Editorial Consulting
When Michael Korda asked me to help "put some feeling" into a rather dry theatrical memoir he was publishing at Simon & Schuster, he had no idea he was launching a second career. Working with director John Houseman on his first autobiography, "Run-Through," marked the beginning of some thirty years as a personal editor, book doctor, ghost writer and writing therapist.
My clients run the gamut from the fledgling to the very well published. Some come for a quick "read," but most stay for months, glue-ing scraps together, sanding rocky transitions, finding and re-finding an authentic voice. I followed Houseman by working with a political prisoner, am responsible for adapting nutritionist Gary Null's radio shows to pages between covers, have helped an anthropologist translate her thesis into a thrilling book and guided a prominent lawyer as he recounted his courtroom derring-do on behalf of catastrophically injured people.
Although I have considerable experience with fiction writers and authors of non-fiction books and articles in history, politics, alternative healing and psychology, most current clients are writing memoirs. These generally revolve around dizzying experiences of race, motherhood, adoption, seasons in hell and the valiant leaps over obstacles that ensure survival. Irene Vilar has published her chilling abortion memoir and Nancy Bachrach, once an advertising executive, is now the proud author of "The Center of the Universe."
I work one-on-one as often as it takes for as long as it takes and I welcome inquiries.
Recent clients/book editing:
Julia Van Haaften, Berenice Abbott: A Life in Pictures (biography)
Gerald Osterbergg: Jo Stafford (music/biography)
Kathy Jones, "A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt"
Roberta Salper, "Domestic Subversive" (left politics memoir)
confidentiality agreements in place for others
"Lightning in a bottle, you." Ed Danis, novelist, Florida
"I've learned more from you in these hours than I did all through my MFA in writing programs." K.E., New York,