I am a writer. I was dictating poems to my mother to write down for me before I could read or write myself. Other kids wanted to be doctors, nurses, firefighters or paramedics, or go into business. I wanted to write.

My dad taught me how to read. Dad taught me phonics in our New York basement, writing, “A Apple, B Banana, C Cat …” on the blackboard and letting me pick up any book that struck my fancy. I remember standing between my parents in the car’s front seat (bench style, pre-car seat and seatbelt laws) trying to sound out the names of store signs. And I became a reader, a bookworm who could hold a complete conversation while reading and never remember a word of it. That ability has mostly served me well over the years, even if my mom doesn’t agree!

When I graduated from college with degrees in English and French and told my guidance counselors I didn’t want to teach, that I wanted to write, they told me teaching pays better. I found a job as a research assistant for a writer of non-fiction self-help books. I took Mike Hernacki’s The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Everything You Want seriously. A few years later, I convinced an editor at Harcourt Professional Publishing that I was the right person to fill the production editor position they had open.

The rest is history, my history. I’ve been writing, reading and editing (in that order) ever since.

One of my most fulfilling efforts has been with StoryArts, a nonprofit that helps people write their personal stories, their memoirs for limited-run publication. Everyone truly has a story to tell, and it is a privilege to help people tell their stories.

That’s what I do: I help people tell stories. Do you have a product or service to sell? No, you don’t. You have a solution to someone’s problem, a way to improve their story. What’s your story? Let me help you tell it.