About

Trish Wilkinson is co-author of Brain Stages: How to Raise Smart, Confident Kids and Have Fun Doing It, K – 5 (Sandra Jonas Publishing), a writing coach, freelance editor, workshop facilitator, parent coach, and a contributing writer as well as executive editor for blog Tenacity to Triumph: The Bad Ass Code. A credentialed, mentor teacher of 23 years, Trish has helped numerous writers find their voices and move on to publication.

Educator by day,  Rock ‘N Roll singer by night, and ALWAYS the storyteller, Trish began teaching in 1984 on “Emergency Credential” in East Los Angeles to finance her music habit. She never dreamed helping kids grow to love writing as much as she does would be more fun than screaming into a microphone. The surprising side-effect: her “disadvantaged” students scored “proficient” and “advanced” on state tests. Trish went back to school to get a real teaching credential and eventually gave workshops to support other teachers in creating super-charged writing programs. After 23 years in the classroom, Trish went home to spend more time with her adolescent daughters—and to launch her writing career.

Trish earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at California State University, Long Beach, her teaching credential at California State University, Los Angeles, and took graduate classes at California State University, Chico to earn her Language Development Specialist certification.

The UCLA Writers’ Studio, Writers’ Retreat Workshop, Longridge Writers’ Group, and classes through Media Bistro and Writer’s Digest have honed Trish’s professional writing skills, and most important, she has put in Gladwell’s 10,000 hours of practice in writing, coaching, and editing.

Trish is the secretary and a workshop presenter for the Central Oregon Writers’ Guild, an active member and workshop leader for San Diego Writers’ Ink, a member of the Page-a-Day Writers and the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators, and she is the editor for blog Tenacity to Triumph: The Bad Ass Code about real people who rise above adversity to become successful.

San Diego Family Magazine has published several articles by Trish, including cover stories, and she has written for The Coronado Eagle and Journal. She wrote a monthly column about Hermanitas® for the MANA de San Diego newsletter for four years (and was a mentor to young Latinas for six years), she co-authored BRAIN STAGES: How to Raise Smart, Confident Kids and Have Fun Doing It, K–5 with Jacqueline Frischknecht, PhD, and her YA Mind Touch series is pending publication.

The Wilkinsons’ daughters graduated from college, so Trish moved to Bend, Oregon with her awesome husband Chuck and her rambunctious retriever to put 94.9 Central Oregon Sports Radio on the air in 2015. Trish has served as secretary for the Central Oregon Writers’ Guild since February 2016.