Long story short, I'm a 6x author, book writing coach,  and independent book publisher. I'm also a mom of 5  (including a set of twins and a beautifully amazing treasure from Ethiopia), who's obsessed with (decaf) coffee, (gluten-free) cupcakes, home renovation, and generally making the "impossible "possible. 

After 18+ years of researching, guessing, analyzing, flying by the seat of my pants, watching surefire approaches fail miserably (and doubtful approaches work brilliantly), I developed my first course, PUBLISH A PROFITABLE BOOK, to help anyone who dreams of publishing a book avoid common (and costly) publishing pitfalls through a step-by-step blueprint to a published book. I've been writing and publishing books since 2004, and I began working with clients both one-on-one and through online programs in 2017. 

Short Story, Long...

I vividly remember sitting down at my kitchen table at the age of six with a pencil and a stack of looseleaf paper, ready to write my first book. I started at chapter 6 (because I was six, and starting at the very beginning seemed an awful lot of work).

I subsequently quit, a trait that would repeat itself throughout whenever something took longer than 1.5 minutes to perfect.

Learning to play tennis as well as Martina Navratilova apparently takes longer than two practice sessions.

Also, playing guitar like Eric Clapton.

And playing Clayton’s Grand March on the piano as well as my grandfather did.

You get the gist. I didn’t have a lot of, shall we say, perseverance in those days.

While my dreams of writing a book never disappeared, a topic that truly compelled me to get started (and keep going) continued to elude me.

Until 2001.

With a strong-willed one-year-old at home, I learned that I was expecting twins.

Needless to say, I ran straight from the ultrasound room to the bookstore, desperate for a book that was going to give me strategies for getting through this delightful blessing and keep my sense of humor while doing it.

That book didn’t exist. And that was my “eureka” moment.

Despite the sheer terror of knowing I had to write an entire manuscript starting with a blank page, the writing ended up being the most fun part (I suppose I enjoyed the distraction from my Groundhog Day existence).

Once I finished writing the book, however, I realized I had a big problem: I HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO NEXT!

Contact agents? Call publishing houses? Scour the internet researching hybrid publishers? Do it myself?

After a mind-numbing amount of research and hearing “No” way too many times from agents and editors, I decided to take matters into my own hands and figure out how to publish and sell my first book, Ready or Not…Here We Come! (now titled Holy Shit…I’m Having Twins: The Definitive Guide to Remaining Calm When You’re Twice as Freaked Out).

I did what any sleep-deprived, determined mom with zero free time would do.

I did it all myself. Doesn’t that sound totally reasonable? (Newsflash: it wasn’t.)

In 2003, I published the book. It quickly became a bestseller in its category and remained so for over a decade.

Two years later, I published my second book, Ready or Not. . .There We Go! The REAL Experts’ Guide to the Toddler Years with Twins. It also did remarkably well—even by traditional publishing standards.

In 2010, in the midst of writing my third book, You Cannot Be Serious: and 32 Other Rules that Sustain a (Mostly) Balanced Mom, something truly unexpected occurred: literary Agents expressed serious interest in representing me.

I had several friends who were traditionally published, and when they mentioned my sales figures to their agents, those agents’ ears perked up.

No one was more shocked than I was that my sales had (way) outperformed those even traditional publishers hoped for.

I had turned what initially seemed impossible into a pretty incredible gig, and I wasn’t about to give that up to make less than $1 per book sold, lose control over manuscript edits and cover design, and live with the pressure of making the book a bestseller in three weeks or be deemed a failure.

So an indie author I continued to be.

My approach is simple: WRITE | PUBLISH | LAUNCH

I guide my clients through the processes of writing, publishing, and launching their books through one-on-one and group programs. My passion is helping anyone with a story to tell or a message to share (which is to say, everyone) how to bypass the overwhelm, go from wanting to write a book to writing a book, getting that book published, and purposefully positioning it to open new, exciting doors.

Whether you’ve finished writing your manuscript or haven’t put a word on the page, I look forward to meeting you wherever you are and helping you get wherever you dream of going as an author.

Are you ready? Of course you are. That’s why you’re here.