Frustrated with not making progress on my novel, I decided to hire a writing coach. I was having trouble finding the mental focus to write at all, and when I did, I couldn't stop wandering off on endless plot tangents. I hoped that working with a professional would to push me to write, and to solidify a rough draft that actually resembled a coherent book.
I had never worked with a writing coach before, and wasn't sure where to start--there are so many options! The first step was researching the difference between editors and coaches; basically, a coach helps guide your writing while it is in process, and an editor helps polish finished work. Second, since I was nervous about showing my writing to anyone, I wanted someone that I had met in person and that I was comfortable with. Finally, since I've had unpleasant experiences with asking friends for feedback on writing, I wanted a professional coach, someone with experience and good reviews. I chose Jennifer Jacobson, a writer and coach I met through an MWPA workshop. Not only is she a great writer, but she also has lots of experience with coaching. When I took her workshop, I found her knowledgeable, able to break down writing concepts in an understandable way, and as a bonus, she was kind and tactful teaching the workshop full of us newbie writers. I reached out to Jennifer and we worked out a schedule for me to submit pieces of my writing in four parts, up to 20,000 words per submission, with deadlines in May, July, and August. This could be new sections of writing each time, or re-writes of the first submission. I ended up doing a little of both. For each submission, she emailed, about a week later, an annotated draft of my writing and several pages of feedback. So the big question is: Was it worth it to work with a writing coach? Yes! Overall, I'm glad that I did it. I met my goal to create some readable/editable sections of the book. And I loved getting the feedback, which was constructive, helpful, and in some cases, surprising. When you are mostly the only on reading your own work, you can miss a lot that seems so obvious when someone else gently points it out! But there is one thing I would want to avoid in the future: I wouldn't use the deadlines to FORCE myself to finish sections of the book again. It worked for the first two deadlines and then LIFE HAPPENED and I just didn't have time or energy to focus on the last two. My last submissions were not my best work and created a lot of stress for me to finish. Jennifer was able to be flexible about submission dates within reason, but I had other things going on and pushed myself to meet the deadline for my own needs. I also don't think I would use a writing coach for initial drafting because It was a little distracting to be writing something that someone I admire would read, and I would want to avoid that until the story was more solidified, as it was in this case. At times, it felt a bit like being back in school, creating something that would be graded (or would PROBABLY feel like that, since I avoided all creative writing endeavors in school out of terror of someone actually reading anything I wrote, and can only guess at what I would actually feel!). Thankfully, this process was the opposite of terrible. It felt encouraging. Guiding. Hopeful. And I look forward to trying it again soon! EDIT: Since writing this, Jennifer Jacobson has joined a small team of writing coaches and in addition to her own website, linked above, if you would like to check out her coaching (or one of her co-coaches) you can find them here, at Re(vise) and Shine!
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