When I was 14, I took a journalism class. My first feature profiled Anna, a new student in my school who had moved to town from Sweden during the summer. I have lost the clip and don’t remember what I wrote. I may have asked her if she listened to Abba. 

But I remember how it felt to report and write a story, then send it into the world. Although I could not have explained it to anyone at the time, the process of finding the story and bringing it to life captivated me as much as I basked in the result. I became a news reporter, then a magazine writer, editor, and editorial team leader.

In 2011, I launched Cochituate Media to help other nonfiction writers do their best work. I edited or ghostwrote articles and books for clients, including journalists, university researchers, management consultants, public health professionals, technologists, and farmers. See examples of my past work.

Along the way, I discovered that all the inline comments and suggestions I make as an editor go only so far. It’s the conversations we have about the work — who needs it, why it matters, what it takes to see the project through — that are pivotal. I became a book coach to put those conversations at the center of my work. As your coach, I’ll give you the honest, detailed feedback–no sugar coating–and solutions you need to write the best book you can. Find out about my services.

As a public policy and business journalist, I was drawn to stories about how people solve big problems and improve lives. I still am. I love reading books by authors who draw on their expertise, knowledge, and insights to help people better understand the world or themselves, create community, or offer a fresh perspective or solution to a challenge we’re facing.

Could one of them be yours? Book a free introductory call.

If you’re curious, the name of my business is inspired by Lake Cochituate, a recreation area near my home in Massachusetts. “Cochituate” means “a place of swift water” in Algonquin, the language of the indigenous people who have lived here for centuries. It refers to a brook that connects the lake to the Sudbury River, a few miles away. I visit the lake most days. A highway crosses it, while modern industry and retail surround it. But the sun dances on the water, and sometimes a heron takes flight from the shore.

(Photo of Elana Varon by Diana Levine. Photo of Lake Cochituate by Elana Varon)