Once upon a time, I was a high school English teacher. I taught English the way I’d been taught—lots of literary analysis, bland 5-paragraph essays, and a one-size-fits-all approach to writing.

Then, the pandemic hit. Stuck at home and made miserable by virtual teaching, my occasional writing habit became a full-blown obsession.

As I dove deeper into the craft and learned about the publishing industry, I realized something: everything I was teaching my students about writing was wrong.

Okay, not everything was wrong. But almost all of what I taught about the writing process was the exact opposite of what professional writers were doing to get projects done, published, and into readers’ hands.

So, what did I do as an overworked, underpaid, and still-reeling-from-COVID teacher?

I changed everything about how I taught writing.

I banished 5 paragraph essays that no one (me included) wanted to read.

I stopped forcing every kid to follow the same writing process and instead created three different deadline tracks for plotters, pantsers, and in-betweeners.

I crafted a robust peer feedback process and explicitly taught students how to give and receive feedback on their writing.

I started giving interim scores for rough drafts and conferencing with students about their writing before they turned in their final drafts.

The result?

Turn in rates skyrocketed. Grades went up. Above all, students became better writers.

But I wasn’t done.

I realized that so many aspiring authors struggle to create sellable fiction because they were taught the same flawed lessons about writing.

They had teachers, like me, who were taught to prioritize the wrong things.

I became an editor because I believe that writing is magic, but we aren’t taught to harness it.

Think about it. You have the power to take 26 inert characters and weave them into wondrous worlds, heart-pounding conflicts, and stories that feel so real we’ll debate the characters’ life choices as if they’re our friends or coworkers.

It shouldn’t be possible, and yet, it is. It’s also really frickin’ hard to do well and right now, our education system is actively teaching us to write fiction ineffectively.

Unlike speaking, reading & writing are unnatural skills. We can’t pick them up just by exposure to written materials. We have to be taught.

And isn’t that a beautiful thing? The idea of natural writing talent is a myth. There may be writers who start off with bigger vocabularies, or better grammar, or some other skill that gives them an advantage, but we all have to learn the same skills.

No one is born a writer, but anyone can choose to become one.

My mission is to demystify those skills, undo the flaws of your K-12 writing education, and help you become the writer you were meant to be.

I became a developmental editor to help writers close the gap between their current skills and the book of the dreams.

Then, I became an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach to become even more effective at helping writers master the skills needed to write a sellable book.

Now, I spend every single day helping other writers discover the magic of writing for themselves and I’m so proud of my clients and the amazing books they’ve created.

Are you ready to become another success story?

Request your FREE sample edit today and let’s see how I can help you write the best book possible.