When I write I want to connect with something –– a mislaid memory, a character’s voice, the way the air feels on any given morning. I always hope that if I follow such a thread I will touch some deep and vital part of myself, or gain access to worlds beyond my ordinary experience.

When I teach I help others make connections, to happen upon the unexpected. It is at this level – writing not what we know but what wants to be discovered – that the truly creative and transformative work gets done.

My writing method has its roots in the Metcalf-Simon Practice of Proprioceptive Writing ( http://www.pwriting.org) for which I received teacher certification in 1991. Since then I have developed my own ways of working with writers. My teaching style reflects my deep interest in nature, imagination and dream – the transpersonal realms of creative experience. I bring training in the areas of shamanism and body-centered therapies to my work as teacher and writer.

In addition to my private teaching, I have taught over the years at Maine College of Art, Maine Writers’ and Publishers’ Alliance, Spring Hill, and the Universities of Southern Maine, New Hampshire and New England.

I purchased Fifth House Lodge in 1999 to provide space for writers to work in a retreat setting. The natural world is a powerful presence that informs the work that happens here.

I hope you will visit some day.