Welcome to my world!
I’m a writer and voice actor, based in Brooklyn, NY. Here, read about my two published books and screenplay adaptation, take a writing course, and listen to my voice over and audiobook demos.
At my second home on the web, HiSierrafim.com, learn more about the audiobooks that my husband, Serafim Smigelskiy, and I produce to move and delight the 21st-century listener.
Thanks for swinging by,
The Creative Compass
“A wonderfully insightful guide to the art of transforming ideas and stories into books. It presents old narrative and stylistic truths in a new, highly imaginative way.”
–Stephen Kinzer, author of Poisoner in Chief
A guide should give clear directions, then get out of your way. In this unique collaboration, my father and I draw on our own experiences and the wisdom of our fellow writers to orient you on a quest through five universal stages of creativity:
Dream: “You need to know more than you’ll ever tell.”
Draft: “Can’t stay within lines you’ve set? Move them.”
Develop: “Turn away from the labyrinth of infinite possibilities. Speed toward the story’s one true form.”
Refine: “Once you know what you need to say, then do so with all the power and grace you can muster.”
Share: “If necessary, go back in order to move forward…”
“A wonderfully insightful guide to the art of transforming ideas and stories into books. It presents old narrative and stylistic truths in a new, highly imaginative way.”
–Stephen Kinzer, author of Poisoner in Chief
A guide should give clear directions, then get out of your way. In this unique collaboration, my father and I draw on our own experiences and the wisdom of our fellow writers to orient you on a quest through five universal stages of creativity:
Dream: “You need to know more than you’ll ever tell.”
Draft: “Can’t stay within the lines you’ve set? Move them”
Develop: “Turn away from the labyrinth of infinite possibilities. Speed toward the story’s one true form.”
Refine: “Once you’ve figured out what you need to say, then do so with all the power and grace you can muster.”
Share: “If necessary, go back in order to move forward…”
Creative Lives
“The profiles are crisp, fascinating and full of telling details.”
–Roseanne Saad Khalaf, in her foreword
An American in Beirut, I wrote a book about Lebanese artists while covering art and politics as a freelance journalist and broadcaster. These thirty-one portraits speak to pivotal moments in time, shared desires, varied rituals, hard-won insights—and the resilience of a small country that will never surrender.
“When you start a piece of art…it’s a struggle, a fight with yourself. And after you finish, the joy that you get is incredible.”
Anachar Basbous, Sculptor
“You get connected and you feel in a different way, you smell in a different way, you see in a different way, you listen in a different way… You go behind space and time.”
Hiba Al-Kawas, Singer and Composer
“The profiles are crisp, fascinating and full of telling details.”
–Roseanne Saad Khalaf, in her foreword
An American in Beirut, I wrote a book about Lebanese artists, while covering art and politics as a freelance journalist and broadcaster. These thirty-one portraits speak to pivotal moments in time, shared desires, varied rituals, hard-won insights—and the resilience of a small country that will never surrender.
“When you start a piece of art…it’s a struggle, a fight with yourself. And after you finish, the joy that you get is incredible.”
Anachar Basbous, Sculptor
“You get connected and you feel in a different way, you smell in a different way, you see in a different way, you listen in a different way… You go behind space and time.”
Hiba Al-Kawas, Singer and Composer