Write From The Heart

There IS no typical process, because each writer’s process is different and worthwhile! My strength is putting writers at ease, so they can find just the right words for what truly moves them.

Above all, I make sure no one is ever anxious or intimidated,so that we can experience writing as something natural and fun, not another task. We are a safe and welcoming creative space. There are no grades, grammar, or red pen. Whether in person or online, we work together to relax, laugh, reduce stress, bolster confidence, and encourage deeper thought. I provide compassionate support to those who long to overcome perfectionism and self-doubt. A student can look forward to gaining a greater sense of spontaneity and pleasure in their writing and themselves.

Initial lessons might include: capturing vivid detail, the role of the senses in bringing writing to life, the importance of the rough draft.. Cancer patients find hope and healing in expressing the cancer experience as a group. Private essay students come away with a polished essay ready for submission, and a deeper knowledge of the process.

I studied fiction writing at the Banff School of Fine Arts and with author/ professor, Jim Shepard, at Williams College, Williamstown, MA.  In 2002, I founded Write From the Heart Creative Writing Workshops, a full-time, year-round program of group and private classes for adults, children, and teens. I teach my classes face to face and on Zoom. I also collaborate with schools and therapists, and teach therapeutic writing workshops to cancer patients at the Lancaster General Health/Penn Medicine Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 2016, I taught a 3-year writing program to cancer patients at Hershey Medical Center, and a clinical trial studying the effect of creative writing on patients, the results of which are published in the British Medical Journal of Support and Palliative Care. I have apprenticed with Dr. Clarice Kestenbaum, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry emerita, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, supporting her patients through writing. I’m a published short story writer, lyricist, and poet devoted to bringing out the best in creative people.

Fees vary depending on service & need. Established during initial communication.

I received a 1980s Massachusetts Council of the Arts Grant to create a writing program for nursing home residents, reconnecting them with their emotions and memories through their senses. Years later, in reaction to 9/11, I began Write From the Heart to share my belief that writing, taught with humor and compassion, has the power to console, illuminate, and heal.

I’ve coached women, men, teens, children, cancer patients, college applicants (essays), beginning and advanced. 

I was touched when a young student who had always dreaded writing told me her ideas were now coming “like popcorn.”

Choose the mentor who loves writing too, someone who recognizes the sensitivity that is typical of artists – a teacher who knows there is no right or wrong in creating (writing is not a machine requiring answers. It’s a magic all its own, filling a person with the joy of self-understanding and the freedom to feel!). Choose the teacher who respects your ideas and first attempts, and holds your deepest thoughts and feelings sacred. Stay open and excited about everything you see and feel around you!

What stops me from having a good time when I write? How can I make it fun? What would my writing life be like without the pressure of grades? How can I say exactly what I want to say without being afraid? How can I overcome perfectionism and let my thoughts flow?