Maria F. Chapman
Author, Ghostwriter, Advocate
Photo by Willow Photography
Maria F. Chapman writes about the things people are often told to keep to themselves: desire, grief, power, disability, complicated families, and the moment a person realizes she is allowed to want something different.
Her books range from The Power of the Pivot to women's fiction about love, loss, and the untidy business of beginning again. In I'm Keeping the Dog, even the dog gets caught up in the complications. In The Things We Never Asked For, a reunion twenty years in the making brings old questions—and a few new ones—back to the surface. Maria also created the Burn After Writing journal series for people with something they need to say, even if the person who needs to hear it will never get the letter.
Maria spent fifteen years in public education as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, and literacy coach before founding Connected Ghostwriting. Now she helps professionals write books that change the world, while making room for her own stories, too. She has helped bring nine traditionally published books to life in four years—a testament to her dedication, a very full calendar, and the mysterious power of a deadline.
Her work often explores mental health, sexual wellness, social justice, and disability. After experiencing paralysis and rehabilitation, Maria built a business around the conviction that stories can help people make meaning, find connection, and be taken seriously. She is an advocate and the founder of But They Didn't Hit You, an anthology project sharing survivor stories about coercive control and domestic abuse. The project helps readers recognize abuse that leaves no visible bruise—and makes room for survivors to tell their stories in their own words.
In 2021, Maria received an Author Fellowship from the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. Her writing and expertise have appeared in Men's Health, Psychology Today, and the American Psychological Association.
Maria lives in Connecticut with her children and a bat-eared rescue mutt. Between family life, writing, and running a business, she has learned that joy is something we choose to create everyday.
She believes people deserve to tell the truth about their lives, that humor can sit beside heartbreak, and that no one should have to earn the right to begin again. She writes books that change the world—and occasionally remembers where she left her coffee.