Haven't we met before?
Even if you’ve never met me, you probably know me. I’m the author of those consumer magazine articles and self-help books you turn to for advice and guidance in almost every sphere of your life. Yes, the ones that promise, with sexy photos and seductive cover lines that even I can’t resist:
- Five- course meals plated to Martha Stewart-perfection in 30 minutes or less
- Sage advice – in 1,500 words or less – that can save even a shipwreck of a relationship like your own
- Great sex at any age!
- Pain-free childbirth
- The keys to raising perfect kids
And don’t forget those miracle all-you-can-eat diets and no-sweat workout routines guaranteed to take your body from flab to fab just in time for swimsuit season.
Well, you get the picture.
I’ve been a consumer magazine editor, feature writer and book author for most of the past 25 years, with publication credits that include Health, Self, Glamour, Working Mother, Parents, and Writer’s Digest. My eight books on health and medicine, including 50 Essential Things To Do When The Doctor Says ‘It’s Diabetes,’ have been published by such notable houses as St. Martin’s Press, Hyperion, and New American Library. I currently work as a magazine editor and staff writer with the New York Times Regional Media Group Gainesville Magazine, a lifestyle magazine published by the Gainesville Sun in the heart of Gator Country.
If I haven’t already met you in the pages of a magazine or book, maybe we’ve met at the Anhinga Writers’ Studio Summer Workshops. Or perhaps you were a student of mine at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, where I’ve taught magazine journalism classes (off and on) since 1998.
Barring the few times that I’ve actually had to work with (or under) a real-life Devil-Wears-Prada editor, I love what I do. What’s not to like about brainstorming story ideas with a team of talented, creative people, learning something new with every story I write, having the perfect excuse to get out of the office by going out on assignment, and having those assignments take me to fantastic places like the Cumberland Island National Seashore, paint-splattered artists’ studios, backstage at some of North Central Florida’s top theaters and performing arts centers, some of the area’s best restaurants, or even chic boutiques and chocolate shops around town?
And when I’ve wrapped up the research and transcribed the interviews, I go back to my desk and weave together ideas and information, themes and dreams, and faces and places into an irresistible package of photos and prose.
At least that’s the goal.
I’ve recently taken my work in a new direction. Through short fiction and narrative nonfiction, I’ve begun to explore the many issues that season my marriage to a Hindu from India and the challenges inherent in raising our multi-cultural children. (We have three sons who refer to themselves as “Brownies,” and who my sisters-in-law in India have promised will fetch good dowries—if only the guys would allow it.)
As much as I may poke fun at my consumer magazine background and disparage my own writing for being, at times, overly-simplistic and impossibly optimistic, I also know from reader feedback that much of my service journalism does just that—it provides a real service to others. If I’ve done my job well, my writing informs and inspires, educates and entertains, reasons and reassures, comforts, consoles, and sometimes even cajoles readers into action to improve on themselves, their lives and our world. To me, it’s a little like being a good friend and neighbor to millions of readers all over the country.
So even if I’ve never met you, in many ways, I know you, too.