UNC Hospitals. The workshop was open to hospital staff, patients and their families, and members of the surrounding community looking for a writing respite.

  • In this session at a weekend retreat, I helped women with rare bleeding disorders use approachable group exercises and individual prompts to put on paper to capture the feelings and experiences they explored during their retreat.

Why writing? is it for me?

Writing about what matters can lead to a transformative shift in perspective that we can’t get just by talking and thinking. Research by James Pennebaker, MD and others shows that restorative writing can promote physical, mental, and emotional healing. Structured writing workshops or coaching are not about the product (though we can produce awesome writing), but the process. When you give yourself the time and permission to put words to paper, you release stress, discover new insights, and even experience physical and physiological benefits.

My workshops and coaching services are designed to be welcoming, safe, and approachable. Writing to specific prompts provides a helpful distance from and container for your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. And the prompts are playful, helpful, and flexible. Postcards, songs, questions, pictures, and props are curated to become prompts to spark the voice within. And while I’ll encourage you to write toward the edges of your comfort and imagination, you can write whatever comes—just keep the pencil moving.