Writerly

I am happy to talk over video chat or phone to explore the question of what you need and whether or not I can be helpful. Contact me and we can easily find time.

But if you know what you want and need, or are reasonably confident, and are curious about cost and terms of collaboration, here is a list of services and ways for us to work together. (NOTE: I am income-sensitive, so do not hesitate to reach out if you have cost concerns and want to work out pricing that accommodates your budget. Believe me, I’ve been there!)

Summary and pricing of plans at bottom of page, but here are some details of our collaborative work.

Conception and Planning:

One of the most exciting parts of writing is imagining a project. The ideas. The key texts. Phrases and concepts and language that you’ll be using. But translating that vision into a workable project, then planning out the research and writing process to ensure its completion, is an entirely different thing. Writerly Yours works with you to not only experience the joy of envisioning an article or book, but also the satisfaction and confidence of formulating with clarity and planning with precision. Working together on the conception and planning of your project, we schedule to meet once per week for an hour to first map out your project and plan a timetable for completion. Then we meet in subsequent weeks to discuss writing you have done, whether that is an outline, a narrative sketch of the project, or rough-to-final drafts of writing. My aim in working with you is to maintain both the integrity of your vision in relation to professional and publisher demands and a schedule for completion that allows you to be happy and productive as a writer.

Check-in and Goal Setting:

One of the most important parts of successful writing is consistency. Consistency builds rhythm. Consistency helps ideas cohere. And most importantly, consistency builds word count and page count. Daily word and page count is what gets you closer to, then all the way through, your goal of a completed manuscript. We work together to begin a project, develop consistent habits, manage writerly anxiety, and build words and pages that end in a fully drafted manuscript. This is, for me, my greatest strength as a writing coach and collaborator. I will draw on my own experience of writing under different conditions – high teaching load, sabbatical leave, heavy family pressure, energy-draining committee demands – in order to craft a way for you to set reasonable but also ambitious goals for becoming an accomplished writer.

Manuscript Editing:

Early drafts are the hardest to share with colleagues. We worry about being judged for poor writing, under-thought ideas, and disorganization. Yet, early drafts are when we most need coaching and assistance. Working together across phases of composition – early drafts, very rough full drafts, and further refinements – is how writing in close consultation produces the best possible project. Essay, chapter, or book. 

Securing a Book Contract:

The book publishing process can be opaque. In many ways, it is opaque by design: publishing a book is an art form and a political form. Articulating the timeliness of your project and placing it in front of the right people means everything. We work together to identify the right press and series, compose a compelling proposal (one of the most puzzling pieces in this process!), pitch your project to press and series editors, and submit sample work in order to secure an advance contract. An advance contract helps us write with confidence because we know the book has a landing place, and a contract looks great as part of sabbatical leave proposals, fellowship applications, and promotion dossiers.

From Dissertation to Book:

A dissertation is a specialized product. With a dissertation, we prove to a committee of experts – and, through them, to the scholarly world – that we are capable of doing serious research and writing out complex ideas. A book is a very different thing. A book is where we make our contribution to a field, a tradition, and a set of concerns that matter very much to us. As a result, the dissertation can feel like a necessary grind and the book can feel like an existential trial. The book should feel like an existential trial. It is a deep expression of ourselves and our most important thoughts and values. We work together to transition the dissertation manuscript into the book project with a plan to transform the grind into a full expression of yourself as a writer, researcher, and thinker.

Finalizing the Book:

Are you wrestling with a full but still somewhat rough draft of the book? Or working hard to responsibly account for referee report criticisms and recommendations? This can be a genuinely complicated moment in book writing. And these are moments in which a critical second pair of eyes on the project is immensely helpful. We can work together to complete the manuscript with refined organization, prose, and arguments that are attentive to peer criticism and recommendation, making a final submission that is pleasing to press editors and feels like your authentic voice as a writer.

what do you need?	what do we do together?	what is the cost?
Conception and Planning	Envision and plan your project together. One hour per week conversation, you share written work in response and for further conversation.	$300 per month or $700 for three months.
Check-in and Goal Setting	Establish concrete word count goals and keep to this goal with daily check-in via text, email, or quick phone/video chat at the close of writing days. Includes four 30 min video chats.	$300 per month or $700 for three months.
Manuscript Editing	Work through rough drafts of book, chapter, or essay together in order for you to proceed with clarity, vision, and best intellectual integrity.	$350 for first conversation and draft read; $200 for each conversation and read thereafter.
Securing a Book Contract	Extensive discussion of press, series, pitch to editors, assistance with correspondence, and creation of a proposal for submission. Four strategy conversations included.	$400 for full process; $200 for discussion and finalizing of proposal only.
From Dissertation to Book	Just what it sounds like: review of your dissertation and extensive conversation of how a book will be different, then plan to make that transition.	$500 for reading, two one-hour strategy and content conversations and two 30 min conversations.
Finalizing the Book	Review of manuscript before, during, and after referee reports arrive in order to ensure best manuscript is ready for final submission.	$400 for reading and strategy session (two one-hour conversations); $200 for revision reading and hour conversation.