Coaching Services

As your book coach, I am your partner in crime.

I offer editorial feedback, project management help and emotional support. I’m committed to helping you tell the best story you can, working with you week after week to get it where it needs to go . . . and helping you to level up your writing along the way. My coaching style helps writers become better sleuths of their own stories, identifying their own writing patterns and using mystery writing tools and other craft strategies more effectively. 

Coaching is a good option for you if you:

• are at the start of a draft or revision
• need a partner to keep you accountable and moving toward a deadline
• like having a sounding board for ideas and brainstorming help
• like to revise as you go or get feedback as you write
• struggle with perfectionist tendencies or overthinking
• want help researching comp titles or thinking of how to position your book
• want to improve your writing skills and process in general, or have not written a novel before

I offer three coaching programs:

Puzzling and Plotting: $1,200

Plan a draft or a revision and get ready to write forward with confidence.

We’ll use Jennie Nash’s 13-step Blueprint for a Book system combined with my own mystery-focused pre-writing exercises (Demystify Your Mystery).

Time Commitment: 

This program typically takes 4-6 weeks, using four, five, or six deadlines, depending on how quickly you wish to work.

You will need a minimum of ten hours a week to work through the process and finish in six deadlines.

Program Includes:

Written feedback on workbook exercises – inline comments and a feedback summary (2-3 page editorial letter) with suggested next steps.

90 minutes of verbal coaching support: Two 45-minute coaching calls (or three 30-minute calls) on Zoom.

A digital copy of Jennie Nash’s Blueprint for a Book and her accompanying workbook.

A PDF of my Demystify Your Mystery workbook with planning and troubleshooting exercises

Customized writing exercises.

Takeaways:

I will help you to think through foundational decisions about your book’s audience, structure, characters, plot, and mystery ingredients, so that you know your sleuth, victim, suspects, and other crime details well enough to write forward. If you’re not writing a traditional genre mystery, this process still works for you, as the exercises can all be modified. 

You’ll finish with a working outline and some scenes you can use in your novel — maybe even the opening! 

This is a great way to test the waters with book coaching. You can continue on into one of my ongoing coaching programs if you want continued support, or go off and write independently, knowing you have a road map.  

Story Sleuth 12-Deadline Book Coaching: $3,000
(or payment plan of $1,000 / month for 3 months)

Time Commitment: 

Requires a 3-month minimum commitment. Deadlines are typically scheduled twice a month to complete the package in six to seven months, but you can work faster (weekly) if needed, or push deadlines out to three weeks if you need to work around schedule conflicts or work / life events. The deadlines expire one year from purchase date. You can purchase additional deadlines after this program ends if you are not yet at the end of your draft.

You’ll be handing in up to 20 double-spaced pages (up to 5,000 words) for each deadline, so you’ll need to budget time to write that amount — or close to it — every two weeks. The pace can feel a little intense if you are scheduling twice a month, but you will make rapid progress. 

Program Includes:

12 deadlines of up to 20 double-spaced pages (5,000 words) for each deadline. Submissions can be all new material, revised material, or a mixture of revised and new material. (Deadlines expire one year from purchase date).

Extensive written feedback on material submitted for each deadline, specifically:

1. Extensive in-line comments (margin notes) — I read with an editorial eye and a reader’s eye; 

2. A 4-6 page editorial letter with suggested next steps / project management assistance, and suggested resources;

3. Select, suggested line edits, depending on the stage of the draft, to help demonstrate a craft issue, highlight grammatical or word choice patterns, and offer instruction as needed. 

Four hours of verbal coaching support: Four 60-minute Zoom calls (these can be divided into smaller, more frequent increments if desired; unused call time can convert to an extra deadline).

Accountability and accessibility: Email support between deadlines, an accountability check-in email between deadlines if you need it.

Takeaways:

By the end of twelve deadlines, you will have written 200-240 pages of your novel, which might be a complete draft or a draft with the finish line in sight.

If you choose to do some revising along the way, or if you use deadlines at the start of the program for planning, you may come away with somewhat fewer overall pages but greater insight into your book and your process, saving yourself revision time down the road. You’ll still likely have close to 200 pages done and a way to get through the toughest part of the book: the middle.  

You’ll get organizational tools such as my Question Outline and Clue Tracker spreadsheets, select planning exercises from my “Demystify Your Mystery” workbook, and customized exercises as needed.

And you’ll have a system for troubleshooting mystery issues and thinking through decisions that you can use on your own for subsequent drafts or your next project. I love helping writers be better sleuths of their own stories.

This program can be used for drafting or revising (or starting over, if you’re stuck). I highly recommend doing my planning program first, but if you have a project underway and feel reasonably sure of the direction, you are welcome to start here. We can also use the first couple of deadlines to do some targeted planning exercises or to work on an outline. 

Discount available: $100 off the 12-deadline coaching price for clients who have completed the planning package with me.

Sidekick 12-Deadline Book Coaching – $1,500

(or payment plan of $500 / month for 3 months)

Time Commitment: 

Requires a 3-month minimum commitment. Deadlines are typically scheduled twice a month to complete the package in six to seven months, but you can work faster (weekly) if needed, or push deadlines out to three weeks if you need to work around schedule conflicts or work / life events. The deadlines expire one year from purchase date.

12 deadlines of up to 10 double-spaced pages (2,500 words). You’ll need to budget time to write that amount — or close to it — every two weeks. This is a more “relaxed” pace than the Intensive program. You’ll make steady progress, but it will take you a little longer to get through your book.

Program Includes:

12 deadlines of up to 10 double-spaced pages for each deadline. Submissions can be all new material, revised material, or a mixture of revised and new material adding up to 10 pages. (Deadlines expire one year from purchase date).

Written feedback on material submitted for each deadline, specifically:

1. Extensive, targeted in-line comments (margin notes);

2. A 2-4 page editorial letter with suggested next steps / project management assistance, and suggested resources;

90 minutes of verbal coaching support: You will also receive some verbal coaching on Zoom, which can be divided into three 30-minute calls, two 45-minute calls, or a 60-minute and a 30-minute call, at any point in the program.

(Additional calls can be purchased for $75/ hour).

Minimal email support between deadlines (quick questions can be answered).

Takeaways:

You’ll have written 100-120 fresh or revised pages of your novel within around three months’ time. 

You’ll get my mystery planning exercises (Demystify Your Mystery) which you can do at any time on your own or submit for feedback if you feel stuck or want to begin the coaching with some planning work.

You’ll have a system for troubleshooting mystery issues and thinking through decisions that you can use on your own for subsequent drafts or your next project. 

This program can be used for drafting or revising. I highly recommend the planning program first, but if you have a project underway and feel reasonably sure of the direction, you are welcome to start here.

Discount available: $100 off the 12-deadline coaching package price for clients who have completed the planning package or who have completed a 12-deadline coaching program with me and are continuing on).