miniature book open, artistic
Book with a portal in the middle and finger pointing through it
Kristen holding sun tarot card in front of face

Leading You through

The creative journey

Watercolor path with readers and dancing books

Rise Writers was founded to help authors find the best path to publishing, leading them through the creative journey, and connecting them into the deep magic that is our creative liberation. Together, we will find your path to becoming a published author and to sharing the truths the world needs you to tell.

Watercolor path with human balancing books on his head.

Rise Writers is just the beginning. We are working to open our first in-person location, Rise Books + Retreats in Ojai, CA in the coming years, which will be a mixed use storytelling space, including book store, publishing house, writing and wellness community space and retreat center. So much more to come…

Radically
Inspired
Storytelling for
Everyone

Rise
Believes

The Women behind rise Writers

Rise Founder and Author Kristen McGuinnes

Kristen

McGuiness

Founder

Kristen is a best-selling author, editor, and long-standing publishing professional. After spending the first decade of her career working in editorial for Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins, as well as in film development at Warner Brothers, Kristen wrote the bestselling memoir, 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life, which was featured on the "Today Show" and in USA Today. Since then, she has co-authored dozens of books and her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Shondaland, Marie Claire, amongst others. In addition, she has worked at numerous booksellers, including Shakespeare & Co. in New York. She lives in Ojai, CA with her husband, two children, and a dog named Peter.

Jamie

Rise Managing Editor Jamie Lou

Lou

MANAGING EDITOR

Jamie Lou (she/her) is an award-winning essayist, content/copywriter, blogger, ghostwriter, book and film editor, and award-winning filmmaker/screenwriter and playwright. She is the recipient of the Kornbluth Memorial Writing Award for her essay on a Sylvia Plath poem. In 2021, her dramatic feature screenplay, Lady Lazarus, placed in the top 10% at the prestigious Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship and the top 18% at the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition. As an author, her children’s books have reached children across the globe. Jamie believes stories have the power to brighten the world, shine light on injustice, and spark connections between human beings from all walks of life.

Katya

Rise Coach Katya Lidsky

Lidsky

Lead Coach

Katya is a writer, podcaster, and award-winning performer. She has written for TV and has been published in for Parents.com, Texas Monthly, and many more journals. Her one-woman show, I’m Sorry, which she wrote and performed, was part of the New York Fringe Festival and enjoyed 2 years of sold-out audiences in LA and NYC. Katy has an undergraduate degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and a Masters from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She runs Pesky Moon Entertainment in Austin along with her husband, and is from Laredo, Texas. She’s a Russian-Cuban-Jew (Jewban) and is obsessed with e.e. Cummings poems, greeting cards, and Tina Turner’s voice.

Section Styles newsletter