For many years, I both taught Creative Writing at a local college and was a Developmental Editor for a major publisher. It was a perfect marriage as each job helped to inform and improve my work at the other.
Whenever I received the inevitable, “What do you do for work?” question, it seemed to depend on my mood whether I said “Teacher of English” or “Book Editor.” While my response was arbitrary, it yielded years of anecdotal research that indicates something quite notable. When I said “teacher,” about seven out of 10 would say something like, “Oh, I was never that good at English.” And if I said that I’m a book editor, about 95% of people would say, “I have this idea for a book!”
This informal but poignant tally confirms what I’ve always known. That we all have a story to tell and many of us (most even!) yearn to write it down.
I specialize in helping people learn to write their stories and shape them into their own masterpieces. I take a practical approach based on my firm conviction that writing is a skill that can be learned through practice – just like playing an instrument or a sport. And while some of us are natural musicians, others are natural athletes, and some are natural storytellers, each of us can learn the steps of any skill and practice them to achieve personal success.