I’ve written a lot of books and things. Some for love and some for money.
- Author of eight books including the novel The Edge of Maybe (get the e-book now)
- 18 years on the UC Berkeley Faculty
- Private writing coach and developmental editor since 1992
- Featured and reviewed widely on NPR, SF Chronicle, SF Weekly, ABC and NBC, and internationally
- Actor, playwright, and solo performer
My Story
My original background was in the theater. I studied at the ACT Young Conservatory in San Francisco, and at the Lee Strasberg Studio in New York, and I acted in a lot of community theater.
In my twenties, I traveled widely. I was an active participant in the underground art scene in San Francisco in the 1980s; I worked on documentary films, exhibited thematic installations, and performed alone and with colleagues.
I earned a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies in Creative Arts from San Francisco State University where I learned:
- To create expansively, across disciplines.
- How the arts cross-pollinate.
- To trust the seasons and tides of creative flow.
- That I need to work alone. Sometimes. AND that I do my strongest work when I have the support of colleagues and mentors.
At the age of 29, I began to focus on my writing.
I wrote and eventually began to get published: novels, short stories, personal essays, poetry, columns.
I held day jobs. I worked as a technical writer. I wrote seven commercial nonfiction books. I wrote articles, book reviews, and online content.
In 1992 I also began editing, coaching, and consulting with other writers and organizations.
In 1999 I joined the faculty at U.C. Berkeley, teaching Leadership Communication, writing, public speaking, and cross-cultural communications.
In 2007, I returned to my theater roots to write and perform one-woman shows with W. Kamau Bell and Martha Rynberg?s Solo Performance Workshop (SPW).
- I learned how solo performance is best created in collaborative settings.
- I realized again how, as writers, we have this societal assumption that writing is best done alone, in a garret, while suffering, and how punitive this approach is.
In 2012, my novel The Edge of Maybe was published by Last Light Studio Press in Boston.
– Regan McMahon – SF Chronicle Sunday Books
Later in 2012, I bought an old quirky house, deep in the forest in the Sierra Nevada foothills, known as the Secret Undisclosed Location. For a few years, I commuted across the state twice a week, from my home in Oakland to the Secret Undisclosed Location and back until, at the end of 2016, I retired from U.C. Berkeley to live full time in the forest, raise chickens, and BOOK MENTOR.
In 2021, I relocated to California’s North Coast — where I now live, work, bluff-walk, garden, and forage for mushrooms…
{ Book Mentor = Editor. Coach. Butt-kicker. Companion. }
Join me.
I offer coaching and editing, plus I host writing retreats in exciting locations (join me in Northern Italy or Oaxaca, Mexico).
Re-find your flow. Get your book done.
My Vision is to tap deeply into my own story, to continue to write, perform, and live my life as Reverent Art in a dark time, and to model this to others; in revolution, in resistance, and in love.
My Mission is providing mentoring services to experienced writers, honoring their voices, passions, and skills. I bring a discerning eye, an attentive ear, an open heart, an honest voice, a sharp and strategizing brain, and 30 years of editorial and consulting experience to help writers navigate their way – joyfully and successfully – through their writing projects and artist’s life.