I’m a freelance writing developer with around 25 years’ experience working in educational and community settings.
For the time being my one-to-one support is available on a pay-what-you-can basis. This is subject to how busy I become. For guidance only:
Feel free to make me an offer based on what you can afford in relation to these figures.
I also reserve free support each month for people typically excluded from mainstream publishing.
If you’d like know more, please get in touch.
1. Why do you want an outside perspective? Do you have specific goals in mind, a specific project?
I don’t do copy-editing or proof-reading – there are other people out there better at it than me. I focus on structural editing, expanding your influences and developing good writing habits.
2. Am I a good choice? Read some of my writing (also my blog) and check our styles and interests match.
3. If so, get in touch. I will ask you to email me a sample of your writing and what you hope to get from my support.
Here’s what you can expect from mentoring:
From there we’ll work in rounds:
Typically, a round requires 3-4hrs of my time per month, more for complex projects. And much more of your time. If you can’t to fit writing into your life, you’ll need to make changes. I can help you with this.
Here’s what you can expect from editing:
It’s a bit like a single round of mentoring, but only focused on the writing you send me, not your challenges as a writer, or a project’s development over time.
I’ve supported all kinds of creative writing: poetry, fiction, non-fiction, reviews, essays and scripts. I’m less familiar with the specific conventions around writing for children or screen, however.
I’m very interested in hybrid projects, which cross genre boundaries and play with form. And I’m also very interested in nature writing.
I can help with whatever stage you’re at in your writing journey, from starting out to revising whole drafts. My most successful interactions have been in helping writers find the shape of their next project, or make their first forays into new genres.
I also develop writing habits like self-discipline, designing your own workshops and expanding your approaches to revision. And I offer career-related advice, such as approaching publishers and agents, publishing processes and supporting applying to funding opportunities.
I spent five years working at Coventry University’s pioneering Centre for Academic Writing, where, among other things, I helped develop and launch the Centre’s university-wide research writing strategy. I was also Managing Editor of the Journal of Academic Writing. Before that, I was an Academic Writing Consultant for Research Active Staff at the University of Warwick.
At both sites I delivered developmental workshops, 1:1 consultations and short retreats to researchers from every field and faculty. And I supported many doctoral and early career researchers.
Many universities offer free support to their students already and that should be your main port of call. However, if you would like support with writing your thesis or a research article, report or monograph, please get in touch and we can discuss your needs.
I really hate blowing my own trumpet. I’ve a handful of testimonials from people I’ve worked with recently, and I’ve been thinking about contacting people I worked with in the past in the hope they remember me being helpful and have nice things to say about me. But I just can’t be bring myself to do it. Maybe eventually.
If you are someone who’s received my support in the past and you want to say something nice on my behalf, please get in touch and say hello. At the very least, it keeps me going.
Meanwhile – and because it counts more in academic contexts – below are some examples of published research articles and reports that have acknowledged my support. I was not co-author. I supported one or all of the authors with their writing.
(NB: In the case of Pitt et al., I was part of a UK research team gathering comparative data and was involved with one or two discursive exchanges, but the authors were all excellent writers and didn’t need any help in that regard.)
BOND (2020). New Solutions for Collective Action. Editorial consultancy on four regional European project reports at the end of a European Research Council Horizons Networking Grant.
Fabio Carbone, Luiz Oosterbeek, Carlos Costa, Ana Maria Ferreira (2020) ‘Extending and adapting the concept of quality management for museums and cultural heritage attractions: A comparative study of southern European cultural heritage managers’ perceptions’. Tourism Management Perspectives, 35. DOI
Michael Hammond (2016) ‘How ideas of transformative learning can inform academic blogging’. International Journal for Transformative Research, 3:1, pp. 33-40. DOI
Alice Mah (2021) ‘Future-Proofing Capitalism: The Paradox of the Circular Economy for Plastics’. Global Environmental Politics, 21:2, pp. 121-142. DOI
Penelope Pitt, Kevin Dullaghan & Wendy Sutherland-Smith (2021) ‘Mess, stress and trauma’: students’ experiences of formal contract cheating processes. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46:4, pp. 659-672. DOI
Mei Yu (2022) ‘CEO duality and firm performance: A systematic review and research agenda’. European Management Review, 2022, pp. 1-13. DOI