Story, a beginning

Story is where it all begins

Our dreams and goals, our fears and challenges – these all take shape as narrative. Story informs our sense of self and our understanding of the outside world. It builds the foundation for how to act, what to strive for, how to be. It helps us put experience and emotion into context and teaches us how to relate to the people and world around us. Writing is an opportunity to step into another person’s heart and mind, and to see the world from their perspective.

Story is powerful

People, connection, and experience – who we are, the relationships we have, and the challenges we navigate – these are at the heart of all great narratives. Great stories are larger than life, timeless, and enduring. They can inspire or bring the reader to tears, and they are the stuff of flickering firelight, of shadows and shivers.

Words matter because your story matters

Writing effectively and gracefully is difficult. It takes effort and skill to speak clearly so that you will be understood by someone else – someone who does not live in your mind and who does not have your frames of reference, your perspective.

The writing process helps to organize and clarify your thinking. But you can’t stop at the first draft. Writing is an iterative process that starts with the need to express something and evolves into a process of questioning and revising, which is editing.

An opportunity for reflection

Editing offers a critical interrogation of the text at different levels, from the overall structure to the nitty gritty of punctuation, spelling, and word choice. What often starts as a vague, stilted, cathartic, or creative mind dump is shaped, through careful and attentive editing, into a refined, clear and deliberate communication.

As the draft evolves, so does your own understanding of what you want to communicate and achieve. You might even realize that you did not even truly know what you wanted to say until you were partway through the process. That’s part of the joy of digging into the text, distilling the ideas, and helping the author’s voice ring true and clear. The editing process is a critical and detailed approach to refining a text’s logic and structure. And sometimes it jubilantly breaks the rules.

---

Making good stories even better

A little bit about me

I’ve taken many detours on my path to becoming a writer. One was through layout and publication design, another through editing. My heart is in writing with creative abandon but my mind won’t let go of the red pen. Sometimes they argue, but I have confidence in the process.

I enjoy helping people say what they mean, and say it well. I love solving the puzzle of words and punctuation and bringing order to chaos so that there is space for the truth of human experience to shine through.

My goal – both personal and professional – is to make good stories even better. I want to bring great stories into the world and I’m keenly interested in how creativity, expression, and reflection can help people connect and thrive.

Building on creativity, courage, integrity, and analytical thinking, I help people express themselves authentically and effectively. My skill set bridges story and software, language and leadership. I bring a deep concern for the human experience and a strong background in layout and typography to my writing and editing. I look for connections that spark understanding, aim to bring light and clarity, and advocate, always, for the reader.