Having trouble with your writing? I can help you with that!
No matter what you're working on, I can help finish and polish--or start, at long last--your novel or work of nonfiction.
Get that book written!
Writing is a hard, lonely task. All writers need encouragement and support, someone who understands what you're trying to do. Sometimes all you want is a little push getting started, a little help in refining the concept for your novel or nonfiction work. Sometimes you could use some intelligent, objective feedback as you work. Often, once immersed in the writing, you get so deep into the forest, you can't see the trees: which ones to nurture, which ones to cut? That goes for thoughts as well as words. This is when you can use the specific, step-by-step suggestions and astute advice only a professional can provide.
Having worked as an editor on both books and magazines--most recently as features and arts editor of San Francisco magazine--I can give you the encouragement, coaching, and clear-eyed critique that every writer needs. I can give you the substantive, line, or copy editing that every writer deserves (and that so few publishing houses offer these days). I write, too, so I know what it feels like to have your work criticized. I know what kind of advice is helpful, and what kind is not!
Books I've worked on lately
Published books I've worked on lately include two outstanding memoirs, Remember Me as Human: What Three Final Days with my Grandmother Wanda Taught Me About Truly Living, by Lucy Walsh, which is getting outstanding reviews (and check out the story in People magazine), and One-Way Ticket to L.A.: How a Nurse From Ohio Found Love in Hollywood, by Barbara Marshall, whose life only got more interesting with her marriage to Garry Marshall, well before he began directing TV shows and movies like Happy Days and Pretty Woman. One of the novels is The Reckoning, the final book in Chris Howard's Rootless trilogy (I edited the last two), "a nonstop adventure" with "complex characters, shifting loyalties, and layers of mystery" (Publishers Weekly starred review).
Then there's Watching Their Dance: Three Sisters, a Genetic Disease and Marrying Into a Family at Risk for Huntington's, by Therese Crutcher-Marin, a self-published memoir that Kirkus called "a rare treat—a true story that is as uplifting as it is heartbreaking"; and Kevin McLean's Crossing the River Kabul, from Potomac Press, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, which Kirkus calls "a fascinating story [that] delineates a sense of what it means to hail from a proud Afghan family in the throes of violence." One reviewer said, "If I had highlighted every sentence that struck a cord with me, the pages would glow yellow. This book definitely makes you think."
Older books include Adventures Among Ants, by Mark W. Moffett, "the Indiana Jones of entomology"; Always Chloe and Other Stories and Where We Belong, by Catherine Ryan Hyde (author of Pay It Forward); and The Hormone Cure, by Dr. Sara Gottfried. Two award-winning first novels, Venetian Blood, by Christine Volker, and When It's Over, by Barbara Ridley, were selected for publication by She Writes Press.
Self-help books include MiGGi Matters: How to Train Your Brain to Manage Stress and Trim Your Body, by Selena Bartlett, PhD, a lively, interactive book that one reviewer called "a game-changer for me," and Brandon Hall's Logic, Mind & Health: Moving Beyond Stress to a Happier, More Purposeful Life, the foundation of a platform that includes podcasts, online courses, and workshops.
I'm working with more and more first-time, self-publishing authors. That could include you!
Here's what I can do for you
...while you're writing
* Read your proposal, story, or manuscript, or whatever portion you choose to send me.
* Write you a lengthy note regarding all aspects of form and content. This can include suggestions for developing certain areas, themes, or specific points; cutting or rearranging text; adding material; and clarifying your intentions. I'm great at asking questions! I might note writerly distractions such as stylistic excesses or passages that call attention to themselves. My job: to make your ideas clear and your prose sing.
* Meet face to face if you live in the area, or by phone if you do not, to discuss all of the above and more. Technology is a wonderful thing: I've worked just as well with writers who live 3,000 miles away as with those who live in the next town.
...before you send something to an editor or publisher
* Do a substantive line edit, including thorough copy editing, to polish your writing and make sure you're submitting the best work you can. Even if you (or a very helpful friend) have gone over everything a dozen times, it's easy to overlook a mistake. I won't miss anything.