Betsy Robinson

I grew up in New York's Hudson Valley and have lived in New York City for more than thirty years. I was an actor for more than a decade and did an amazing array of ridiculous jobs to support that art. Then I became a magazine writer and editor. Now I am a book editor specializing in spiritual and psychological topics, memoirs, blogs, etc. (I can talk about editing, if it is required for a program.) But I write fiction.

Radio host Jonathan Schwartz recently told an anecdote about Stephen Sondheim: When asked if he was happy about selling 25,000 copies of a book, Sondheim replied, "Yeah, but it's always the same 25,000 people who bought the last thing." Schwartz believes this is because Sondheim's work pokes people, throws light on their flaws, and a lot of folks don't like that. Feeling so exposed evokes a kind of existential hysteria, which people attempt to explain through hysterical negative criticisms of Sondheim's work. But 25,000 people do like Sondheim--including me. I like to be poked and my writing pokes. It pokes, makes you laugh, and sometimes cry.