David Rasch PhD

David Rasch

I am a psychologist with 20 years of experience working with writers who struggle with blocks, procrastination, and other writing productivity problems. I have worked as a therapist, workshop leader, writing consultant, Director at Stanford University’s Faculty Staff Help Center; and currently serve as the Stanford University Ombuds. I have given presentations about my work with faculty authors at state and national conferences and have spoken to numerous student and staff groups at Stanford and other universities nationwide. I also offers talks and teach workshops on writing productivity that have been useful for writers of poetry, fiction, journalism, academic research, nonfiction, business and technical writing, Web writing, and personal writing.

My approach to assisting writers includes the use of compassion, humor, and pragmatism, and I combine insights from my background as a psychologist with practical advice for negotiating the daily challenges of the writing life. In addition to The Blocked Writer’s Book of the Dead, my writing includes a chapter in the edited volume Process and Organizational Redesign, several magazine and newsletter articles, and more than a hundred songs. I am the 2010 – 2011 President of the Central Coast Writers Branch of the California Writers Club and was recipient of their Centennial Short Story Award in 2009, and the Monterey Weekly’s 2010 Short Story contest.