About Helene
Well, hello there...
So thrilled to see you!
I'm Helene
your writing sherpa
creator: Butterfly Blueprint©
Come on in and let's chat.
Just in case we haven't met before, here's a little about me.
I offer a rare combination of professional experience, emotional sensitivity, and a deeply personalized approach to writing memoir. With more than 30 years of experience as an award-wining writer, editor, teacher, and certified grief coach, I know from my soul that memoir writing is as much
about the writer as it is about the story.
My own work has been widely published — in big-name commercial outlets and literary journals, regional magazines, trade/university publications, broadsides, anthologies, and reference publications — and I bring that same care and craft to the writers I edit and coach. (4,000+ and counting!)
My approach is informed, deeply respectful, and attuned to both the emotional and creative demands of writing your life. I hold graduate degrees in writing (MA, MS, MFA), teach university courses, and work closely with writers across the full spectrum of life’s rich pageant.
I can't wait to work with you, too!
Look, here's the thing.
You don’t have to have a bunch of fancy degrees (although I do)
and you don’t have to spend decades diving deeply into the nuances of
craft, style, voice, genre, audience, narrative, or sentence diagramming (although I have).
You just need to honor the wisdom you’ve accumulated and the story you need to write.
Whether your first page is blank, you're part way through a draft, or your complete manuscript is at the edit or book proposal stage, we’ll create an actionable plan that works with your schedule, your goals, and your vision.
My approach is both soulful and strategic: I bring a BFF’s listening skills, an educated writer/reader’s insight, and a trained editor’s exactness, all anchored by a fierce belief in your story's potential.
With a rare blend of deep intuition and editorial precision, I see the heart of your voice and gently, incisively guide you toward clarity and confidence.
My Butterfly Blueprint® framework doesn’t just improve writing.
It transforms the way you'll think about your story.
I believe...
It's never too late to write your story.
I believe...
there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all. I don’t have an interest in scaling because I’m committed to unique work. I’m dedicated to and focused on each client. You get a level of attention impossible from someone else—by design.
I believe...
your voice is unique. Vital.Writing should not be “good enough.” It should be perfect for you — and only you. I also manage the process — tailored to you — so the steps are clear, manageable, and simple to execute.
I believe...
in the highest standards of integrity and excellence.I am absolutely non-nonsense and will never waste your time — or your money.I embraced authenticity long before it was a cool buzzword.
In short, I am the writing partner that I would want and expect to work with.
Helene Kiser MA, MS, MFA is the author of Topography (Linear Arts). Her writing has appeared in dozens of literary magazines (Clockhouse, Hawaii Review, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, Borderlands, Hippocampus, Connecticut River Review, Brevity, Paterson Literary Review, The Keepthings, etc.) and anthologies (Delicious Imaginations: Conversations with Contemporary Writers/Purdue University Press, My Heart’s First Steps: Mothers and Fathers on Parenthood/Adams Media, Newsmakers/Gale Cengage, etc.) and been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.
Her grief essays have appeared online for Today (NBC), Business Insider, and Huffington Post, among other national outlets, several of which went viral and were picked up by Yahoo! News, MSN, and BuzzFeed. Authority magazine featured Helene’s interviews on her grief and writing expertise.
A former editor for Sycamore Review and Barnes & Noble’s online PowerEd courses, Helene was also a columnist and subject matter expert for Crosswalk.com and Education.com.
Helene has been a resident fellow in creative nonfiction at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is a certified grief coach and a freelance editor who specializes in working with writers of grief/trauma narratives or those who are over age 50, especially women. Helene writes a bi-weekly newsletter, Editorial Notes, on the business of writing and self-editing.
