MJ Halberstadt (he/him)

Writer, reader, knitter, Ravenclaw, youngest child.

What the heck do you do with an MFA in Playwriting when the world is on fire? I decided to lend my writing skills to the people who have impactful ideas for healing the world.

I’ve always been creative, sensitive, and a wee bit too earnest for my own good. I left my stomping grounds on Long Island to attend college and write plays in Boston. In that way, I’ve been professionally writing in other people’s voices professionally since 2007. For five years I taught undergrad (and grad) screenwriting and playwriting. After COVID hit, I pivoted to startup marketing and branding, and quickly clarified something that’s always been true:

my best contribution to the world is my ability to help compassionate people with bright ideas to express themselves.

So I created Find the Words.

Find me on Linkedin

Why coaches? Why self-help?

Okay, partly it’s the theatre / character-writing background. I love a memorable narrator, I will not abide phony or boring, and I know how to effectively maneuver the fourth wall.

I love the role that coaches play in the world. They're counter-cultural portfolio careerists. They support people with critical thinking. They empower people to lead with their values and to live with full integrity and to develop a sense of coherence in their lives.

A better world is one in which we’re all able to express ourselves authentically. You help people do that through coaching; I do that by guiding them through birthing a book.

My ghostwriting wishlist

I’m especially motivated to collaboratively write non-fiction books that blend memoir and self-help. Here are some “comps” of the kinds of books I’d love to write and why:

  • Emergent Strategy (adrienne maree brown), I Never Thought of It That Way (Monica Guzmán), The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop (Felicia Rose Chavez), See No Stranger (Valarie Kaur) -- all of these are (structurally) framed as how-to books and they are each deeply researched and personal to how each author came to their wisdom.

  • We Will Not Cancel Us (adrienne maree brown), There Must Be Happy Endings (Megan Sandberg-Zakian) -- more than any other books I've read, these two books feel spontaneous -- as though something occurred in the world that caused a specific, heartfelt argument to pour out of the author in one whole piece that manages to feel both timely and timeless.

  • Bossypants (Tina Fey), Party of One (Meghan Keane) — memoir-grade personal stories crafted as a way to encourage the reader to have a particular type of self-esteem. Basically: memoirs that are more than vanity projects.

  • Big Magic (Elizabeth Gilbert), On Writing (Stephen King) -- as much a manifesto about craft as a series of reflections about a career.

  • You Are a Badass (Jen Sincero) and Burnout (Emily + Amelia Nagoski) -- I like when coaches and therapists go all-in on a single defining theme that they're passionate about and aren't afraid to be a bit vulnerable. These two feel balanced, and were comps for the first book I ghostwrote.

Testimonials

  • "MJ has a unique way to help you get unstuck and see the possibilities. After working with him, I could envision how I wanted my piece to turn out."

    Dipti Patel
    Coaching Corner member

  • "If you’ve been crafting a message for yourself, connect with MJ to understand more about how you’re presenting and how to bring together that magic. "

    Brian Duggan
    Coaching Corner member

  • "MJ helped me quickly get the essence of my fuzzy thoughts and turn them into a powerful speech that will be the starting point of my new business."

    Giulia La Vigni
    Brand Strategist

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