Services

  • Webinars and Workshops
  • Coaching
  • Manuscript Evaluation
  • Editing and Proofreading
  • Notetaking at Meetings
  • Research and Writing

Webinars and Workshops

  • Why Hire an Editor—and What to Expect When You Do. Who needs editing? How do you know what type of editing you need? Where do you find editors, how do you know they’re any good, and how can you tell you’re getting what you’re paying for?
  • Self-Editing for Creative Nonfiction Writers. What does an editor look for? If you learn to look for the same things, can you skip editing? Or will your efforts keep costs down, allow the editor to focus on the finer points of your work—and help you produce a better book?

The workshops above can be paired with a lunch break between them to create a full-day experience.

  • Wheat from the Chaff: An Approach to Manuscript Evaluation. Why might you choose a manuscript evaluation over an edit? What might you expect when you do? What skills can you learn to help evaluate your own work better—and maybe other writers’ work, too?
  • Arc of Life: Narrative Arc in Creative Nonfiction. What is a narrative or story arc? How can you find an arc in true stories, which rarely unfold in a tidy, five-point shape? And given how difficult it is, why do some authors consider it the backbone of CNF writing?
  • Challenges in Creative Nonfiction. How do you write vaguely remembered dialogue without sacrificing accuracy? How do you describe a scene set in a pandemic lockdown when the protagonist’s physical setting stays unchanged every day? And given all this, how can you use dialogue and scene setting to build compelling and believable characters?

All the above sessions can be conducted as webinars or in-person workshops and can be tailored to be 60 minutes, 90 minutes, or 120 minutes.

Coaching

Whether you have a full manuscript, a partial draft, or just an idea, we’ll spend 12 sessions learning how to write a book and applying those skills to your work.

Manuscript Evaluation

I’ll read your completed draft and write a brief report, including a synopsis, summaries of strengths and challenges, and recommendations.

Editing and Proofreading

  • Copy editing. Includes correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, typos, word choice, sentence length, and sentence structure.
  • Stylistic editing. Focuses on improving the flow of writing from one sentence and paragraph to the next.
  • Line / content editing. Combines features of copy editing and stylistic editing.
  • Structural / substantive editing. Involves large-scale changes such as moving chunks of text around.
  • Proofreading. Catches problems with pagination, hyphenation, and other issues that can arise during layout, as well as final errors missed at the copy editing stage.

Read full editing definitions here.

Notetaking

I attend your meeting, virtually or in person, take detailed notes, and submit a draft summary of your discussions within a week.

Writing

I research and write  op/eds, sponsored articles, media releases, brochures, fact sheets, and the like. See samples on my Author page.

For more information or to request an estimate, please contact me.