MANUSCRIPT COACHING
As your manuscript coach, I will take a hawk’s-eye view of your writing project, and offer feedback and suggestions wherever I think these are most needed, to help you write (and finish) your best book possible.
Having published a book myself, and having worked as an editor on several others, I understand that a book, like a person, is a ‘tangle of matter of ghost’ (to use Leonard Cohen’s memorable phrase). For a writer, a text-in-progress is not just sentences and chapters: it is love, obsession, hope, and fear. Its creation involves mental labour but also labour of another kind, labour of the heart, or even spirit. For that reason, I understand the sensitivity with which a book project needs to be approached, sensitivity not only to the book in progress, but to the author and her/his particular relationship with the material.
Consequently, each developmental plan will be different, tailor-made to the manuscript, wherever it’s at, as well as to the writer. Some possible working relationships are detailed below:
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You think you might have a book inside you, but maybe it’s just indigestion. I can help you discover which one it is. Over the course of a two-hour discussion, we will talk about your idea, and I can provide a sounding board for you to test out whether your idea is a book, and if it is, what kind of book it wants to be. Fiction or non-fiction? Memoir or novel? Short novel or long story? Then, thinking together, we will come up with a workable plan for how to take it from an idea in your head, or scribbles on scraps of paper, to something more substantial, with its own momentum.
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A running buddy helps get you up on a cold morning. A running buddy also helps you push yourself a few extra ks when your legs are sore and you would have stopped, a long time back, if you were running on your own. As your Manuscript Buddy, I will meet with you once a month (or more or less often) to discuss where you’re at. Before we meet, you will send me 1.) the work that you’ve been doing, plus 2.) a short description of the kinds of things you’ve been thinking about, dreaming of, struggling with. You will also tell me how much you’ve been writing, when you’ve been writing, and what, if anything, is getting in the way of your work. We will discuss the manuscript, but also practical considerations like organising, planning and time management.
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You think your book might be finished, but you’re not sure. This is a good stage to have someone with experience read it. I offer a comprehensive manuscript evaluation, assessing where, if anywhere, there is room for tightening, lengthening, or whatever else could make it a stronger submission. I can also help you to create a clear and persuasive submission proposal to send to agents and/or publishers.
RATES
My rates vary depending on the nature of the writing project. For a no-obligation quote, please send me a brief description of your project, and let me know what sort of help you feel will be most beneficial. You can contact me here.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Your text will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. Nondisclosure agreements are available on request.