"I am a career professional writer and writing teacher. My early years were spent as an advertising copywriter for several Chicago ad agencies and marketing firms where I worked on package goods, retail, fast food, health care and corporate accounts. Following graduate school, I taught undergraduate composition and business writing at a liberal arts college in Naperville, IL and coached business writers privately. I am currently working on a novel.

I especially like coaching writers because it is a highly idiosyncratic activity that is best approached on an individual basis. Every writer is different in terms of experience, education, background, skill level, voice and critical thinking. Because writing is, essentially, a knowledge-creating act, every writer develops their own approach to and internal methodology for solving their writing problem. The job of a tutor is to help the writer refine both their thinking and technical skill in order to communicate their story clearly and creatively in their own unique way.

I have an enormous breadth of experience as a reader and writer. As a result, I know the difference between real literature and popular fiction, sound argumentation and personal opinion, logical presentation and disjointed blather. Having worked in both marketing and academia, I am also familiar with what different communities of readers are looking for and how to best meet their different needs.

My experience is that most of those who struggle with English, both in terms of reading and understanding, as well as written communication, are very uncertain about what they already know. They need someone to help them assess where they are in their learning curve and provide guidance for their own development as readers and writers. Since language and literature are imprecise and metaphoric, they need confirmation, as well as technical support. I truly enjoy watching students develop confidence in their own ability to discern meaning and create intelligent prose." less...