Step Write Up provides hands-on exercises for teachers in the classroom and for any workshop leader teaching collaboration and writing skills. This book is the result of creative and collaborative personal and professional endeavors from the two past decades. As a duo of left-brain and right-brain individuals who studied Mechanical Engineering and liberal arts and Sixteenth-Century British Literature, we have always managed to cross the wires in our heads and take a Renaissance approach to life and work. We've held jobs in submarine construction and as engineering managers for Fortune 500 companies. We've been teachers at the high school and college levels. We've conducted workshops for all age groups on topics of communication, writing, and collaboration. We've collaborated and published twenty-seven works of fiction and one of nonfiction. And we've raised two sons. So, what have we learned over the years that is worth sharing with you? We have included exercises on communication and collaboration in this volume that we've used in our classrooms and workshops. You will find lessons on writing poetry and creative nonfiction and fiction. At the end of this volume, there are a number of articles that we've penned over the years on the topics of writing, publishing, and collaboration. Aside from their usefulness, these are also listed here for your entertainment, as well. We hope you can put this collection to good use. Jan Coffey
About the Author: Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick are storytellers with a checkered past. From the submarine shipyards of Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, and the clubs of Rodeo Drive, to the forges of Pennsylvania and the electronics manufacturers of Massachusetts, these two have spent their lives gathering material for their novels and their nonfiction. Professional Nikoo is a mechanical engineer and has held jobs in production and as engineering manager. Jim, a former college professor, has a PhD in British literature. He currently teaches creative writing and literature at Litchfield High School in Connecticut. Their Books Twenty-seven novels published under three pseudonyms: May McGoldrick, Nicole Cody, and Jan Coffey. o MIRA Books. Ten contemporary suspense thrillers under the pseudonym Jan Coffey. o Penguin Putnam. Fifteen historical novels under the pseudonyms May McGoldrick and Nicole Cody. o Avon/HarperCollins. Two young adult novels. o Heinemann. Writing as Nikoo and James A. McGoldrick-one nonfiction work, A Marriage of Minds, on collaborative writing. Awards Since 2000, Jim and Nikoo have garnered well over thirty awards for their novels, including the 2009 Connecticut Press Club Best Fiction Award. The authors reside in Litchfield County, Connecticut.