I have been writing nonfiction books alone and with others since 1982 and have more than 40 books to my credit. I am a book collaborator, co-author, book doctor, ghostwriter, editor, and/or writing coach. My specialties: psychology, health and medical breakthroughs, diet, women’s advancement, business, spirituality, and parenting. Most are self-help books written with an eye toward improving society.

My love of writing has spawned a career rich in experience and learning including, most recently, The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up: A Breakthrough Medical Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease(Center Street, 2014) with Steven Masley, MD; Within Our Reach:  Ending the Mental Health Crisis, my third book collaboration with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter; the award-winning Alzheimer’s Project: Momentum in Science, based on the acclaimed HBO documentary series; and Ten Years Younger, a diet, exercise, and lifestyle book. I help new and seasoned authors develop book proposals and sell their books. Publishers and agents call me to salvage books that are in trouble. I am a coach and cheerleader for others’ careers. I have taught at UCLA’s Writers’ Program for nearly 20 years and have become what some partners call a literary midwife – helping authors give birth to their books.

In order to write a book with someone, their material must resonate with me. If it doesn’t, I simply can’t take on the project—and I have turned away many for this reason. On the other hand, when I accept to write a book, the process can be magical as the author and I develop a marriage of the minds.

I have written on many diverse subjects–psychology, health, women’s advancement, parenting, and spirituality—what I like to call biopsychosocial issues. Indeed, others often note the variability. There is a reason for this. My parents are Holocaust survivors, and I grew up with a deep-seated belief that the world is a highly flawed place. In fact, as a child, I saw it as my “mission” to make a correction-to fix the world. Grandiose as it was, I imagined I would become a scientist who would discover the cure to some dreadful disease. This would satisfy my craving to better mankind’s lot.

My talents, however, lay not in mathematics or science, but in analyzing ideas, organizing them, and writing them clearly. Once I discovered that I could write and someone would pay me for it, I threw myself into producing books that would help individuals and society. I find the work intellectually, psychologically, and spiritually satisfying. 

Besides, I am easily bored. Each new book assignment presents an opportunity for me to broaden my learning and understanding of society. New book projects excite and stimulate me. I love constructing cogent arguments and pulling together the parts of a book into a cohesive whole. In fact, I often think of a book as a 75,000 piece puzzle—and I love doing puzzles!