Meet the Speakers
Jessica Abel
Capacity Meter: Find Out Exactly What You’ve Got to Give So You Can Give It to Your Book
Jessica Abel is a cartoonist, author, and business coach for accomplished creative professionals whose careers are hard to categorize and whose businesses haven't caught up with their expertise. She is the founder of Autonomous Creative, where creatives finish the projects that are on no one's agenda but their own. Drawing on more than 30 years as a working artist and more than a decade running her own business, she helps clients custom-build their businesses around their values, their work, and the real demands of a creative life.
BONUS! Get your free guide to conducting a Capacity Audit. Explore how your time and energy is being used—without judgment—so that you can make use of your capacity to finish the work that matters to YOU most. ...No matter what else is dragging your attention away!
Parul Bavishi
London Writers’ Hour
Parul Bavishi is the cofounder of the London Writers' Salon, a creator of the webby-nominated Writers' Hour daily writing sessions, and host of the London Writers' Salon podcast.
BONUS! Get a free 7-day Writers’ Hour membership at London Writers’ Salon. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to 21 Writers' Hour writing sessions, every week. Plus: Paid writing opportunities, monthly writing challenges, share your published work, and more.
Kit Caelsto
Writing With Your Brain
Kit Caelsto has been writing professionally since 2002 and have written in multiple genres under multiple pen names. They run Musecharmer Media Network and founded Epona Author Solutions and Epona Muse Publishing. At Author Yogi, they help authors who live with mental struggles or a neurodivergent brain find a way to work with their creative nervous system. Kit is trained in multiple coaching modalities, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and as a grief specialist. They are currently training to become a veterinary chaplain.
BONUS! Take the quiz and discover your creative nervous system type! Your creative nervous system drives your creativity and keeps you writing and publishing. And it’s unique to each of us. Learn ways to work with your creative nervous system type.
Sue Campbell
Author Mindset Coaching
Sue has helped hundreds of writers, from newbies to bestsellers, transform their inhibitive mindset around marketing and realize their full potential as authors. Her clients have exponentially increased their email lists and book sales, landed articles in prestigious publications such as The New York Times, done guest spots on popular podcasts and more.
Heather Davis
How to Seduce the Reader: Using Interiority to Create an Irresistible Connection to Your Protagonist
Heather Davis is an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach, certified developmental editor, line editor, and copyeditor, and host of the podcast Speculative Fiction Writing Made Simple. She is also a Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop Fellow.
With more than a decade of experience coaching writers and over 15 years of teaching, Heather knows how to make even the most complex craft concepts feel clear, practical, and achievable. Her approach combines deep editorial insight with a strong foundation in story theory, shaped by years of studying with and learning from some of the best minds in the field. Writers who work with Heather don’t just finish their books. They become stronger, more confident storytellers. They develop a deeper understanding of how great stories work, what agents and readers are looking for, and how to take a novel from an initial idea all the way to publication.
BONUS! Do you learn better when you can see more examples? Me too! That’s why I put together this bonus collection of interiority examples pulled straight from bestselling novels. See how successful authors bring their characters’ inner worlds to life, then use those techniques to deepen the interiority in your own scenes.
Claire L. Fishback
You Can't Hatch a Novel with a Full Grown Chicken
Claire is an author coach for creative goblins who are ready to ditch the rules, fall in love with their story again, and finally finish their damn (good) books!
BONUS! Your shiny new story idea is like a just-hatched baby bird. It doesn't need a flight plan yet. It needs connection, curiosity, and a little bit of play. This free companion workbook walks you through the E.G.G. Framework so you can reconnect with your idea before you smother it with outlines, spreadsheets, and "shoulds."
Anne Hawley
Can You Edit Your Own Manuscript?
Anne Hawley is a third-generation native Oregonian, a graduate of Portland State University. When she's not editing stories, she's writing them, reading them, researching them, or analyzing them on The Editor Roundtable Podcast. She specializes in helping writers discover the heart of the story they’re trying to tell so that they can tell it more beautifully. She can often be seen riding her Dutch bike Eleanor around Portland. She's the author of Restraint, a love story set in 19th Century London.
Anne Janzer
What to Do When Willpower Wanes
Anne Janzer is a nonfiction book coach and the author of multiple award-winning books on writing, including The Writer’s Process and Writing to Be Understood. Human behavior and cognitive science fascinate her, and she is always searching for clues to improving our communication. As a book coach, she guides authors using the concept of servant authorship, or writing to serve a specific group of people with a meaningful message. She loves talking about the geeky aspects of writing and communicating.
BONUS! Sign up on Anne’s website to receive her twice-monthly Writing Practices newsletter with exercises and inspiration.
Bill Kenower
Fearless Writing: Tackling Procrastination and Self-Doubt
William Kenower is the author of Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt, Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence, and Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion, and is the editor-in-chief of Author magazine. In addition to his books, he’s been published in The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, Edible Seattle, and Parent Map, and has been a featured blogger for the Huffington Post. He also hosts the popular podcasts Author2Author and Fearless Writing With Bill Kenower.
