Writing coaching and manuscript development workshops will help you get your book where you want it.

Writing can be a lonely occupation. Your friends and loved ones can cheer you on from the sidelines but they don’t really know what you’re going through. Sometimes you need someone who knows your story as well as you do to help you get to the next milestone, to give you confidence that you are making progress, or to guide you back if you wander off track. That’s what a writing coach is for.

Writing coaching and manuscript development can help you:

• work through story or character issues
• hone your craft
• stay focused and on track
• implement feedback from a manuscript appraisal
• get your book where you want it.

Writing coaching FAQs

How does it work?

Coaching can be the next step after a manuscript appraisal workshop (mini or maxi) or it can be the beginning of our work together.

We start with a conversation about your book – where you’re up to, what your hopes are for it and what you think it needs.

Then I do a mini manuscript appraisal (first 10K words) and read your chapter outline (if you have one) so I can develop a coaching proposal.

We have a one-hour video workshop to discuss my appraisal and coaching proposal. We tweak the proposal if needed, then we’re ready to get started. (Note: you might find the feedback from the appraisal is enough for to get you back on track, if so that’s a win for you! You can always come back later if you run aground.)

Coaching proposals vary from person to person, depending on where you’re up to with your book and what help you need:

• with some writers we’ll be ready to go straight into a schedule of manuscript development workshops after the appraisal
• with others I might suggest starting with a close edit of a chapter to unveil the potential power of your writing and give you some direction for self-editing before we move into workshopping
• with others still I might offer some writing exercises to help you develop a character or an aspect of the story, either before workshopping begins or at some point during the process.

Manuscript development workshops are one hour, via Zoom. They are recorded so you can go back over them. I read your submitted chapters in advance (up to 5000 words) we work through them together on screen, then discuss the next steps.

How many workshops will we need?

This depends on where you are with your book. It may only need one or two sessions to get you on track to final draft, or you might want to work with me for longer.

How much does it cost?

• initial appraisal $350
• subsequent coaching workshops $180*

* If we begin with an edit there will be an additional cost (approximately $50  – depending on the word count).

Is writing coaching and manuscript development your next step towards getting published?