Wendy Paris is the author of Splitopia: Dispatches from Today’s Good Divorce and How to Part Well (Simon & Schuster/Atria Books, 2016). Splitopia has been written about or excerpted in The New York Times, the Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, Real Simple, Marie Claire, the Houston Chronicle, Salon.com, Kveller.com, PsychCentral.com and Family Law Review, among other publications, and featured on podcasts, television and radio shows nationwide.
"A wonderful blend of storytelling and social science." —John Tierney, co-author of Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.
Read more about Splitopia here.
Wendy is also the founder and editor of Splitopia.com, the nation’s first divorce wellness website. She has worked as a journalist and editor for more than two decades, contributing articles and essays to news outlets including The New York Times, Psychology Today, The New York Observer, The Guardian, Washington Post, Quartz, Salon.com and Marketplace Radio, service magazines such as Self, Glamour, Family Circle, Fitness, Brides and theknot.com, and special interest publications including ArtNEWS, Wine Spectator, Jewish Week and The Forward. She has served as a Senior Editor at Psychology Today magazine, an art columnist for the Houston Press, and a television producer for WNBC-TV in New York City. She currently blogs at Psychologytoday.com, Huffingtonpost.com and Splitopia.com.
Before writing about divorce, she spent many years writing about romance and weddings. Wendy is the co-author of Words for the Wedding: 1000 Quotes on Love and Marriage (Perigee/Penguin-Putnam, 2011, 2000), a steady seller for more than 15 years. She is also the author of Happily Ever After: The Fairy Tale Formula for Lasting Love (HarperCollins, 2001), a humorous reinterpretation of ten classic fairy tales, translated into 14 languages, and excerpted in Glamour, Cosmopolitan Italy and Cosmopolitan South Africa.
Wendy was a 2013 Fellow with the Washington D.C.-based think-tank New America foundation, a 2012 Encore Fellow with Encore.org, and a visiting artist at the MacDowell Colony and the 18th Street Arts Center. She has an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction Writing from Columbia University, and currently volunteers as a mentor-editor with the Op-Ed Project.
After 20 years of living in and around New York City, she moved to Santa Monica, CA, in 2014. She currently lives with her son, a few blocks further up from the beach from her ex-husband, with whom she has a warm co-parenting relationship.
WORK WITH WENDY
Author Services
Wendy Paris is available to help other writers get their ideas into print. She does book proposal and manuscript evaluation and editing and ghostwriting, as well as writing coaching.
Writing and selling a nonfiction book starts with creating a solid book proposal. This can be daunting, but with help, it’s also a great way to clarify your vision, thoroughly understand where the book sits in relation to others out there, and increase your motivation and commitment. Wendy assists writers by figuring out the most logical and engaging book structure, clarifying and strengthening their voice, and organizing the material. She can also help with finding and choosing an agent, building a platform and boosting thought leadership—important steps toward both selling a book to a publisher and making sure readers find it.
Some people have great ideas and important stories to tell, but need help identifying the main themes, the most important threads, and how to articulate their expertise. Wendy specializes in organizing complex topics with multiple components into a logical, enjoyable and reader-friendly structure. Having worked not only as an author but also as an editor and writer for popular magazines and websites, Wendy is particularly adept at helping writers communicate even complicated ideas in readable, lively and engaging prose.
Please contact her for a consultation at wendy@wendyparis.com.
Speaking and Divorce Coaching
Wendy speaks about Splitopia and the latest research from the family law reform and positive psychology communities. She shares real life stories of couples who have parted well and explains her 7 Principles of Parting—important steps toward creating a positive life on the other side of marriage and protecting children during and after divorce. She offers workshops for divorce support groups, schools and faith communities.
Topics covered include: The 7 Principles of Parting; Fostering Cooperation and Quashing Conflict with a Co-Parent; Being Your Best Parent During and After Separation, and Choosing a Legal Process that Won't Tear You Apart. She is also available for one-on-one divorce consulting or coaching.
SELECTED JOURNALISM
2017
- The Laws of Attraction, by Wendy Paris, Psychology Today, July/August 2017.
2016
- Uber for Divorce? These Startups Are Bringing DIY Divorces to the Masses,” by Wendy Paris, The New York Observer, February 3, 2016
- “A Divorcee’s Shabbat,“ by Wendy Paris, The Forward, March 30, 2016
- “My 20 Percent Husband,” by Wendy Paris, Psychology Today, January/February, 2016
2015 and EARLIER
- “The New Cancer Survivors," Psychology Today, March, 2015
- “The Divorce Divide: how the U.S. legal system screws poor parents,” by Wendy Paris, Quartz, May 5, 2015.
- “Destination Divorces Are Turning Heartbreaks Into Holidays,”by Wendy Paris, Quartz, April 9, 2015
- “The Gwyneth Effect: Why the Snark about the Good Divorce?” by Wendy Paris, Quartz, Sept. 19, 2014
- “Why I Traveled 3000 Miles to Get to Temple,“ by Wendy Paris, Zocalopublicsquare.org, October 18, 2013
- “How to finally get along with your spouse; Get divorced,” by Wendy Paris, Quartz, June 3, 2013
- “Happily Ever, After We Split,” by Wendy Paris, The New York Times, June 3, 2012
- “Next Time Under the Chuppah,“ by Wendy Paris, Jewish Week, May 15, 2012
- “Bucking Wedding Conventions, Except for One," The New York Times
- “In the Grips of Nature’s Own Form of Birth Control," The New York Times
- “Money in the Rough," Portfolio.com
MORE ABOUT HER OTHER BOOKS
“Ultimately, the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.” — Oscar Wilde
Words for the Wedding, all new and updated in 2011, includes a thousand quotes about love and marriage as voiced by everyone from Buddah to Bono. It also includes chapters about using these words in your wedding and D-I-Y strategies for personalizing your ceremony, reception, pre-wedding parties, wedding website and more, by employing the best words from the world’s most talented wordsmiths. Originally published in 2000, Words for the Wedding has been a perennial wedding-planner top seller.
Happily Ever After
Cinderella doesn’t hide inside her pumpkin carriage, crying, “No one attends a party alone! Everyone will think I’m a loser!” She throws her shoulders back, lifts her chin and marches in the door.
What can we learn from fairy tales? That even if “cinder maid” is your job title, it doesn’t define your entire existence. Happily Ever After: The Fairy Tale Formula for Lasting Love offers an encouraging look at the noble and brave behavior of the heroines of ten classic fairy tales. Before Disney created the current Pantheon of Princesses, the original ladies in waiting like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Thumbellina relied on their intelligence, patience and self-knowledge to land the man, and the life, of their dreams.