BONUS! Get updates and more from Bill.
Kimberly Kessler
How to Show Up Messy
Kimberly Kessler is a story structure expert and radically collaborative coach for novelists determined to create stories they're proud to share. Through intimate real-time conversations, she helps deep-thinking, deep-feeling writers uncover what matters most—to their characters, their readers, and themselves—and build stories that grow organically from that truth.
Kim is the co-founder of Novel Atelier, a radically collaborative revision mentorship for fiction writers pursuing creative authenticity and excellence. Together, she and with fellow editor and co-founder Alice Sudlow help writers transform the story they've been carrying in their heart into a standout novel they and their readers absolutely love.
If what you've been trying isn't working—and only makes you feel like sh!t—perhaps the answer isn't trying harder. Perhaps it's trying something radically different.
BONUS! Get a free guide that walks you through naming what you already know about your story so you can get clarity, get unstuck, and get back to writing.
Jule Kucera
StoryJoules: Unlocking the Heart of Your Story
Jule Kucera is an author and the creator of StoryJoules, a visual, human-centered approach to narrative structure for writers of novels, memoirs, and short stories. Drawing on years of teaching, business expertise, and holistic story theory, she helps writers see their stories more clearly so they can finally finish them. StoryJoules shows how a protagonist’s inner need for change and the pressures of the outside world collide to create a compelling narrative. Jule’s work combines practical structure with an empathic understanding of the creative process.
BONUS! The StoryJoules Handbook is an 88-page visual guide to narrative structure for writers of novels, memoirs, and short stories. Learn how your protagonist’s internal need for change and the external pressures they face collide to create a compelling story. With clear explanations, examples, and prompts, StoryJoules will help you see your story more clearly so you can finally finish it.
Patricia Marshall
Too Good to Be True: Publishing Scams in 2026
Patricia Marshall is the owner of Luminare Press, a company started 2010 to help authors with the process of independent publishing. She has a thorough knowledge of the bookmaking process and a passion for non-fiction book editing, as well as a strong desire to help authors produce a polished, professional book.
BONUS! Grab a free scam-spotting checklist from Luminare Press. This is the list we use to vet suspicious email.
Trevor Martens
Perfectionism and Resistance: How to Use Them to Your Advantage
Trevor Martens is an educator, editor, coach, and founder of the Write Things Community, a supportive online space that helps writers navigate resistance, develop persistence, and give themselves permission to write.
After 16 years in education, including 15 years as a high school English teacher, Trevor left the classroom to help writers build confidence, strengthen their craft, and create sustainable writing practices. Through workshops, coaching, editing, writing camps, and the Write Things Community, he has supported hundreds of writers at different stages of their creative process.
Trevor is known for creating encouraging, practical spaces where writers can explore their ideas, trust their instincts, and make meaningful progress without harsh critique or pressure to have everything figured out.
Based in Manitoba, Canada, Trevor enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids, getting outdoors, watching live comedy, and beating his friends at ping-pong :)
BONUS! Get 30 days of Quick-Writes to get you out of your head and onto the page! A free 30-day writing experience designed to help writers get out of their heads and onto the page. Each day offers a different Quick-Write—drawing from memory, imagination, emotion, character, story and more. Writers are encouraged to set a timer for about four minutes, keep writing, and follow wherever the words take them. The goal is to practice starting, explore different ways into writing, discover stories and ideas along the way, and build confidence in the ability to write anyway.
Laura Munson
Pick the Brain of a Bestselling Author
Laura Munson is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the novel Willa’s Grove and the memoir This Is Not The Story You Think It Is. Her most recent book, The Wild Why: Stories and Teachings to Uncover Your Wonder, came out in 2025.
She has been published in nine countries and has been featured in Vanity Fair, Elle, Redbook, Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Publisher’s Weekly and published in the New York Times ‘Modern Love’ Column, the New York Times Magazine ‘Lives’ Column, O. Magazine, and many others.
Laura is the founder of the acclaimed Haven Writing Retreats, speaks at women’s conferences and literary events, and has appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, NPR, and media outlets across the globe. She lives in Montana.
BONUS! Laura’s So Now What journal writing practice will help you use writing to shed old, unhelpful ways of thinking, so that you can move forward in your writing and your life. All it takes is 27 minutes...to finally say what you really need to say.
Gabriela Pereira
5 Mindset Shifts to Help You Finish Your Book
Gabriela Pereira is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur who wants to challenge the status quo of higher education. As the founder and instigator of DIYMFA.com, her mission is to empower writers, artists and other creatives to take an entrepreneurial approach to their education and professional growth.
Gabriela earned her MFA in writing from The New School and has spoken at college campuses, national conferences, and a plethora of online events. She is author of the book DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build Your Community.
BONUS! Download 5 Mindset Shifts, a detailed guide that gives you practical exercises to help you apply the presentation concepts. There's one exercise for each mindset shift, and you can complete them all at once, or as they apply to your writing life.
