My writing asks those many questions we have about the human spirit, why we get lost, and find meaning along the way.

 

Welcome to my corner of the internet.

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I'm Deborah Holmén — a writer, researcher, ghostwriter, educator, and author. If that sounds like a lot of hats, it is, but they're all cut from the same cloth: a lifelong fascination with how we make sense of difficult things, and how the right words can help a person heal, learn, or simply feel less alone.

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My journey as a research writer began in 2001, and it's the foundation on which everything else is built. For more than two decades I've made my living learning subjects deeply and quickly — neuroscience, epigenetics, the gut microbiome, women's health, functional medicine, biohacking — and then translating them into language a real person can actually use. That discipline, the habit of chasing down the evidence and then making it human, shapes everything I write, no matter the genre.

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For much of that time I've worked as a ghostwriter, and it's some of the most meaningful work I do. A ghostwriter is the writer you never see — the one who sits with an expert's research or a stranger's life story, gives it shape, voice, and momentum, then steps back so the work can carry someone else's name. It takes craft, empathy, and discretion in equal measure. You have to disappear into another person's voice so completely that readers believe they wrote every word, and you have to be content knowing the applause belongs to them. I've ghostwritten extensively in health and wellness, including years writing for an award-winning biohacker, illuminating mental health, the mind-body connection, and what it really takes to feel well. It's a quiet kind of authorship, and I love it.

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When I write for myself, though, I'm often somewhere else entirely — in another century. Historical fiction is my creative home. It's where my two loves meet: the researcher who needs every detail right, and the storyteller who wants you to feel the dust and candlelight of a vanished world. There's nothing quite like coaxing a forgotten moment back to life and letting readers live inside it for a while.

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Underneath all of it, I'm an educator — 25 years and a National Board Certification's worth of learning how to take something complicated and make a person feel capable while they grasp it. That instinct never switches off. It's in my ghostwriting, my fiction, my memoir, and every piece of advice I offer.

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I'm an author myself, too. My memoir — It Takes a Lot of Sh*t to Grow Beautiful Flowers: A Gardener's Guide to Life — grew out of my years as a teacher, parent, daughter, and friend, and it's about how we weather life's storms by taking our cues from Mother Nature. I'm currently expanding it into a new edition, with six new chapters that deepen the story's most pivotal turns- things I wasn't ready to share, but realize they were the most important lessons to learn. Living on the author's side of the table — the doubt, the vulnerability, the joy of finally getting it right — is exactly what makes me a more empathetic ghostwriter for the people who trust me with their own books.​​

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I also write an advice column, Dear Next Chapter: Navigating Love, Loss & New Beginnings — a space for life's transitions, whether you're facing a fresh start, moving through loss, or stepping into uncharted territory. I answer your questions with empathy, practical wisdom, and plenty of encouragement, because everyone deserves a little company while they write their next chapter.  

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Whether I'm shaping someone else's book, researching a novel, or answering a reader's letter, the work is always the same at heart: helping people grow through whatever they're facing.

 

Thank you for joining me here. Let's cultivate a beautiful life together — one chapter at a time.