Book Coaching

A coach can help writers complete the projects they dream of writing, whether starting from an idea that doesn’t yet know what story it wants to be, or refining a draft of something that’s already written. A coach can help a writer identify goals, refine technique, develop helpful routines and stay motivated to finish.

Coaching begins with a free video call, in which you introduce me to your project and tell me what you would like to accomplish, and we work out how coaching can best serve you. From there, coaching might include any or all of the following:

  • help shaping the inception of an idea into a working story idea.

  • helping to expand a story idea into an outline.

  • help developing a better understanding and application of story structure.

  • exploring different ways to develop fully articulated characters.

  • reading recommendations for useful exemplars and models to learn from.

  • exercises to develop specific aspects of the project, like setting or character, or see the whole project from a different perspective.

  • conversations to clarify your intent as a writer.

  • help thinking about the mammoth project of writing a book in smaller, more manageable and confidence-building tasks.

  • support through encouragement and accountability.

If, after that initial call, it doesn’t feel like a good fit, there’s no obligation for either of us to go any further. But if it feels like there’s value in the collaboration, you can book coaching sessions, each consisting of the review of  up to 10,000 words of your project and a video call, to discuss how things are going and to establish next steps for moving forward.

Pricing:

30 min. Introductory Video Call: Complimentary

Coaching Session (incl. up to 10,000 words and 60 min. video call): $120 CAD

Package of 6 Coaching Sessions (to be used within 6 months): $600 CAD

Booking:

To book, use the Get In Touch form in the footer to reach out. When we have an understanding of how we’ll work together, I’ll send you an invoice/payment request via PayPal.

If writing a book were like building a house …

… a Book Coach would be like an experienced Contractor who is a helpful friend of the family. You haven’t hired them to build the house because you want to build it yourself, but as you think about buying a plot of land and designing the house to sit on it, you might consult that Contractor for ideas about what the important things are that you need to consider, and what some of the common pitfalls might be.

You might take the crazy idea for a vaulted glass ceiling you sketched on a napkin to them and say, does this make sense? Can this idea practically be done?  While you are dreaming of open-concept, they might remind you that something has to hold up the roof, so you can figure out how to do that and keep your wide open spaces. That Contractor might point you in the direction of some good websites and how-to-videos or introduce you to some folks at the hardware store it would be good for you to know.

Once you have a plan for your house that you feel pretty sure will stand up and be comfortable and look nice, you’ll be ready to start building it. Your Contractor-friend can come by one day and help you figure out where to start and what to do next. They may give you specific tips on how to use a nail gun, and then leave you to it. And when the days get long and you are sore from the lifting and bending and hammering and you think maybe you should leave this house-building thing to HGTV, that Contractor stops by to remind you how much you have already learned and done, and reassures you that you are not crazy for thinking you can do this. They tell you how much they are looking forward to sharing a cold drink with you on that deck that doesn’t yet exist, but most definitely will.

The idea for a book might come from an empty landscape, or the inspiration of a vaulted glass ceiling. A Book Coach can help you build the book around it, with a Contractor’s understanding of what needs to be done and how challenging it can be to do.