Academic Background

University of Colorado, Boulder. B.S. Journalism. 1982
California College of Arts and Craft, Oakland, CA. Studied sculpture and painting. 1983-1985

Work Experience

Writers.com. Teacher. For the past three years I’ve been teaching on-line at a website called Writers.com I teach a 10-week long creative non-fiction, personal essay writing class. 1999-currently

Coaching: I currently meet with writers on a one on one basis, helping them with their book and essay ideas.

Writing and Publishing Instructor for a six-month publishing class in Emeryville at Taking the Leap, a program for writers who want to learn about the business of publishing. 1998-2001

Simon and Schuster Publishing Trade Sales Rep. Job included traveling and servicing an account base of 80 retail and wholesale bookstores in Northern California, Hawaii and Nevada. Responsibilities included selling over 300 new titles a year, managing advertising and coop money and being the liaison between the publisher and the bookselling community. 1990-1994

Bookseller, Advertising Director, Pendragon Books, Oakland, CA. Duties included retail sale of books, buying new books through publishing sales reps, writing and designing all marketing and printed material for store advertising. 1984-1990

Books and Calendars

Faith: Bayview Hunters Point Breast Cancer Calendar, 2002. Conducted all interviews and writing.

Happily Ever After: Pictures of Lasting Love, 2002 calendar through Pomegranate Press.Conducted all interviews and writing.

The Anniversary Album, Chronicle Books, Fall 2002

Soothing Soaks: Relaxation For the Bath. Chronicle Books, Spring 2000

The Moon Journal, Chronicle Books, Spring 2000 (forthcoming). A dream journal inspired by the moon.

Expectations: Thirty Women Talk About Becoming a Mother. Chronicle Books, March, 1998. A photography/essay book where women talk about the lessons they've learned about themselves since becoming mothers.

Living Happily Ever After: Couples Talk about Lasting Love. Chronicle Books, Fall, 1996. A photography/essay book that looks at long-term partnership through the lives of thirty couples who have been together for thirty years or longer.

Where The Heart Is: A Celebration of Home. Wildcat Canyon Press, 1995. Included in this anthology of writers writing on the notion of home.

The Way of the Woman Writer. Harrington Park Press, 1995. Included in this anthology of women writers writing on life's passages.

Freelance Work

Essays and stories published in Glamour, Parenting, and the internet magazine, Salon. 1997-present.

Catalog Copy Writer, Publishers Group West, Berkeley, CA. Wrote catalog copy for new computer, non-fiction and children's books and audio cassettes. 1993-1996.

Book Reviewer, Whole Earth Review, Sausalito, CA. Wrote reviews for new non-fiction. 1994-1996.

Special Sales Coordinator, Harlow and Ratner Publishers, Berkeley, CA. Responsible for special sales for their cookbook line. 1993

Book Reviewer, San Francisco Chronicle, 1990-92

Freelance Publicity Writer, Open Chain Publishing, Berkeley. Wrote articles for national magazines based on the material in their books. 1990

Publicity Director, Parsnips in the Snow, University of Iowa, 1990. Duties included scheduling and arranging radio and print interviews for the author, scheduling bookstore signings, and writing and sending out all publicity material. 1990

Managing Editor, Writer, Metier Magazine, a non-profit arts magazine out of San Francisco. Responsibilities included writing arts feature stories, editing stories, assigning stories, selling ads, working with designers and overseeing a staff of writers and office workers. 1984-88.

Features Writer, East Bay Express, Berkeley, 1985-1990

Arts Writer, Calendar Magazine, Soma Direct and The Daily Californian. 1985-1990

Teaching and Consulting

Writers.com.Online Instructor since 1999. Creative non-fiction, personal essay writing .

Word Wrangling Teacher: Currently

Writing Coach: Since 2000 and Ongoing

Taking the Leap: Publishing and Writing Instructor 1998-2000

Documentary Films

Researcher and Grant Writer for the 1993 Academy Award nominated film, For Better Or For Worse, a 58 minute documentary for public television on couples who had been married for fifty years or longer. Responsibilities included writing the grant proposal, interviewing over 75 couples, and assembling and communicating with a board of directors. 1988-1989.

Co-Producer, grant writer and researcher for Time Lapse Love, a documentary film which follows fivenewlywed couples through the first thirty years of their marriage. 1997-on-going.

Grants

Am the recipient, along with Photographer, Anne Hamersky for a 2002 Creative Work Fund Grant through the Haas Foundation for $35,000.00. The grant was given toward creating bus shelter posters as well as posters for the inside of San Francisco busses which will bring awareness to breast cancer in Hunters Point.

Vitals

Born on 4/26/60 in Los Angeles. Married to artist, Mark Wagner. We have two girls, Ruby - 8, and Zoe - 5.