Have you ever been silenced, told your story wasn't true or didn't matter  

(even if just by the doubt demons in your own head)? 

I see you. I get you. I am you. 

“That never happened.” The last thing an aspiring memoirist wants to hear. The last thing a young adult wants to hear from her parents when recounting a formative experience. 

The thing I heard the first time I shared a short memoir piece with my family over twenty years ago… 

I had just gotten out of grad school and written a 1500 word memoir piece about a poignant event that happened to me as a kid.

Proud of my work, I sent it to my parents and brother who simply responded with “that didn’t happen.”
 

I don’t even think those three little words were said in some nefarious plot to silence me. I wasn’t censored, threatened with disinheritance, shunned.  I doubt they even remember they said it. 

(Though I do think they were uncomfortable with the idea of me shining a light at some cracks in the perfect facade of our family)

But it was a big enough shock that I didn’t do any more personal writing for twenty three more years…

While this was a very painful occurrence, it was also a galvanizing one. 

The reason I’m so fierce about my work now is because it took me far too long to give myself permission to tell my stories.  

At first I switched to fiction, thinking that making up stories would be easier than telling “the truth” in nonfiction. 

But here’s the thing: 

I just kept writing the same truths over and over again with different characters and in different story worlds. 

Ultimately, I had to just recommit to telling my truth through story; to acknowledging the pain of the past and giving myself permission to write for no one else but myself. 

It took almost a decade, but I’m so glad I did the work. 

And now, I’m here to be your book coach so that it doesn’t have to take you quite so long. 

This is my heroine's origin story. The reason I write. The reason I work with writers to help them get their stories out into the world. The reason I get all kinds of fired up about gaslighting, misogyny, racism, violence, bigotry, and injustice. The reason I’m constantly trying to subvert the power structures that try to keep us quiet and obedient. 

There are so many systems in place in this world that try to silence us. 

Especially if we are too sensitive, too talkative, too liberal, too weird, too crazy, too fat, too thin, too queer, too female, too WHATEVER for the comfort of those grasping, white-knuckled, at a fracturing status quo.

If you’ve been silenced...

Or if you...

✦  have something to say, but you’re scared of the fallout.

✦  have been gaslighted into thinking your truth isn’t real.

✦ have tried before, and you just couldn’t do it.

✦ know the truth and you want to share it with others.

✦ understand the power of story to tell the truth, to shine a light, to change the world…

Do it. Speak the words. Tell your truth. 

The world will always try to break our hearts. To keep us silent and obedient and tame. To maintain the order, the compliance, that’s required to maintain the status quo. 

Don’t let them.

I’m here to support you every step of the way of getting your stories into the hands of readers who need them.