Erin Radniecki
When Saying “No” Hurts: How Compassionate People Can Claim Space for Their Writing
Erin Radniecki is an Author Accelerator certified book coach for fiction writers, based in the Oregon’s Willamette Valley. She explores themes of community, connection, and nature in both her personal writing and in her guest posts featured by Jane Friedman. When Erin isn't reading or writing, you can find her gardening for pollinators in her backyard.
BONUS! Wondering why you can never grow your word count?
Do you intend to write, but somehow it just doesn’t happen?
At the end of the day are you too exhausted to even think about opening your work in progress? There’s a reason for this, and the answer can be found in your calendar. The Commitment Clarity Matrix will help you discover where your time is going so you can write more.
Rachelle Ramirez
Get Your Memoir Unstuck
ADHD Writers Q&R
Rachelle is a developmental editor, master's level counselor, certified ADHD coach, one of the world’s foremost experts on Story Types, and co-host of The Happily Ever Author Club and the Write Anyway Summit. She co-wrote The Pages and Platforms Guide to Story and numerous online masterclasses for writers with fellow developmental editor, Anne Hawley. Rachelle's forthcoming book is The ADHD Writer: From Frustrated to Focused to Finished.
Jamie Rose
From Resistance to Action: The Tools for Writers
After more than forty years as an actress, Jamie Rose transitioned into writing and coaching. She is a longtime mentee of psychiatrist Phil Stutz, the subject of Jonah Hill’s Netflix documentary Stutz.
Drawing on psychological tools, myth, and personal storytelling, Jamie helps people from all walks of life challenge their inner critics, transform self-sabotage into strength, and unlock their potential. She has taught dramatic literature and theater studies at colleges and universities and led performance seminars for PEN USA and the SAG Foundation.
Her first book, Shut Up and Dance, is a memoir-driven exploration of the masculine and feminine archetypes through the lens of the Argentine tango. Her new book, Facing Madame X: The Tools for Women, draws on her mastery of Phil Stutz’s techniques, The Tools, and reimagines them to address the particular issues faced by women.
BONUS! Subscribe to Jamie’s newsletter and get a free video that teaches you a powerful tool to stop the voice that stops you.
Marion Roach Smith
Finish the Dang Memoir: Moving Past the Obstacles That Stall Memoir Writers
Marion Roach Smith is the author of four books including The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. A former staffer at The New York Times, she has been a commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered and a talk show host on Sirius Satellite Radio. She currently runs a writing lab called The Memoir Project and teaches memoir worldwide.
BONUS! The Memoir Formula is a free ebook from author and former New York Times staff member Marion Roach Smith that will teach you the foundational secret of good memoir writing. Come discover how to start writing a book you can be truly proud of.
Matt Trinetti
How to Build a Writing Practice That Sustains You
Matt Trinetti is the cofounder of London Writers' Salon, a community of practice for people who write. LWS creates daily, dependable spaces for writers to nurture their practice, deepen their craft, find community, and realize their creative ambitions. This comes to life through daily Writers' Hour writing sessions, transformational programs and events, and a peer-driven creative community.
BONUS! Get a free 7-day Writers’ Hour membership at London Writers’ Salon. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to 21 Writers' Hour writing sessions, every week. Plus: Paid writing opportunities, monthly writing challenges, share your published work, and more.
Lindsey Trout Hughes
How to Build a Writing Practice That Sustains You
Lindsey Trout Hughes is a writer and editor. A former columnist at Catapult, her writing has appeared in Bright Wall/Dark Room, The Audacity, The Rumpus, River Teeth’s Beautiful Things, and elsewhere. She is head of membership and writer experience at the London Writers’ Salon, is a host of the salon podcast, and is founding co-editor of Writers’ Hour Magazine. Previously, she was assistant books editor at Barrelhouse.
BONUS! Get a free 7-day Writers’ Hour membership at London Writers’ Salon. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to 21 Writers' Hour writing sessions, every week. Plus: Paid writing opportunities, monthly writing challenges, share your published work, and more.
Daniel David Wallace
The Danger of Double Inspiration
Daniel David Wallace is an award-winning writer and teacher. He spent four years of a PhD researching new ways to help writers tell a great story. His stories, reviews, and essays have been published in great magazines like Tampa Review, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Air Schooner, and his writing has won him awards like the Toni Brown scholarship and the Hodges prizes.
Daniel designed a way of teaching storytelling, the "character-first" approach. This approach has resonated with so many people: more than 13,000 writers read his newsletter each week.
BONUS! Get a free 12-lesson email course, The Character-First Story. Plotting techniques delivered by email. Interactive prompts to get you started. Follow up advice and support.
Brooke Warner
Tune Out the Doom: Finding Real Opportunity in Today’s Publishing Landscape
Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press, an imprint of The Stable Book Group. She is a memoir coach and author of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What's Your Book?, and three books on memoir. She’s also a TEDx speaker (“Green-light Revolution”), weekly podcaster (of “Memoir Nation” with co-host Grant Faulkner), and publishes a weekly newsletter, Writerly Things.