Your draft is complete…
…but is it done?

1.     You’ve read your personal essay, blog post, newsletter, or poems over so many times, you’ve lost any objectivity you might once have had. But you care about your words and want them to sing.

2.     Now what? You need feedback that’s not coming from your best friend or your spouse or your mother. You need someone who is both objective and kind, someone who knows that writing is a form of practical magic, someone who can chisel away the extraneous in a way that not only doesn’t interfere with your writing voice but in fact brings it out with even more clarity and shine.  

3.     That’s where I come in! I roll up my sleeves, ready to look for where your writing needs more room to breathe and where it could use some corralling.

4.     We talk for 30 minutes about goals and timeline. You email me your work, along with any specific trouble spots or questions you want to call to my attention. When you share your words with me, you know they will be in good hands, hands that understand that your words are so much more than words. They are extensions of your very being.

5.     I read with my eyes and I also read with my heart. I set ego aside and bring a sharp eye for consistency, grammar, and punctuation, and an ear keen for music and flow and the sound of *your* voice on the page.

6.     In addition to suggesting specific changes, I write up more general reflections to share with you, including the following two reminders. One is that without a strong piece of writing to begin with, there would be nothing to edit. The other is that at the end of the day, you choose what goes and what stays.  

7.     You revise according to our agreed-upon timeline. If you want to send me a new version, I’m available to read it through again before you decide it’s done (a word that loves to play hide and seek with writers).

8.     You submit your work, if that was your goal. Or you send out your newsletter. Or you share your piece on social media and/or a personal or professional blog or website.

9.     You learn from the process. You learn more about what makes your voice unique, what gets in the way of you saying what you really want to say, and what is already strong and solid about your style that you may not have recognized or acknowledged before.

10.  Instead of wondering what took you so long, you decide to celebrate yourself both for taking your writing seriously and for loosening up on the fears of not being ready or good enough.

11.  You start your next piece…

Cost

What you’ll get:

• an initial 30-minute conversation via phone or Zoom to discuss your goals and agree on a timeline;

• detailed feedback and reflections highlighting your writing strengths and addressing your specific questions;

• suggested changes, including line edits and punctuation and grammar clean-up where needed;

• one round of revisions; and

• greater confidence and readiness to put your words “out there.”

Note: If you are looking for ongoing accountability and support for your creative process and/or works in progress, you might want to try a few months of coaching instead. Drop me a line if you want to chat about the best fit!