Having a story and telling it
are two different things.
You have a first line.
Or seventeen possible first lines.
Or three hundred pages in a drawer and a growing suspicion that the beginning is somewhere in the middle.
Maybe you want to write about the hardest season of your life.
What broke open. What you can’t explain. The unlikely ways the light got in.
But where do you begin? With what happened, or with the part you’ve never said out loud?
What you write will
change you first.
The story you’ve told at dinner parties for twenty years turns out to be the trailer, not the movie.
You stop cross-examining your younger self and finally pull out a chair for her.
And the thing that happened to you? It’s still in the story. But now you’re the one holding the pen.
My own story led me somewhere I never expected: a decade of research with Dr. Raymond Moody into the words people speak at the end of life. That work deepened my belief that there is a light within each of us that nothing can extinguish. Sometimes we need someone else to remind us it’s still there.
Writing can be that someone.
There’s alchemy in the writing process.
What you’ve been carrying begins to feel less like a weight and more like a gift.
And what started as something you needed to write may become the light
someone else needed to find.
Illumination loves company.
Two workshops, two ways in:
One online, listening for the guidance behind your words,
and one in Ireland, turning your life into story and song.
Spirit Writing
Tap Divine Guidance and Muse Magic
with:
Cynna Seagrove
For the writer who feels the words come from somewhere beyond them. We'll practice listening for that guidance and let it shape the page without losing your own voice.
Summer 2027 · Online
Life Revue
Write a Musical Memoir
with: Broadway actor
Phillipe Andre Coquet
For the writer whose life has always felt a little like a stage. You'll shape your story into scenes and song, in Ireland, with someone who knows how a life becomes an enchanting revue.
Winter 2028 · Ireland
From first spark to bookshelf...
I've guided a few dozen books to life. Two books by Dr. Raymond Moody: God Is Bigger Than the Bible and Making Sense of Nonsense, and numerous other tales exploring consciousness. Memoirs of loss and return, and opening the mysteries we can't quite name have all been nurtured at my table.
I know your side of the desk, too. I've written six books of my own, everything from the bestselling Words at the Threshold to Diet for a Broken Heart, and a musical, The Sensei's Wife, which debuts in spring 2027.
Thirty years of teaching English gave me a sharp eye for craft.
Twenty-five years of coaching writers taught me something just as important:
a sharp eye is only useful in a tender hand.
In the words of others...
Lisa is my writing midwife, champion, and soul reader and now, friend. She has worked with me through the writing of eleven books … Lisa is able to ride my undulating multi-dimensional creative process with me while keeping us focused and on target to birth my work into the world.
Karen Sands, MCC
Author, The Ageless Way
She shepherded me through the writing and publication of Making Sense of Nonsense and God Is Bigger than The Bible, offering both excellent editorial and moral support. … She is a great friend and guide.
Dr. Raymond Moody
Author, Life After Life
I’ve used Lisa Smartt as an editor as well as to promote my latest book, and she did a super job on both fronts. She’s resourceful, quick-witted and an absolute pleasure to work with. In short, she’s the tops and I recommend her without reservation.
Dr. Kenneth Ring
Author, Lessons from the Light
If you are interested in writing a top-notch book, Lisa Smartt should be in your corner. Lisa brought the energy of joy and vitality into my writing life when I needed it the most. … Lisa was patient, steady and kind throughout the process, making this new writer feel comfortable and confident in the complex world of book publishing.
Reverend Elizabeth Alder
Author, Mary Speaks
One-on-one book coaching
Some stories need
a quieter room.
Come in.
If yours isn’t ready for a circle of listeners yet, come work with me one-on-one. We’ll give it the slower, closer attention it’s asking for, with one reader who knows the craft and can hear what you’re reaching for.
We meet online, wherever you are in the world and wherever you are on the page.
Together, we’ll find tools that fit the way you actually write and practices that let you do the work with a happy heart. We’ll also listen for the guidance moving through your book, from the first draft to the publishing decisions ahead.
