“Milli has an uncanny ability to see into you as an individual and find the right strategies and insights, just for you, to set your creative self free. She's so passionate about her work, it's impossible not to be inspired. Milli rescued the writer in me, and I am grateful. Thank you, Milli!”
— L.L., New Mexico
I enjoy helping a range of writers—from fiction and non-fiction, to the magical or the spiritual, from the wholesome to the edgy and beyond. I understand how to work with writer’s block (and have many year’s experience with it), but even if you’re not blocked you can still benefit from my services. If, for any reason, you’re hesitating to apply, feel free to jump in and do it. If we’re not a match, that will be revealed in a way that won’t cause you to lose money, and the application process may even give you some extra clarity. You’ll find more detail on the application page about what types of writers I help, and what’s involved in the application process. — Milli
Born in the old silver mining town, Wallace, Idaho, Milli grew up in Great Falls, Montana then lived in the Land Down Under for 25 years. After five years of full-time house sitting in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and California, she’s back in Idaho, living only two hour’s drive from her birthplace.
Since 2001, Milli has been inspiring writers through her books, blogs, workshops, and online courses. A coach since 2007, she’s been helping writers finish their stories and books, improve their writing, and affirm themselves as writers.
Her fun and supportive attitude has helped many writers heal from old creative wounds or rediscover a passion for writing that got buried along the way.
Author of the creatively unleashing book, Fear of Writing (now in its third edition), Milli is a travel blogger and screenwriter with three completed scripts and a fourth script in the works. Milli is also a course presenter who focuses on unleashing the creativity of her students. Her evergreen course, Fear of Writing Online Course, has been helping writers since 2001.
About mentoring other writers, Milli said:
“Besides the joys and challenges of my own writing life, I love being a catalyst and a listening ear to help fellow writers blossom. I was born with a knack for seeing the potential in other writers. I love to exercise that knack through accountability and encouragement, as well as assignments designed to coax the natural writer from within.”
Depending on your individual needs, her writing assignments can be deceptively easy, tricking the writer into painlessly producing material that was waiting within. Or Milli may give you a more detailed assignment, to help you focus on the most important elements of your scene or chapter.
Using her keen listening skills, ability to see past the obstacles, emotional support and accountability practices, along with tailor-made writing assignments, Milli is your go-to mentor for writing a book, screenplay, memoir, young adult novel, children’s book, short stories—or pretty much whatever you’ve been longing to write.
Based on her years of experience helping writers break through their blocks and get more writing accomplished, Milli is the author of the ebook Time Management for Writers.
Milli has also helped many “closet writers” come out of the closet and believe in their ability to write. Her methods go straight to the heart of creativity and she has a knack for motivating jaded writers and beginner writers to get something new written.
The best way to learn is by doing. That’s why my work with writers for all of these 20+ years has been based on the practical. Personally, I don’t enjoy those types of writing seminars where Someone With Credentials gets up in front of a group of writers and yaks on about some fine point of writing. That same time could be spent actually writing something. — Milli
From her own experiences being a blocked and fearful writer—and then finding ways to heal from that and become a happy and prolific writer—Milli knows how much your feelings about your writing can affect your life. It can put a gray cloud over everything. Or put the roses back in your cheeks, as our grandmas loved to say.
Milli is passionate about helping writers and closet writers reconnect with their creative souls and get back to actually writing something (instead of just thinking about it). Her mission is to put the fun back into your writing!
“I have never written so much in my life. I’m up to page 25 of my story. I thought I was unable to carry a story this long, but I guess I was wrong. Milli, I hit the jackpot with you!!”
— Sid Mendelson, Montville, New Jersey
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This phrase came to me out of the blue and I have it taped to my desk:
“Trust my imagination.
It knows the story better than I do.”
— Milli
To help writers with one of their biggest practical and mindset obstacles, Milli is the author of the ebook Time Management for Writers.
Author of Fear of Writing, first released in 2001 and now in its third edition. Fear of Writing does not promise to show you how to write a novel, find an agent or get published. The Fear of Writing method is designed to take you back to something more primal . . . joy in your creativity.
Under her Kindle pen name, Crystal Gabrielle, Milli is the author of three fiction and two non-fiction books, including Five Cards of Destiny, Sarcastic Husbands, How to Test a Good Girl and Happiness in 2 Minutes.
Writing course owner at Fear of Writing Online Course (with a curriculum based on Milli’s book).
Many creative writing courses educate you on how to get and agent or how to navigate the publishing world. Milli does not profess to be an expert on how to get published. Instead, the Fear of Writing Online Course provides a healing balm for your deepest writing fears. Or your regrets about letting your writing lapse for a long time. Or even your frustration about never having gotten started. All packaged with cheers and fun.
It all started when Milli had a need to cure her own fear of writing. She wrote her book but that wasn’t the self-cure she needed because it was too safe. So, despite her desire to remain a hermit, she went forth with the method in her book and began sharing it with other writers. Practicing her method alongside her workshop students and writing circle regulars led to so much more than just her own healing. Creative writing coach and mentoring writers and closet writers is a career she loves and feels lucky to enjoy.
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Photo of Milli taken in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania courtesy Ann McElfresh