If you want to experience the life-changing power of personal storytelling at work, Unmuted is a must-read. Over the past year, I’ve had the gift of teaming with GenPRIDE Executive Director, Steven Knipp, and the amazing GenPRIDE community to offer an ongoing writing workshop that has resulted in this incredible anthology. I’m honored to have played a […]
If you have a memoir you need to write, check out my Hugo House course that starts September 27. In this intensive five-week course, I’ll teach you how to structure and outline your memoir and then develop your first chapter in a way that grabs readers and lays the foundation for your book. I’ll also help […]
2019 was stressful and serious for me. So my daughter, Hannah, and I decided to make the new decade all about fun – starting with a daily dance party. Hope you’ll join us!
Continue Reading...This vision loss thing has knocked me down hard plenty of times over the past year. And I know I’m not alone when it comes to the pain of this and other knock-out blows that life occasionally delivers. The only real question is how to get back on our feet once we regain consciousness and […]
I never gave much thought to the word Disability until I was slapped with that label and told to expect widespread stigma and social isolation. That’s when I understood just how messed up these ingrained prejudices and assumptions are when it comes to people dealing with a challenge that has been shoved under the disabilities […]
I’ve started thinking of fear as a malaria-carrying mosquito in Africa. They are tiny and lethal and impossible to escape. And as far as I can tell, there are only three real ways to deal with them. We can freak out and launch a frantic attack on any mosquito we encounter — which is exhausting […]
I’ve been mean to myself before. But I didn’t realize just how self-bullying, belittling and cruel I could be until my eyesight took a nose-dive last year. Suddenly I could no longer see my family’s faces or the world around me. And I hated myself for it. I have always been an optimist and a […]
Continue Reading...The meaning of these words hit me a couple of months ago when I was in the depths of despair over my eyesight challenges. It came after a trip to San Francisco to try out a new technology that I was convinced would help me navigate my neighborhood. Instead, it was a complete bust and […]
If your New Year’s resolution includes writing your memoir, I’m here to help. I’m launching monthly day-long memoir retreats in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood starting Saturday, January 26th. These comprehensive day-long retreats go from 8:30 AM to 9 PM. They will be held at Sakona at Sunset Hill, the new two-bedroom writing flat my family recently […]
I’ve been pondering this question a lot over the past couple of weeks. Not only because we’ve just emerged from the throws of the season of gift-giving, but because it marks the three-year anniversary of when I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. It’s easy enough to tuck it to the back […]