I just published "The Spiritual Alchemist: Working with the Voice of Your Soul," based on a workshop I've been giving in North America for over 10 years. I'll be giving a "Spiritual Alchemist" workshop in Albuquerque, NM on August 1-2 and in Manhattan on Oct. 11-12. I'll also be among a panel of authors at the Meet the Authors, Meet the Agents Big Apple Conference in Manhattan October 18-19, put on by the International Women's Writing Guild (www.iwwg.org). I've started work on a book on academic writing for European scholars (I work half the year in Europe), am starting the second draft of another spiritual book, and itching to rewrite my initial draft of a metaphysical mystery. In between all of this, I teach and edit.

I think I've covered all of those already. I passionately believe in integrity, kindness, and friendship. I value honesty based on kindness and compassion. And I passionately love the spiritual work that I do, as well as the friendships that have evolved from it.

These I don't publicly name. But they all have to do with helping the planet, helping those in need, and helping those in troubled regions of the world

These are many! Anything by Ursula K. LeGuin, John Fowles, Margaret Elphinstone, and Sherri Tepper (esp. "The Margarets," "The Fresco," "Raising the Stones," and "Grass"). I love the work of Patricia McKillip (including "Od Magic" and "The Lost Beasts of Eld"); of Olga Kharitidi ("Entering the Circle" and "The Master of Lucid Dreams"); and of Jane Lindskold (including "Child of a Rainless Year"). Also: "A Weave of Women" by E.M. Bronner; "The Bone People" by Keri Hulme; all the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries by Dorothy Gilman, all the Israel-based mysteries of Batya Gur, and all the Kate Fansler mysteries of Amanda Cross (the pseudonym for Carolyn Heilbrun). And everything by Pat Carr (winner of a PEN award), especially "Beneath the Hill" and "If We Must Die."

all kinds--but especially folk music from faraway places (e.g., camel-driver music from Morocco, Altaian folk music, Greek and Macedonian and Israeli and.....) -- any kind of music that lends itself to "trance dance." And much of the music of the mid-late 60s and pre-disco 70s!!

too many to name (but nothing violent, nothing slap-sticky, and nothing that insults the viewer's intelligence) -- on balance, mostly foreign films... going all the way back to "Chushingura" and "Last Year at Marienbad."

I am a writer, editor, teacher, and practicing spiritual alchemist (see www.thespiritualalchemist.com) who believes passionately in integrity and kindness, and who is fascinated by what transpires at the confluence of creativity, spirituality, and self-awareness.

"We have no right to ask 'why me' when bad things happen unless we also ask 'why me' when good things happen." --(my father) Harold Reid. "I'm resting as hard as I can."--also Harold Reid. "Praise then darkness and Creation unfinished."--Ursula LeGuin, "The Left Hand of Darkness."

The Personal Statement says much of it, and "bio" at www.thespiritualalchemist.com says the rest. I love writing, traveling, and teaching, and cannot imagine a life in which I am not doing all three of those things. I have been traveling for work and pleasure for over 20 years, and writing all that time. My favorite workshops are those linking creative writing, transformative processes, and self-awareness.

My purpose is implicit in everything I've written so far. In brief, I am a teacher who speaks to people's souls first, while apparently speaking to their minds and their hearts. My job, as I see it, is to help people reconnect with the voice of their soul--their purest source of creativity, inspiration, and wisdom.

My work is to be a spiritual alchemist and to practice and teach spiritual alchemy. My book, "The Spiritual Alchemist," offers readers a set of exercises to help them listen to the voice of their unique soul. This is the voice that can reveal our true purpose for this lifetime, and help us navigate and overcome all obstacles to our emotional and spiritual growth. What practitioners learn from this book (and their continued practice) is how to set their life's compass--as the ancients did--by their soul's intent.