I am originally from New York City, but I have been living in Los Angeles since 1996.  

.  

I came to L.A. originally to pursue acting but somewhere along the way it didn't suit me anymore and I started writing and working in TV production.  I was a producer on the TV show Blind Date and worked for E! Entertainment's Style Network.  I then went and got a Masters in Professional Writing from The University of Southern California where I studied with Hubert Selby Jr, Shelley Berman and Kenneth Turan among others.

I write mostly personal experience pieces and have been published in The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Backstage West, Louisville Magazine, Lifestyles Magazine and had a column on ifuse.com.  

In addition to the Masters, I have a bachelor's degree in TV production from Syracuse University and studied theater at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in NY.  I have also had the pleasure of studying writing with the wonderful memoirists Samantha Dunn and Joyce Maynard.

But more important than all of these resume points, I am a mom.  My son is almost two.

I grew up in a family that always wrote about their lives. My minor claim to fame is my mother, Elieen Douglas, wrote a children's book about me called Rachel and the Upside Down Heart which is about how I responded after my father died when I was four years old.  You can read about it at www.newleaf-resources.com

I have been writing about my father's death for many years and it has been wonderful to replace that writing recently with writing about motherhood and my son.

I continue to work on my writing when my son gives me a little rest and I look forward to helping facilitate other moms with their writing.