Inspirational Impact

M Y L I F E C A L L I N G

When I was four years old sitting at our large sea-green upright piano, the sky thundered in the bass and the treble streaked with lightning, while a little girl just like me skipped through the forest on the black keys. Already I was a “writer.” And talented enough musically, my mother thought, to start piano lessons.

Before I knew how to write cursive, I pretended, filling the paper with curves and loops. At age ten my mother handed me Anne Frank’s diary, which got me to keep one of my own. Around that time, my father, seeing my garage-chalkboard drawing of a movie marquee that read, “The Story of the Thousand Thumbs,” casually suggested I write that story out—my first. And I’ve been writing ever since, a lot of it poetry.

Now, running my writing business, I connect people to their stories and their stories to people—with words that invite, engage, and inspire. It’s all to help make a positive difference in others’ lives. And I have a blast doing it.

I’m crazy about the creative process, inspired by film to draw the reader in and playing with transitions so the paragraphs flow; spelunking into the meanings of words to reach the right ones and listening to how they sing with the rhythm of the sentence. I’m always learning about something new and talking with people from all walks of life, often at such an extent or depth. Then there are my clients, who are just plain fun to work with.

It comes down to that connection for me—with my clients and subjects, my writing and your readers, and my own self. I talk about all this and more in this video interview with professional connection consultant, Ginger Johnson.

D E C A D E S O F D E D I C A T I O N

Since 1990, nearly 300 national magazines in the US and Canada have published over 2,500 of my articles. Businesses and organizations also turn to me for those, and annual reports, website pages, white papers, content marketing, digital marketing, and all levels of editing. I also write artists’ statements and artist-book essays.

As a writing coach, I help you face the blank page, and form and organize your ideas. Together, we dive into the editing, then let’s get that baby out there! For many nonfiction-book authors and novelists, that’s where book designer and self-publishing coach Lieve Maas of Bright Light Graphics comes in.

M O R E P U B L I S H E D A R T I C L E S

As of November 2024

Communication Arts - From LA street scenes to famous haute couture, French photographer Franck Bohbot seizes the details.

Oregon ArtsWatch - Feminist artist Phyllis Yes says no to gender stereotypes with her new body of work, Dusty . . . at Home.

Strings Magazine - The Lafayette String Quartet takes its final bow after 37 years together, solely with its original members, a rarity.

Chamber Music Magazine - American Patchwork Quartet takes timeless American folk songs into jazz improvisation, country twang, West African rhythms, and East Asian ornamentation, stitching traditions together in unexpected ways.

Chamber Music Magazine - With 2023 as its 40th year, the Grand Canyon Music Festival spotlights the string quartet and high schoolers’ works from the Native American Composer Apprentice Project headed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Raven Chacon.

Chamber Music Magazine - Duo Sonidos is opening listeners’ ears with novel Latin and Iberian violin/guitar musical arrangements and newly commissioned works.

Chamber Music Magazine - The 13-member INTERWOVEN’s traditional Asian, Western classical and contemporary offerings embrace the cultural differences.

Voice (Carleton College) - With the Raikes Foundation, Dennis Quirin is helping to reshape public education and end youth homelessness.

Colby Magazine - A fellowship of friendships support the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life at Colby College.

Colby Magazine - Students hone their skills at the Farnham Writers’ Center.

Colby Magazine - The prestigious Rome Prize takes scholar Gabriella Johnson even deeper into the Mediterranean Sea’s influence on early-modern art.

Colby Magazine - International-award-winning scholar Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh talks about her translations/interpretations of Sikh literature and art.

Colby Magazine - A school bus becomes a mobile art museum called cARTie, reaching kids with limited access to the arts.

Colby Magazine - The plein-air artist’s path leads painter Matthew Russ to Maine’s coastal landscapes in his effort to help protect them.

Colby Magazine - Vira Health’s digital therapeutic helps women deal with menopausal miseries while closing the workplace gender gap.

Clark Partners Magazine - More women are donning welding helmets and heat-resistant gloves, thanks to Clark College.

Remedies For Life - Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to a difficult adulthood of physical, emotional, and behavioral problems.

ScienceDocs Inc. - My video interview with the co-founder of Inherent Targeting spotlights this $2.25M NIH-grant-winner’s surgical technology.

Communication Arts - Christopher Payne’s industrial photography shows us everything from pianos and roller skates to pencils and the first 3-D-printed rocket being made—all in the USA.

Communication Arts - Advertising photographer Tim Tadder pushes color and light to new heights in his images for Nike, Verizon, Forbes, and others.

Quest (Muscular Dystrophy Association) - Losing a loved one to a neuromuscular disease is hard. Knowing how to cope with the grief helps.

Quest (Muscular Dystrophy Association) - A gamut of emotions hits anyone after receiving a diagnosis, for themselves or their children.

Quest (Muscular Dystrophy Association) - For kids with a neuromuscular disease, making friends is easier with the right mindset and guidance.

Quest (Muscular Dystrophy Association) - The latest home security systems increase safety and self-sufficiency.

Quest (Muscular Dystrophy Association) - Two kids with Duchenne don’t let this disease or their wheelchairs stop them from enjoying outdoor recreation.

Quest (Muscular Dystrophy Association) - Three life coaches living with neuromuscular disorders urge goal setting for personal growth and wellbeing.

A R T I C L E S D U E O U T S O O N

Costco Connection - The mobile art museum called cARTie

Clark Partners (Clark College) - The Clark College Student Success Fund

Colby Magazine (Colby College) - Posse Foundation Scholar Sofia Hegstrom

Quest (Muscular Dystrophy Association) - Holiday entertaining made easy

Quest (Muscular Dystrophy Association) - Dealing with loneliness during the holidays

W H A T E L S E ?

With the Oregon Bioscience Incubator (OBI), I’ve offered to volunteer as a BioMentor, to help life science and digital health entrepreneurs with their writing; and I attend OBI, SEMpdx, AMA PDX, and other local networking events.

And when I’m not on the job? Well, what does someone who lives at the base of an extinct volcano right in town do? I wander those woods up in Mt. Tabor Park a lot, follow Forest Park’s and other city-park trails, hike the Pacific Northwest’s wilder parts, and head out to the Coast. Portland’s arts and culture, and the best of peopling also get me going, and I’ve always got bookmarks stuck between pages. Then there’s my meditation, yoga, and found-paper collages I make.

And, yes, I still play the piano.