Dancing on Coals is a raw and riveting memoir that chronicles your lifelong pursuit of approval, identity, and peace, capturing the endless loop of seeking love through overachievement. Why was this an important book for you to write?

I wrote the book to try to integrate what felt like two sides within me. I had an extraverted, performative side, and yet deep within me was an introspective, contemplative side that held, I suspected, true wisdom. For many years these two sides were in conflict, battling over real estate in my psyche, but by writing this book and making sense of the full trajectory of my life, from launchpad of trauma to a landing pad of peace, I brought them together in a deeply healing way and came to accept myself more fully.

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

I wanted to discuss the role of women in predominantly male cultures, such as the theater at that time, and to question the power of Voice. Is the female Voice as respected and powerful as the male Voice in our culture? I don’t think so. I also wanted to highlight the roles psychotherapy and meditation can play in the process of healing and finding one’s true self. The false self gives way to the true self when we explore within, both through therapy and through the silent, transformational art of meditation.

I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?

The hardest thing to write about was my failure. I felt that I failed as an artist, mostly because I failed to be true to myself as an artist, playing a role designed for me from the outside rather than one that issued organically from the inside. But in fact, that failure launched me into the next phase of my life, which was finding my True North. If I hadn’t failed, I would never have embarked on that search and made that priceless discovery. I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?

I hope readers can take away a visceral sense of the transformation of striving, efforting, and over-performing into calm, peaceful abiding and acceptance. I wanted to make these states sensorial, so that reading about my discovery of peace becomes a kind of transmission to the reader.

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