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Writing coaching & Editing Services

The old New York Times office on West 43rd Street on Dec. 31, 1999, as everyone was anxious about the possibility of Y2K disaster while celebrating the advent of the 2000s. Credit: Me.

WHAT I OFFER

I am primarily a personal and career coach, but I've also been a longtime editor and writing instructor, so I offer a few services in this area as well. They're different from my traditional coaching work, and they vary from each other as well.

Writing Coaching involves talking with writers about their projects and helping guide them in exploring and identifying the focus of their work, be it an article or book. We can also talk through a preliminary organization and how you might employ any number of invention strategies to get underway with a draft and keep going. I can also coach a writer through their revision process.

In some ways this "coaching" is close to consultancy, where I offer my expertise in the field. In this service, however, the mode of the dialogue will be close to traditional coaching as I seek to understand, reflect, question, and guide what the writer wants to do.

Writing Workshops and Group Coaching. I offer workshops of an hour, a few hours, a day, or over a week, with focus and details to be determined.

Editing Services. Here I operate much more as a consultant who suggests what the writer should do based on my expertise. In this area, I have two levels of service:

Proofreading, which covers basics of grammar, usage, style, clarity (both syntax and meaning), concision, and occasional organizational advice, generally at the paragraph level.
Editing, which covers all of the above plus fact checking and larger suggestions related to content (for instance, noting areas that need further explanation, those that could be eliminated, or larger organizational and even focus concerns). I normally offer editing only when writers have completed drafts they feel are as finished as they can make it alone.

MY EXPERTISE

I have worked as a professional editor at the following news organizations:

Bionews, a service based in Florida with some 55 websites covering rare diseases and other chronic conditions. Over four years, I edited personal columns written by those with these conditions or by their caregivers. I also spent time coaching these writers to recognize areas of strength and growth. In addition, I edited news articles for a few months and continued to work in that area as a substitute, helping relax the language of scientific reports for lay readers in addition to editing assorted business news and features, all with attention to facts.
The New York Times, New York: 18 years as a full-time staff member. Most of my editing work was for The Arts section of the paper, but with tenures in Sports, National, and Op-Ed as well. I worked on two Pulitzer-winning projects in my time there (for arts criticism and public service). I also wrote well over 100 articles as a theatre, film, or television critic, with a few feature stories as well. Substitute desk chief in The Arts; Publisher's Award winner; two years as arts listings editor, part of the Weekend section management.

During my Paris years, when editing for the International Herald Tribune. Photo: Grace Frank

The International Herald Tribune, Paris: Two years as features desk chief.
The St. Petersburg Times (now The Tampa Bay Times), Florida: Two years as editor on Suncoast, Pinellas, and Metro desks, including leadership roles on special business publications and substitute shifts as desk chief. Training at the Poynter Center for Media Studies. Contributed theatre reviews.
The Tampa Tribune, Florida: Editing on the State Desk.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tennessee. Seven years in editing (including frequent assignments as desk chief) and as assistant editor of special publications; writing in theatre criticism and columns, book reviews, editorials, senior news, religion news, and other features.
The San Antonio Light, Texas. One year in editing, with occasional sports writing.
As a freelancer, I have a range of published articles — on the arts, sports, energy, urban development, education, and government — in Arts Fuse, Salon, American Theatre, TDF Stages, Southern Exposure, The State, The Florence Morning News, The Sumter Daily Item, The Manning Times, and more. I've also edited three books and articles on contract for Pulitzer-winning Quanta magazine, Peak Performances Journal, Shift Space (United States Artists), and Haymarket Media. I have plans to edit another book in late spring 2026.

Scholastically, I was managing editor of my collegiate newspaper my senior year (and a staff copy editor as a sophomore); copy desk chief of the College of Journalism lab newspaper also as a senior; and co-editor of my award-winning high school paper. I also wrote in both high school and college, winning first-place awards in breaking news and editorial writing and a runner-up award in depth reporting from the South Carolina Scholastic Press Association. I also advised the Southern Interscholastic Press Association's newspaper for a year.

Additionally, I have academic and teaching experience in writing.

Master's in composition theory and practice, University of South Carolina, with further graduate work at Syracuse University and in the doctoral program in English at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Two years as full-time English instructor at Francis Marion University, Florence, S.C., teaching all three levels of freshmen writing and various freshman, sophomore, and junior-senior literature courses.
Adjunct teaching experiences in writing at Syracuse University (creative nonfiction), St. Petersburg College, Pellissippi State Community College, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and University of South Carolina. At Tennessee, my composition class was chosen for presentation to Lamar Alexander, then president of the university. At South Carolina, I was chosen to co-write a chapter in "Writers on Writing, Vol. 2" (Tom Waldrep, editor) and was assistant editor of Carolina Writer, a newsletter focused on writing across the curriculum.
Teaching a four-session workshop in memoir and creative nonfiction across a month for Camp Rehoboth community center in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Six years teaching high school writing, including creative nonfiction, argumentative essays, narrative essays, poetry, short fiction, playwriting, and literature analysis. Served as a playwright in residence at two sessions of the New York Governor's School for the Arts and one year as one of the two playwriting faculty members. Was liaison to the 92nd Street Y Writers Series in Manhattan.
Fellow, New York City Writing Project.
I've had four produced full-length plays and over 20 productions of 10 one-act plays, almost all 1998-2004. "She Finds Her" was published in "The Book of Estrogenius," and "Mae and Her Stories" was published in "Stage Directing" by James A. Patterson.
Poetry published in Images and The Higginsville Review; first place in the Leslie Garrett Short Fiction Contest.
Presentations to various scholastic journalism conferences, as well as journalism classes.

RATES and next steps

Rates are determined for each specific job. Once I see the scale of the task, I will pass on my assessment of the appropriate cost for your consideration.

What next? Fill out the respondent field on my Contact page with the basics of your need, and I'll get back to you.