Books and Coaching

My parents are no longer "spring chickens," and for several years, I have wanted to interview them to document family relationships and formative moments in their lives. But it always felt like a daunting task, and it's also something that I just never got around to organizing. Then I heard what Karen was doing and it seemed like I could supercharge my original plan. And that's exactly what happened when Karen wrote my father's life story. Whereas I originally had planned on developing a list of questions and writing down my parents' answers and calling it a day, instead I received a bound book of my father's life...a story that walked me through his childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and beyond.

Now I have something so much greater than what I envisioned: a family heirloom. As I read the book that Karen wove together from interviews she conducted with my father, there were times I got choked up and there were so many things I learned. If you have an important person in your life, and you want to preserve their memories for the next generations, Karen will work with you to create a memento that you - and generations to follow - will cherish. Expect a somewhat surreal experience, and expect a book that you cannot put down.

Mark

Thank you…. You’ve done a lot for me that you’ll never be aware of. This is the best thing I ever did.

Jerry

If anyone is interested in writing their life story, Karen will help you do this. I can vouch for her as we just completed mine and it was a hoot. All the things that you forgot about come back to mind. We started with a packet she provides with questions that trigger long-forgotten milestones in your life (good or bad). She's a great listener and loves what she does.

Janet

Karen, I love what you did....Thank you so much for the excellent work you've done.

Andrew

Karen, Your suggestion to make this my memoir was brilliant! Thank you for helping me to get started, again!

Sandy

You did an excellent job for me. I wanted books made and didn’t have any idea how to go about it. But you did it. With much admiration.

Flo

Guided Autobiography (GAB) Workshops

A thoroughly positive and enjoyable experience. From the initial meeting to the end, you fostered such a warm and welcoming environment – a place where we could freely share our thoughts and feelings as well as listen to and be supportive of others. It means a lot to me that I've had the experience of writing about aspects of my life which I probably wouldn't have addressed had it not been for the structure of the GAB format. My little archive of essays is something that I treasure, and have shared with family and friends as well. I recommend this experience highly and feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to participate.

Lisa

Immediately I felt very comfortable with you. You always had positive comments after everyone's reading…. I felt you provided an environment where it was ok to be someone who doesn't write or publish. I noticed I didn't have the same flair as others but I liked my thoughts and my positivity and learned I didn't have to come from the assignment as others did.

Sara

Karen very adeptly balanced the overall structural expectations of the process with the goals that each individual came with, making it a very pleasurable and rewarding experience. Personally speaking, it was taking part in Karen’s group that propelled me down the path of writing a full-fledged memoir - I’d highly recommend Karen's Guided Autobiography group to anyone looking to add structure to their writing.

Susan

I never thought the Guided Autobiography experience would be so meaningful. The process of giving not just careful thought to the array of GAB topics, but committing those thoughts to words, sentences, and paragraphs, and then sharing them, was much more rewarding than I expected. Karen was a stellar GAB leader: She was always supportive and encouraging but also able to steer the conversation back to topic if she needed to. Karen creates a warm and welcoming environment, even when her participants exhibit less than ideal participant behavior, like showing up late or not completing their assignments. But, truth be told, that only makes those participants want to do better next time. The GAB experience was an unexpectedly transformative and gratifying journey, and anyone would be lucky to have Karen as their GAB facilitator.

Mona