About

Story Doula. Book Whisperer. I’ve spent 25 years helping writers birth their stories onto the page, and I want your story to be next.

What I Do

I’m the founder of Free-Range Writing Women’s Circles: intimate, nonjudgmental spaces where women write, share, and witness each other’s stories. Rooted in Wild WritingTM, my circles help women bypass the critical mind and let the pen roam freely, allowing the emotions and stories moving through us to spill onto the page.

I work with women and nonbinary writers in seasonal circles, drop-in sessions, retreats, and private sessions. I also work with patients, survivors, and caregivers through healing writing circles at UCSF, the Women’s Cancer Resource Center in Berkeley, and the cancer support community Colontown.

And for writers ready to take their work into book form, I’m a book coach with 25 years of publishing experience and a long track record of helping first-time authors get their cookbooks and nonfiction titles into the world.

I didn’t arrive here by accident. I’ve worked as a writer, editor, and collaborator since 2000, shaping cookbooks at HarperCollins, editing restaurant guides for Zagat, ghostwriting, co-authoring, and guiding first-time authors through the full arc of publication.

Now I do it for everyone.

Both Sides Now

I was a professional writer for 25 years before I learned what writing was actually for.

In 2020, I was diagnosed with cancer. I discovered expressive writing through Art for Recovery at the UCSF Cancer Center, and everything changed. It cracked me open, dissolved the grip of my perfectionism, and helped me get through my illness in ways nothing else could.

As soon as I was declared NED, I completed my Wild WritingTM teacher training with founder Laurie Wagner. I’ve been Johnny Appleseeding this practice ever since.

I wrote about all of this in an essay called ‘I’ve Looked at Art From Both Sides Now,’ published in Art That Heals (University of California Press, 2024), a book I also edited for UCSF. It’s the truest thing I’ve written.

My So-Called Publishing Life

Free-Range Writing didn’t come from nowhere. The name came straight from my other life, the one spent writing about food, culture, and sustainability.

Before the circles, there was a long and wonderful career in professional publishing, and I loved every minute of it.

I was an acquisitions editor at Collins Publishers, a cookbook imprint of HarperCollins, where I worked with first-time authors and seasoned chefs on titles that won IACP and James Beard Awards. I’ve published over 35 books with HarperCollins, Chronicle Books, Ten Speed Press, Michelin, and the University of California Press. My cookbook collaborations Sous Vide at Home and Sous Vide Made Simple outperformed comparable titles by Thomas Keller. I worked closely with Gayle Pirie on The Foreign Cinema Cookbook, and with Jesse Cool, Joachim Splichal, and Bob Blumer on titles that launched lasting writing careers.

For 16 years I was the local editor of the Zagat Survey Restaurant Guide: 18 editions, a lot of wigs, more fake names than I can count, and notes taken under more tables than anyone should admit to.

I also produced 170+ short-format videos for Tastemade reaching 25 million monthly viewers, contributed to Michelin Green Guide to SF and America’s Top Restaurants, and created content strategy for companies including Uber Eats, Microsoft, and Google. My work has appeared on the Food Network, Tasting Table, Mashable, Bravo, and the San Francisco Examiner.

Working With Organizations

I design custom writing experiences for corporate wellness programs, workplace retreats, healthcare settings, and grant-funded community initiatives.

With 25 years of experience in editorial leadership, content strategy, and project management, and institutional clients including Microsoft, Google, Zagat, UCSF, and the University of California Press. I bring both creative depth and professional credibility to every engagement.

If you’re a wellness director, program manager, or grant writer looking for a facilitator with serious credentials and a track record, let’s talk. I’d love to bring my writing practice to your organization.

A Few Things You Should Know About Me

• I graduated from the California Culinary Academy and earned my English degree from Wesleyan University

• Julia Child taught me to do caviar bumps at her 90th birthday celebration in Napa Valley

• I was a featured judge on the reality show Faking It and correctly identified the imposter, which means I did not end up looking like a drunken idiot on national television

• I was once asked to cook Christmas dinner for legendary San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen and turned him down because Yorkshire pudding sounded gross, a decision I think about more than I should

• I travel with my mouth wide open, and once gained weight on a three-week vegetarian yoga retreat in India

• I play pickleball with the same devotion I bring to everything else

• My facilitation training includes Wild WritingTM with Laurie Wagner, Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, Healing Global Circles, PALTOWN’s Empowered Patient Leaders program, and Facilitating Stories for Impact with Real Food, Real Stories

If you’ve read this far, you probably already know whether this work is for you.

If you’re ready to go from curious to serious about your writing, let’s connect.

Looking forward to meeting you on the page.

Wildly yours, Meesha