It's been a minute since I've shared
About my writing classes and coaching.
I've been super immersed in the book
(ICYMI "So You Need To Decide" original audio book!)
And the UnCabaret shows.

But proud mama here.
Writing students and clients 
Blooming like crazy. 

Just this weekend
One client broke in a new half hour of stand up
To a sold out house in Chicago.
And another opened an ambitious one woman show 
To a sold out house in LA.
Another finished a book proposal.

I worked differently with all of them.
I work differently with every client.
Word by word sometimes.
Big plan sometimes.
Usually a mixture of those two.

And always 
Targeting the current dream
Finding the way of courageous creativity.
And mapping - and sometimes remapping - shifting paths
To make those dreams come truer.

At one point last week
I decided to take a breather
From the whirled 
And the full court press on "So You Need To Decide".
(Did I mention Vulture called it one of the Best Comes Books of 2022 (So Far)?!)
I really love being an author!

So I collapsed into dinner and turned on Marry Me.
For an ironic partial watch.
And suddenly it was one hour and 52 minutes later
I was sobbing
Wishing it wasn't over and watching the credits roll.
I yelped with glee when I saw
Tami Sagher's writing credit.
It made perfect sense.

Tami was a student some years ago
And wrote a lot about her time at math camp.
I loved those stories
And I had her on the Say The Word shows 
Up at the Skirball Cultural Center. 

It suddenly made sense.
That whole math part of Marry Me
Felt so authentic.
It came from her real experience.
Which was at least partly why the movie felt smart and real
While staying true 
To its fairy tale core. 

And this week I also saw that
One of my other students 
Got her first show running gig.
Another signed a great book deal.
Another came in second at the first post pandemic Moth.
Another did a song on UnCabaZoom.
One presented her daughter with a Billboard Women in Music Award.
One had her book hit the million readers mark.
One is publishing in Buddhist journals and leading edition retreats.
And. So. Much. More.

How much did their past work with me
In my writing classes 
Impact these successes?
I don't always know.
Though in some cases they credit and thank me.
:)
And sometimes I can see the footprint of the work they did
In class in their success.
Sometimes it was just prelims.

But this is what I know for sure.
From them 
From all my students.
And from my own work as a writer and performer.
Knowing your own story is essential.
If you are a story teller
In any medium
Knowing your story
The depth of it
The complexity of it
The shape of it
The changing nature of it
The funniness of it
The thread that connects all your various stories
Into one
This what makes 
All your work sparkle.
What makes it undeniable.

You don't have to want to do memoir 
Or stand up
To make it important - 
I would argue critical
To do the work
Of knowing - telling - your story.

Is it the same as therapy?
No.
But it is related.
In therapy you don't do the work
Of finding the voice 
That most perfectly expresses
The very particular story
That you have.

In my work with students and clients 
I work with 4 aspects.

 

1. Know your story - yourself - your being

2. Know your voice - speaking/writing

3. Figure out the right projects to pour your story/being into

4. Figure out how to live while you are doing it.

 

The last one.
You can't disconnect the work from the rest of your life.
There's no way for a writing or performance teacher/coach
To work with people on the work 
Without working with people on their lives.

More about my coaching here.

Some testimonials.

There are 3 spots left in my Spring Session.

The spring session is always bubbly!

4 weeks to change your life.
We Zoom in 5 PM PT
Tuesday April 19, 2022 -
If you are reading this in the future - just check the workshop dropdown.

 

Here's a link to email if you have questions
Or would like to set up a free 10 minute assessment call.
And know this.
I work with people at every level.
Beginners - and even civilians.
To bold faced names.

 

And if you are drawn to me but don't know why
People come to me all the time saying that.
And some of the best results happen with those folks.

 

If you know someone who would benefit from working with me
And would like to gift me to them
That's also a way great results have happened.

In order to write the story of our lives
We have to understand
The life of our stories.