“I’ve been an active member of South Florida’s writing community for 20+ years – as a writer, editor, and publisher. As a creative writing coach, I can guide you to a richer writing life. I’m committed to good writing. I speak of radical commitment: fierce, stark, and relentless.” M.J. Fievre, author of A SKY THE COLOR OF CHAOS TESTIMONIALS “Dear M.J., I wanted to let you know that I submitted my story to Tin House Summer Workshop (I got in!) and to the University of Edinburgh 1-Year MSc Creative Writing Program (I’ll be attending this Fall!). So I really wanted to thank you for helping me steer that story in the right…

My phone rings. It’s a man in need of a ghostwriter to unlock a tragic story that’s been troubling him for years, because it’s gone untold. I get these calls often.  This man previously hired another writer to help him with the project, “But the text is sloppy,” he explains to me. His wife is on the line too. She corrects him: “It’s grammatically sound but has no soul.” “We need a professional.” That would be me. Whether it’s a bored Manhattanite with a sordid tale of seduction who can’t find the words to bring her novel to the page, a professional looking to hire a writer to…

Sharpen Your Writing: You Need an Editor David had an idea for his business, but was having trouble with the copy on his webpage. If only he could get the wording right, he’d make millions, he said. His ideas were fantastic, but his writing was rough. Clients weren’t calling, and how can one be an entrepreneur without client calls? He needed an editor who could help bring in the client calls quick. He called me. David was right. He could make millions with his brilliant ideas, but his writing was full of grammatical errors and run-on sentences. He needed an editor. Every writer needs an editor, and every…

Anna handed me a package, postmarked Guatemala. “I need you to bring my grandmother back,” she said. Inside, I found a stack of handwritten poems in elegant cursive. Anna explained that her grandmother had written the poems years ago; they had been left to Anna when she passed away recently. The problem was that the poems were all in Spanish, and Anna had no grasp of the language. She’d only visited her grandmother a few times as a child.  All her life, there had been a language barrier between them, and now, in her grief, Anna wanted an opportunity to crash past that barrier and reach an understanding…

Remain Focused: You Need a Writing Coach For years, Zelda stored secrets in the cupboards of her home: a memoir, a novel, and scads of short stories and poems. But she had children to support, and writing is a risky venture, so she kept them locked away. As far back as she could remember, she’d been filling notebooks on the sly. Her kids were older now, and there was more time to devote to the one thing she’d held off on, pursuing her dream of publication. She went to a community writing class. The words started coming faster. She sent a novel manuscript off to a small press,…