"[Nelsie is] a miner who has managed to pull gold out of me when I didn’t even know it was in there. [She is] the carpenter that knows what size nails to use,

and where to place the connecting walls. 

Basically, how to build a story that holds up over time.  

[She makes] me produce better and better work.

It’s as though [she] can see the veins in the marble like a sculptor.

I’m no longer an amateur because of her."
-- Lori Nicholson, Memoirist