Author | Book Coach

Writer. Coach. Fueled by caffeine, curiosity, and compassion.

I’m Maurene Janiece—I'm a writer by passion, a memoir and nonfiction coach by training, and a recovering perfectionist.

Yes, I’m still writing the book. No, it’s not done yet.

I write stories that start with a mess and end with meaning.

You can find my work in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Miracle of Love, plus a stack of how-to and educational books that prove I actually can finish things. My current project? A memoir about moving back into my childhood home — complete with 24 years of my father's hoarded junk.

Spoiler: I almost lost my marriage, my sobriety, and my sanity. But I found my story.

These days, I channel all that experience (and caffeine) into coaching women who are writing their own brave, beautiful, messy stories — from memoir to hybrid to self-help.

Shadowy entrance to a set of stairs of a beige home interior

About the Memoir

When your childhood home is overflowing with junk, “taking out the trash” becomes a lifelong project. In Trashed, I return to the hoarded house I swore I’d never set foot in again.

I thought I’d escaped my childhood house — and the chaos that came with it. Then I went back, bought it, and tried to make it livable. Trashed is the story of how clearing out my father’s 24 years of hoarded junk nearly cost me my marriage, my sobriety, and my sanity.

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From the Page: Writing in Progress

She’d burn it all down if she could.

She will not need gasoline. Or tinder. Just a match. Enough newspapers, junk mail, magazines, and campaign flyers piled about will be more than sufficient to start the blaze. Still, she places the paper towel in front of her.

Strike. Light. Toss.

As the flames start to take hold, the light casts eerie shadows over the piles in front of her. She can make out a few items. Stacks of wood. Junk mail. Bicycle parts.

She goes outside. Walks into the street. Turns to watch the show, reveling as the flames take over, swallowing the house and all that is inside—the trash, the fear, the memories—all going up in a mighty blaze.

It is most satisfying. The quickest solution. The inferno swallows the house. It takes just a few short hours to level it all into a heap of ash.

Abstract flame-like shadows on a white background

Writing’s hard.

Coaching helps.

While I write, I help other women do the same.

You know that line between “this is brilliant” and “this is garbage”? I live there. And I coach from there. Writing a book will make you question everything — your talent, your sanity, even your snack choices. I’ve been there, more than once. That’s why I coach women writers through the mess, with compassion, caffeine, and a clear plan.

I coach from the trenches. I’ve been in the stuck, the self-doubt, and the almost-done-but-not-yet phase. That’s why I help women writers push through — with clarity, courage, and a little tough love.

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“One of the most beautiful things about working with you on my memoir was feeling seen and heard. You gave me the gift of acceptance and validation. And the result of that creates a ripple effect for self-acceptance and confidence building.”

— Amy G.