Specialties
I have extensive experience teaching and coaching writing. My clients have signed with reputable agents and publishing houses, earned major advances on book deals, overcome multi-year creative blocks, won writing competitions, been accepted into MFA programs, and been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others.
I am very creative in both approach and methodology--all with an eye to developing your unique voice and potential. My focus is on enabling you to develop a sustainable and joyful writing process as well as on the quality and craft of the writing itself.
I also cover all the publishing bases: understanding and defining your literary terrain; choosing the right idea; crafting an irresistible pitch or query letter; creating a watertight proposal; working with editors; finding the right agent or publisher; developing your sales and publicity smarts; and, last but not least, drawing on your networks to market your writing.
While I am located in the Bay Area, I work with clients all over the world on Zoom.
History
Established in 2010.
Kindness, dedication, and a sense of humor are the trademarks of my
coaching. C.V. and references gladly available at your request.
Meet the Business Owner: Marisa H.
Marisa Handler--writer, singer-songwriter, teacher, and speaker--is the author of the memoir Loyal to the Sky, which won a 2008 Nautilus Gold Award for world-changing books. Her essays, journalism, fiction, and poetry have appeared in The Sun, Tikkun, Orion, Salon.com, Alternet, the San Francisco Chronicle, Zeek, Witness, and other publications. She received her MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and was a Fulbright scholar to India in Creative Writing. Marisa has received Creative Writing fellowships from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, the Santa Fe Art Institute, the Valparaiso Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Mesa Refuge. She is an adjunct Assistant Professor in the MFA programs at Mills College and the California Institute of Integral Studies, and has also taught at Stanford and Esalen. She is currently at work on a novel and her next album.
