I work with writers and books in a variety of ways, bringing together my experience in publishing with my experience in teaching as well as a particular interest in mindfulness and intuitive approaches to writing and creativity. I edit, I lead workshops, and as a book doctor I offer developmental editing, coaching and creative mentoring to individual writers, and read manuscripts at any stage of their evolution. My aim: using a holistic approach to help writers to write – and sometimes to find – the books that they want to write.

A more detailed bio: I’ve worked in publishing since 1987. Initially a management trainee with the Maxwell Communication Corporation, I first spent a year at Brassey’s, an academic press specialising in Military Studies where I hid my CND badge until I discovered the marketing assistant was not only also a member but a vegetarian too. Afterwards I had a (very!) brief spell at the Sunday Mirror, where I quickly realised I didn’t want to be a journalist and that trade publishing was my real vocation. I then became an editor at Macdonald, which later became Little, Brown UK, where I worked through the ranks to become managing editor and then senior editor.

I acquired and published many critically acclaimed and award-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. Some of the authors include Rabih Alameddine, Paul Burston, Edwidge Danticat, Rosario Ferré, Matt Groening, E. Lynn Harris, Thor Heyerdahl, Tom Holland, Randall Kenan, Haydn Middleton, Paul Monette, Felice Picano, RuPaul (over a decade before Drag Race), Tim Severin, Michelangelo Signorile, David Foster Wallace, Dr Andrew Weil, and Paula Yates. I also worked on the editorial production of many, many other books, including Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

My proudest moment, perhaps, was publishing the world’s bestselling novel; okay, okay, it was by then a reissue, but Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls had been out of print for ten years by then, and that was a sin! It was the last book I published when I worked in-house. It’s now on the list of the Virago Modern Classics.

I took part in Little, Brown’s editorial meetings, reading synopses and samples of writing from hundreds and hundreds (maybe thousands?) of books to prepare for weekly discussions of new projects with my colleagues. I not only acquired books myself, but also observed the pragmatic workings of a successful publishing team; in 1991 Macdonald’s proprietor Robert Maxwell had died, leaving his companies in financial disarray, but, three industrious years later, as Little, Brown we won Publisher of the Year.

I saw the adoption of new formats, the end of the Net Book Agreement, and the rise of the supermarkets as a force in bookselling. These sound like geeky footnotes, but such practical matters have important implications for any writer serious about getting published. I also came to understand that plenty of books didn’t get on the bestseller lists but were, six months after publication, found on the shelves of remainder bookshops; nowadays that might be the deepest discounted reaches of the Kindle rankings. I remember a meeting where another editor presented Sarah Waters’s first novel (remembered because her third novel, Fingersmith, is my favourite), and I also remember when another colleague tried and failed to acquire Zadie Smith’s first book – guess we weren’t Penguin. Publishers get turned down too.

I was involved with an abandoned attempt to publish yet another sequel to Gone With the Wind. And I still want to know what was cut from the proofs of that book about the Prince of Wales. I heard plenty of other gossip, and had plenty of jolly lunches, and attended lots of jollier launch parties. I also once accompanied Lord Longford on a train journey to a literary dinner in Oxford, when he asked me where I went to school. I think I gave the wrong answer, judging by the subsequent quiet.

Flashback: I recently realised (takes a long time to sink in) that my very first job, in fact, was in the world of writers. As a labourer in the packing department of Helix during the summer holidays at university, I learned to operate a banding machine (terrifying), lugged crates of rulers and compasses, and wheeled pallets of Oxford stationery kits to the warehouse. This was the Black Country in the mid-1980s: peak Thatcherism, textbook regional decline, working-class roots well worn.

But, too, in true Mellors style, as the son and grandson of gamekeepers I feel obliged to say that I am very happy working with posh writers too! Social class is a construct as well as a reality, and privilege takes many forms. What I’m most interested in: good writing, and as an editor and teacher helping people who want to develop their writing.

After leaving Little, Brown, as a freelance editor I’ve worked for many of London’s most notable imprints, including Abacus, Element, Granta, HarperCollins, Little, Brown, Macmillan, Orion, Portobello, Pushkin Press, Random House, Simon and Schuster, and Virago.

For a second act: after doing an MA at UCL, we moved to Boulder, Colorado. I became a student at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, where as faculty I subsequently taught creative writing and publishing in Naropa’s MFA and BA programmes on campus and online. I learned more than I can ever measure from the wisdom, humour, and creativity I encountered at this pioneering Buddhist-inspired institution, which has long been known as a centre in contemplative education and is now recognised as the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement. I also made many friends there. This is my version of America.

I have been around teachers my whole life. Various family members have worked in education. My grandfather was a management guru at Ashridge as well as a popular speaker in his evangelical Christian church; my first trip abroad was to accompany him on a tour of bible camps across the US, which also included a trip to Disneyland – a big deal for a kid from the Midlands in the 1970s. One aunt taught dairy farming techniques in rural Chile in the 1960s, and became a Spanish and geography teacher when she returned. Another aunt is a special needs teacher and disability activist. My sister runs the pastoral department in a busy inner-city school. Many of my friends are teachers or professors in some capacity or other.

Now: I live in West London with my husband. I edit, mentor, and teach. I lead workshops in association with Words Away, and I’ve also led writing workshops, e.g., at Cambridge University, Faber Academy, Twickenham Film Studios, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. I have taught workshops for The Literary Consultancy, taken part in the Festival of Writing and Getting Published Day for Jericho Writers (formerly the Writers’ Workshop), and taught academic courses for Falmouth University’s MA in Professional Writing, the University of Colorado and Front Range Community College. I have also spoken on publishing at Reading University, Canterbury Christ Church University, City University, and Lancaster University.

Curriculum Vitae: In addition to my MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University, I have an MA in English Literature from University College London and a BA in American Studies from Hull University. As an undergraduate I also studied at the University of New Mexico, and we also lived in Sydney, Australia for eighteen months.

More on the services I offer here, and you can read interviews I’ve done about my work with Words Away (on my workshops on the four elements and revising) and with Ten Penny Dreams.

And though I don’t think I want to be a full-time writer myself, I do also write myself from time to time.