Are you a writer who needs to:
focus your ideas?
work quickly through a series of drafts?
try a new approach?
structure a piece of writing?
meet a deadline?

I help writers gather their ideas, organize their thoughts, and achieve their goals. While I specialize in nonfiction, I also take on a few fiction projects.

The skills I use have been developed during more than thirty years of editing trade, literary, and scholarly books and magazines. Along the way, I earned both BA and MFA degrees in writing. My lifelong engagement with the creative process has shown me where and how vision stalls, and has taught me an array of tools for getting unstuck. My résumé summarizes my editorial work and my publications list gives an overview of my personal writing.

What’s the difference between an editor and a coach?
As an editor, I focused on schedules and budgets while the writers whose work I would ultimately publish labored hard—and usually alone. When completed manuscripts arrived on my desk, I corrected problems that could have been prevented if we had been able to collaborate earlier. This was tricky and pressured for me and the process was sometimes unavoidably hard on the writers.

As a coach, I help writers produce better work, faster. Our relationship becomes a one-on-one, project-based writing tutorial, where the goals are set by the writer and I provide perspective and guidance. I function as a sounding board, an ally, and an adviser. A writer who produces a timely, clean book proposal or manuscript reduces wear-and-tear on editors and is able to retain more control over the voice and message that reach readers.

What does a coaching agreement look like?
At the beginning of a coaching agreement, we'll establish goals and a plan that will serve specific needs. The time allocations listed below are suggestions. If you need more manuscript review and less talk, or more talk than review, that’s what you’ll get. If you don't see the plan you need here, we can invent an alternative that fits your project.

E-mail robson@drobson.info or call 970-226-3590 to set a time for a 15- to 20-minute introductory discussion of the project for which you would like coaching. The amount of work you can complete with each plan depends on your intentions, the state of your project when we begin, and the time and energy you can devote to the process.

What’s a quick fix?
E-mail or fax a manuscript, draft, or collection of ideas (maximum 1200 words; preferably double-spaced), along with your goals for the piece. We’ll set up (1) a 30-minute phone conversation or (2) a return of your electronic file with comments embedded, plus a 10-minute follow-up phone conversation. If you’re close to finished, I’ll help you polish. If you’re floundering, I’ll help you sharpen your perceptions and define your direction.

How much can we accomplish under a given plan?
This varies, depending on your need and the state of your work, but Plan 3 usually consists of a review of a full book manuscript.

Phone calls: For extended plans, it’s often best to have one call at the beginning, one at the end, and others as needed during the process (weekly or every other week). However, the length and timing of the contacts will be set individually.

Manuscript comments: These can be provided most completely and efficiently through an electronic file that contains inserted comments and tracked changes, if your system can read Word or RTF files with those enhancements. Comments can also be marked on hard copy, then faxed or mailed. The costs of regular electronic transmission and faxing are included in the plans.