Bio

English Teacher to Burlesque Performer

Once upon a time, I was a high school English and Theatre teacher when I was hit with the autoimmune symptoms of Hashimoto’s and Rheumatoid Arthritis. To restore my health, I sought out some good ol’ fashioned exercise by signing up for the most challenging dance instruction I could find—a pole class.

That’s right! I thought I could sweat out my symptoms on a stripper pole. But it wasn’t long before I gave up pole burn for the not-so-subtle art of burlesque. And I was blingin’ costumes and crafting feather fans in record time!

That’s how I met Pyrrha Sutra best known for her Burlesque Hall of Fame blazin’ bustier routine. This woman sets her pasties on fire while running a successful entertainment company. Together we volunteered at an annual breast cancer survivors conference where we led women in rediscovering their femininity following surgery and chemo treatments.

I became addicted to the confidence boost burlesque gave women.

But there was one other thing that really transformed me as a burlesque performer.

No, it wasn’t living out that terrifying dream of being naked on stage. It was learning to use burlesque as a therapeutic tool for anxiety. The more fear I overcame the more passionate I became about telling my stories.

Burlesque was my entry point into powerful and professional storytelling.

When Pyrrha’s comic emcee, Kelly with a Big Ol’ K, went on maternity leave, I filled her hilarious shoes. Despite my anxiety, I stepped into the limelight and learned how to improv comedy, scribbling down jokes to guide me on stage. I performed all over Phoenix, calling myself Blissom Booblé. But my favorite part of the gig was scripting a wide variety of performers—singers, aerialists, hula hoop girls, fire eaters, fan dancers, and comics—into themed shows that brought in audiences of 500+ people.

Writing in the Deep South

Storytelling became my signature skill.

So of course, I had to chase my dream of writing. At the height of my burlesque career, I moved back to the Deep South to write.

In Savannah/Hilton Head, I edited for Olivia Stiffler, whose poems were twice featured in Garrison’s Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac. And I assisted Rosemary Daniell, author of nine books including The Secrets of Zona Rosa: How Writing (And Sisterhood) Can Change Women’s Lives, and founder of Zona Rosa, a women’s critique group that’s been in existence for 40+ years. It was among these awe-inspiring women writers that I was able to hone my craft.

I also discovered that women who write keep their equilibrium in an upside-down world. A consistent writing practice produces therapeutic benefits. And the research proves it.

I added memoir-style travel essays about my time in burlesque to my work. I even wrote a sermon called Be More Naked I presented at a local Unitarian Universalist congregation. And I become obsessed with the revision process. I had a hunch there must be a better approach to the hellish misery most writers were calling editing. Finding few books and little research on self-editing, I began to experiment with my own writing and as a developmental editor. I eventually developed my own best practices for revising a piece of writing. And I dedicated my work to the process of self-editing.

But a writer needs to earn a living. So, it was time to fly…