Editorial & Mentoring
I work with writers of imaginative storytelling in many forms – literary fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, horror, science fiction, crime, and popular fiction. I also work across a wide range of nonfiction, including memoir, life writing, and writing about gardens, travel, food, history, current affairs, esoterica, and spirituality. I have extensive experience in LGBTQ literature.
My editing, mentoring, and teaching draw on many years working in publishing and education, as well as a personal lineage that includes contemplative practice, tarot, and natural history.
Grounded in a studio approach, my work is holistic, attentive to the mechanics of craft as well as the intuitive logic of writing. A core aim is to give writers tools to develop an independent editorial vision and to trust their own instincts. You can read more about my approach here.
I offer three types of support: editorial work, mentoring, and coaching and teaching. Editing and mentoring usually include reading, a meeting, written feedback, and a follow-up exchange via email. Coaching and teaching are shaped by the requirements of the work.
Editorial
My editing provides in-depth guidance for your manuscripts and works-in-progress, from early drafts through revision to preparing work for sending out. I read closely, looking at craft, structure, and the deeper dynamics of the writing. We then meet on Zoom to discuss my insights, clarify your intention, and sharpen the focus of my written feedback; we also explore routes in publishing. You take away a clearer sense of how to move forward in your drafting.
- Developmental Editing – A detailed root-and-branch diagnostic of your manuscript’s formal design and narrative substance.
- Manuscript Review – An aerial-view assessment of how your work meets a reader and what to develop in future drafts.
- Story Mapping – An active survey at planning stage, locating your story’s through-line and setting the form and direction of its plot.
- Proposal Diagnostic – A focused evaluation of your nonfiction book proposal’s content, structure, and positioning.
- Query Package Review – A final-pass review of materials before sending out to agents or publishers, ensuring coherence, clarity, and confidence.
- Short Story/Essay Review – A critique of a single piece, attending to the particular demands of short forms.
Mentoring
From first thoughts to final drafts, mentoring gives you editorial insight and companionship as you develop your craft and strengthen your creative instincts. It involves close reading, conversation, and practical direction as the work takes shape.
- Foundation Mentoring – Early support in building structure, developing voice, and identifying what lies at the heart of your story.
- Manuscript Mentoring – Section-by-section guidance as you progress through a full draft, refining story, pacing, and narrative style.
- Revision Mentoring – Support in revising and self-editing a manuscript and professional insight for evaluating your options in publishing.
- Partners Mentoring – Mentoring adapted for writing partners, bringing orientation, shared momentum, and triangulated feedback in a spirit of collaboration.
- Full Mentoring Pathway – A tailored sequence of mentoring that takes you from early material to a complete draft.
Coaching & Teaching
Flexible and interactive ways to support your creative practice, whether you’re stepping into a new stretch of writing, deepening your craft, or taking stock of a project.
- Creative Coaching – Focused one-to-one sessions for process, craft, and professional matters.
- Creative Beginnings – Personal tutorship for writers forming their practice or developing new material, with inspirational writing experiments, resources, and optional feedback.
- Office Hours – Free group sessions held a few times a year: questions and answers, shared experiences, grounded and good-humoured discussion of writing and publishing.
- Teaching – Masterclasses, workshops, and courses on craft and publishing, offered online and in person.
If you’re interested, contact me for further details and information on my fees. Tell me something about yourself, your writing, and what you’re hoping to achieve.
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