• What is a writing consultant?
• How do writing consultations work?
• What are your qualifications?
• What type of manuscripts do you work on?
• Do I need to send my entire manuscript for you to do an evaluation, or can I send just a few chapters at a time?
• What happens once I send my manuscript to you for evaluation?
• How long will you have my manuscript?
• What do you charge for your services?
• Do you work with writers who plan to self-publish?
• Is there a difference between how you would work with a non-fiction writer than a fiction writer?
• Can you help me find a publisher or agent?

Writing consultants provide developmental guidance throughout your individual writing process, helping you understand what you really want from your writing experience (the answer is often different than you would expect) and working toward achieving this.

Writing consultants work with you to bring out the best in your writing, strengthening the weak areas, and helping you tap into you deepest creative source. They do not impose their ideas on you, but will work with you to draw out and clarify your ideas.

Writing consultants offer ongoing advice and support throughout the daunting writing and publishing processes.

They can help you develop an in-depth relationship with your writing.

A writing consultant can help you develop writing goals, keep you motivated, inspired, and on track.

Writing consultants share their experience and skills to help you achieve your full writing potential.

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How do writing consultations work?

You are typically a beginning writer, or someone with an idea that is burning to be expressed, but you’re not sure how to go about it or why you want to do it. You decide to get some help with your idea or your early attempts at writing, and you come across the website or advertisement of a writing consultant, as you did here.

You contact me via e-mail or phone and we have an initial discussion about what you are seeking, where you are going as a writer, what you really need, and how we should best approach it. There are several options.

You may just have a couple of questions and I’m happy to answer these without charge. Just writer-to-writer support.

You may have a manuscript you have completed and are wondering if it is ready for publishing, and how to go about that. In this case, we would likely go the route of a manuscript evaluation, and if my evaluation leads you to feel a need to work more closely on your project with some assistance, we would set up some consultation time around that specific project.

You may be coming with a simple desire to write, with or without a specific project in mind, but wondering where to start and how to best go about it. In this case, we would look at many factors, and determine how much consultation time you are interested in. You may decide to try this process for a month ($125.00), and then after that month, if you want to continue, we can work out a month-by-month program to suit your needs. You can stop whenever you like, but if you end up working on a serious writing project, even a full year of in-depth one-on-one guidance is not unreasonable. Having someone pushing you along, keeping you motivated, helping you work through the rough spots, etc, can be invaluable.

The $125.00 per month includes unlimited e-mail access, one phone call per week, and two personal meetings per month if you are in the area. We will focus on developing your writing at whichever stage you are needing assistance: skill building, goal setting, motivation, idea development, fine tuning your manuscript… the range of support is almost unlimited. Writing consultations are completely tailored to your present needs and level of development.

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What are your qualifications?

I make no pretences about my qualifications as a writing consultant or manuscript evaluator, etc. I do not have a degree in a writing field of any kind. I am not a Master of anything. I am currently working toward certification as a professional editor through the Editor's Association of Canada.

I am a practicing writer who has loved her art form for many years. I did complete my first year of journalism at the University of Kings College (affiliate of Dalhousie University, NS) before heading west in pursuit of different callings. I have attended numerous editing, grammar, writing, and writing life courses throughout the past twenty years. I have read and reread some incredible books on the subject of writing and credit much of my education to these.

Mostly, though, I have written. I have found a successful path, and did it the hard way, so I understand where beginners are coming from. I have practiced my art consistently and continue to do so, and continue to learn and grow. I have worked with enough writers now on their ideas and manuscripts to learn, without a doubt, that we both benefit tremendously from the process of working through a project together. You will come away with new skills and a stronger relationship to your writing, and so will I. I learn something new EVERY time I take on a project. This is why I love doing it.

I will give my all to your work, your ideas, and your dreams. If I don’t have an answer, I will do what I can to find out. My qualifications include experience, intuition, technical ability, enthusiasm, passion and a true desire to help you succeed, combined with a constant drive for lifelong learning. I will make a difference in your writing life.

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What type of manuscripts do you work on?

I will evaluate all personal and professional creative writing projects, in all genres, adult and children’s, including literary and mainstream fiction, memoir, creative non-fiction, and trade non-fiction. I do not evaluate poetry, scholarly works, business or technical writing, although I will line-edit these.

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Do I need to send my entire manuscript for you to do an evaluation, or can I send just a few chapters at a time?

No, it isn’t necessary for me to see the entire manuscript to do an evaluation and I certainly encourage writers to submit their first chapters if this is how they prefer to approach the evaluation. For a novel, I like to see at least the first thirty pages (the more the better). This gives me enough to get a sense of your approach to the story, your basic writing skills, and weak areas that you can begin to work on as you progress in writing your story. I cannot comment on the larger structural issues and overall development of the story without seeing the completed manuscript, but a partial evaluation can be very useful as you work through the writing process.

To do a more detailed evaluation, I prefer to see the entire manuscript.

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What happens once I send my manuscript to you for evaluation?

I will read your entire manuscript at least twice. The first time through, I will be getting a sense of your voice and style, what the story is about, and my initial impressions about the story’s strengths and weaknesses. I approach this initial reading as if I were a typical, busy editor or agent. What about this story will make or break it at this point? During this first reading, I am writing general comments about the larger developmental issues: your handling of setting, character development, plot and subplots, momentum and tension, dialogue, and so forth.

I will then read the story again, focusing on more specific details, such as timing, language use, transitions, stereotyping issues, biased writing, areas of confusion, descriptiveness, and clarity. This is not the time for line editing, so I will not go into specific detail about grammar, spelling, etc, but I will point out whether I think you need to deal with this or not.

You will receive a 3-10 page, detailed evaluation with a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, as well as ‘overall’ comments. In this written report I will address the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, make suggestions for revision, and give my impressions of the marketability of the work at the time of reading. You will be invited to contact me by e-mail with any questions or concerns you might have about my evaluation.

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How long will you have my manuscript?

I ask writers to allow six weeks for a thorough evaluation, although I will usually have the work back to you much sooner than this.

For line editing, you can expect me to have your work for about two weeks for the average job, longer for very difficult or lengthy manuscripts. If you have an urgent editing job, contact me, and if my workload is not too excessive, I can give your job priority and get it done quickly.

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What do you charge for your services?

Please see ‘Services and Fees’ for a detailed breakdown of costs for services.

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Do you work with writers who plan to self-publish?

Yes, I will work with writers who plan to self-publish, attempt to be commercially published, or who write for their own personal purposes. This work could take the form of writing consultation during the development of your idea, manuscript evaluation to see if your work has areas that need improvement, proof reading or line editing to prepare your manuscript for the printer, etc.

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Is there a difference between how you would work with a non-fiction writer than a fiction writer?

Yes. Non-fiction is almost always sold by approaching a publisher with a proposal rather than a completed manuscript. In this case, I will work with you to develop a strong, professional proposal first and then assist you with the book idea/manuscript after you have an interested publisher and the go-ahead for your book.

Fiction is sold by sending a publisher a query letter first, or a query plus chapters, or a query plus the completed manuscript, depending on the publisher’s requirements. The focus of our work in this case would be on the manuscript first and on an outstanding query letter.

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Can you help me find a publisher or agent?

I can help you find the resources you need to do this, and help you prepare for doing this, but I do not have direct contacts in the business that I can send you to. I will help you compile a list of suitable potential publishers or agents (and teach you what makes them suitable for your project), guide you through the submission process, assist with query letters, chapter synopsis, proposals, help you avoid common pitfalls, and help you present your writing at its very best.

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