Welcome to WholeStory.com. A place for learning, prose and ideas.

Who We Are

Mary Ann is a story coach,

            teacher, feature writer

                        and editorial consultant.

 Some of her credits:

 

  • Creator, The Whole Story, a simple philosophy of writing and information design showing how all good stories, whether 10 words, 100 words or 10,000, share the same basic elements.
  • Coach and workshop leader for journalists from more than 500 newspapers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
  • Regular speaker at National Writers Workshops.
  • Reporter for the Oakland Tribune under newsroom pioneers Bob Maynard and Leroy Aarons.
  • Newspaper and magazine writer for more than 25 years, distributed for five by The Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
  • Creator-instructor, NewsSense, a web-based class on news basics at News University, newsu.org.
  • Story consultant/writer, the original Newseum in Arlington, VA., the world's first interactive museum of news, now in Washington, D.C.
  • Career coach, Chips Quinn Scholars, the nation's premier newsroom training program for young journalists of color.
  • Ask The Coach columnist, chipsquinn.org.
  • Creator of the American Press Institute's first web-based newswriting course; longtime API workshop leader.  
  • human behind the award-winning cyber cockroach, bernie. 
  • Journalism instructor and storycraft consultant, Bay Area Multicultural Media Academy (BAMMA).
  • Story Coach, South Florida Sun-Sentinel; creator of the paper's acclaimed writer-editor learning team program.
  • Adjunct staff, The Diversity Institute, Nashville, TN. The Nashville center trains young journalists in multimedia skills.