Our Team

annie@houseofwordseditorial.com

Hello partners in crime! (One of my specialty areas is psychological thrillers with blood and a body count.)

I’m Annie. 

My novel Beautiful Bad (Starred Publisher’s Weekly review) was published in seventeen countries and nominated for best debut mystery novel at the Strand Magazine Critics’Awards in 2019. If you’re writing a mystery, I might be the perfect person to help you add twists and heightened suspense to your manuscript.

My third novel and second psychological thriller The Lying Club was published in severalforeign territories and is available on Audible. This one is more of a popcorn and chilled glass of rosé revenge fantasy, set in a backdrop of dark academia. If rom-com or chick lit is your thing, I’m always up for that sort of pop-culture fun.

I received an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute. While studying at AFI, Isold my first short screenplay to MTV/ BFCS Productions. Starring Adam Scott and Joey Lauren Adams, Strange Habit became a Grand Jury Award Winner at the Aspen Film Festival and a Sundance Festival Official Selection. I’ve also script-doctored dozens of films. Looking for help with a screenplay, pitches, treatments, or adaptations from novel to film? I’ve got you covered.

After film school, I moved to Eastern Europe to work for Fodor Travel Guides, covering regions of Spain and Bulgaria. Travel bloggers, I’m here to help. 

In 1996 while living in Bulgaria, I met Lindsay Moran and Laureen Vonnegut. We bonded over our aspirations to write novels, non-fiction, screenplays and theatrical plays. My first novel, The Making of June (starred Kirkus review), which I wrote with the Balkan crisis as its backdrop, was sold to Penguin Putnam and published to critical acclaim in 2002. So, literary women’s fiction is in my wheelhouse also.

Five years ago, I moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where I became friends with Ann Marie Jackson while working as a contributing journalist for Mexico News Daily. My friend of thirty years Laureen Vonnegut just happened to have chosen the same culturally vibrant mountain Mexican town as her home. So, as they say, “the band’s back together.”

I’ve got a lot of hard-won wisdom about how to snag a big five agent, work with editors, deal with both six figure and more modest sales all while maintaining sanity. It’s not easy navigating the stressful world of building your career as a writer. Let’s make it feel manageable. I would love to meet you and hear about your work.

annmarie@houseofwordseditorial.com

Welcome to House of Words!

I’m Ann Marie, an award-winning author and an experienced and passionate editor—and that is exactly what’s so special about House of Words. It is quite unusual that all of us have experience on both sides of the author-editor relationship, which can be critical to a writer’s success.

I specialize in editing literary and contemporary fiction and memoir. My clients include Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Little Brown, and She Writes Press, and I am delighted to work with independent authors. A fan of “book club fiction,” I’m likely to fall in love with your work if it’s character-driven and well-paced with a strong sense of place.

Early in my career, after earning degrees from Stanford and Harvard, I served as senior editor of the U.S. Department of State’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. I have also worked to further social justice causes with nonprofit organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Casita Linda, and I’ve partnered with amazing artist-activists like The Healing Words Project. So if your memoir or narrative nonfiction project has a connection to a cause, we’ll work particularly well together.

I have been lucky to live in some fascinating spots around the globe, including Shanghai, China; Oxford, England; Hirakata, Japan; and Suva, Fiji. Now I seem to have settled in beautiful San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where I teamed up with these brilliant women to launch House of Words.

My first novel, The Broken Hummingbird, is set in San Miguel de Allende, so I have wrestled with the significant challenges of writing across cultures. Appealing to readers enthralled by the fate of not-so-innocents abroad, The Broken Hummingbird balances the raw undoing of a marriage with the joys of discovery that lie in building a new life. It is a 2024 IPPY Silver Winner, 2024 NIEA Finalist in Literary Fiction, 2023 International Book Awards Finalist in Women’s Fiction, and 2023 American Fiction Awards Finalist in Women's Fiction and Best New Fiction.

Currently working on my second book, I am a columnist for Mexico News Daily, and my writing on literature, culture, activism, and Mexico living appears in various magazines. I bring a journalist’s ethos to research and fact-checking.

I can assist you at any stage of the writing process, from an early developmental edit to a final proofread. I will work with you to improve the clarity, consistency, and flow of your writing, all while honoring and cultivating your unique voice. Contact me to schedule a consultation; it would be a pleasure to meet you. Together we’ll bring out the best in your work!

laureen@houseofwordseditorial.com

Hello fellow writers. I am Laureen, a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. My work spans theater, film, and fiction, with multiple projects produced internationally, which suits me because I am always on the go.

My novel Oasis, published by Counterpoint/Perseus Books, has been recognized for its originality and global perspective. My plays—including Death Before Cocktails—have premiered in Los Angeles to critical acclaim.

In addition to my work for the stage, I have written and directed award-winning short films screened at festivals worldwide, including Cannes. 

My multidisciplinary work leans toward female-centric stories using transgenerational characters to explore their interactions and dialogues. Common themes and subjects are characters searching for their lost identity and epiphany-driven plots. 

I joined this collective of longtime colleagues, collaborators, and friends because I love the idea of helping new and emerging writers shape bold and complex narratives. I am also troubled by the impact AI could have on literature, and want to do my part to help writers develop their voices and stay true to their craft.

lindsay@houseofwordseditorial.com

Hi, I'm Lindsay Moran. I started my career back in the 1990s as an operations officer at the CIA. Becoming a spy had been a childhood dream of mine, growing up in the D.C. suburbs and modeling my young life after Harriet the Spy.

After six years with the Agency, living all over the world and having many crazy adventures, I left the CIA and penned a memoir: Blowing My Cover (Penguin Putnam 2005). I had to have the book vetted by the CIA, where it ruffled a lot of feathers — I was the first female ops officer to write a memoir — but the Agency ultimately  cleared my manuscript, and Blowing My Cover went on to become a national bestseller. It's also received widespread critical acclaim and has been called the "only CIA memoir to put a human face on a spy."

Since then, I've built a career that bridges intelligence, journalism, and strategic communications. My opinions and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, and various other outlets. I've worked as a correspondent groundbreaking science and technology shows, and an expert on hard-hitting news programs and top-rated true crime and espionage series.

I earned my BA in English and American Literature from Harvard, and an MFA in writing from Columbia University. I am at my core a mission-driven person, and I decided to team up with the other badass women of House of Words, because helping other writers refine their narratives is a mission that resonates deeply with me.

My approach to editing is strategic and incisive, but always with the aim of nurturing the writer's original vision and staying true to their unique voice.

Come to me for help with your memoir, novel, screenplay. or, any form of communication you're hoping to hone and advance. I have also given countless speeches to large audiences and ghost-written others. I am excited to bring my lifetime of experience across a broad range of communications to help you with yours!