Tell Me Everything Consulting

I specialize in talking authors through the pitfalls, barricades, and triumphs that can litter a creative’s path. This isn’t coaching or editing. It’s just us talking about writing stuff. Specifically, your writing stuff.

Sample Topics:

You, the Author: What do you want from your writing practice? I’ll cheer for the high-gloss moments, when your picture is taken, your book listed, and your work honored, but you’ll live by how you engage with your creative work on an everyday basis. If you’re not sure, we can figure it out. If you are, we can talk about how to get your current practice closer to your goals.

Publishing Paths: You’re considering what publishing route to take? Traditional publishing, small press publishing, and self-publishing all serve different goals, work best with types of writing, and rely on particular strategies and strengths. This is one of my favorite constantly-shifting topics of discussion. Tell me about your writing, and we’ll find you a path. (I’m giddy just thinking about this. You have no idea the sheer depth of nerdy-ass interconnected information that I have been collecting like special-edition Legos for decades)

Expectations of Genre: Each genre sustains a feral fan base. I, for example, am a lifetime member of the Mystery League of Reliable and Unreliable Narrators, the Spice Guild of Romance Road, and the Goblin Swarms of Fantasy in their official alliance with the United Science Fiction Delegation. I am also an occasional guest of the Shadow Cabinet of Horrors, to keep things fresh. Each fan base relies on the tropes, narrative arcs, and archetypal characters of their favorite flavor of fiction, and I mean relies. Like, minimum 50% of their will to scratch existence from the barren scree of this hellscape comes from author-led dissociation. They get testy when a bait-and-switch happens, and yet the subversion of genre tropes can result in writing that has left me sobbing into a novel for a good portion of my waking life. In a good way. How do you reckon with this in the creation of your narrative? We’ll figure it out.

Bias, Fiction, and Authorship: This conversation looks at the biases inherent in the study and profession of writing, as well as in the publishing industry. Bias impacts how authors are treated and paid, how books of different genres are marketed and received. Bias also results in a tilted view of what “the reading public” wants, what counts as good writing, and the manner in which language, grammar, and story structure should be taught, practiced, and read.

Bias in Fiction: Our biases come out in how and what we write, who we write about and how we depict them. Often these biases are unconscious. whether we want of bias is essential if you’re writing, if you intend to publish, and, honestly, for each of us as people. Here, we’ll focus on the analysis and review of character, plot, and language.

Bias in Reality: This discussion explores biases that people, stories, and characters may likely face when interacting with varied organizations and readerships. Engaging with narrative can help people challenge their own preconceptions. Still, biases are often enforced at that intersection of art, academics, and business where books are published and read, and where writing is taught and learned.

If you have deeper questions about the lived experiences of authors and readers with identities different from my own, I’ll try to point you toward relevant inclusive resources or refer you to authors or publishing industry experts who could better speak to those realities.

We’ll snake your me how to untangle what has you blocked when your writing time ends with a blank page; we’ll look at how to keep the story flowing when you’re on a creative roll. We’ll talk about how to build your writing community, and why you need one. We’ll discuss how to recharge when the lush jungle of 3 a.m. ideas has shriveled, and all that remains is that lone, sun-blackened tree in a cracked red desert that you sometimes see in your nightmares. (For this one, you should drink some water. Go for a walk, scroll Etsy, and talk to a random person in the grocery store check-out line, if they don’t look too murder-y. Maybe call your therapist or exorcist or whatever.)

We’ll have ideas, and if you hate mine, that’s okay. I’ll send you to one of my more charming friends.

My Qualifications:

Check out the Community Work tab, and… don’t make me list my publications. I don’t want to. OK. I will. But not right now. In a minute. I need a snack. And, if I’m going to link to any of my work, a drink. (This part is so uncomfortable)

Other than that, I have AuDHD, multi-decade hyperfixations on narrative, culture, and psychology, a talent for research, and an MFA in Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing from Emerson College. Plus, I come armed with my special weird-girl skills: research, creative thinking, problem-solving, pattern recognition, justice sensitivity, and listening to people because I want to hear their stories and because I care.

I will get to my list of publications soon-ish. I struggle with putting my own work out there. I do it sometimes, but it feels all weird and ~vulnerable~ which probably means it’s good for me. Gross.

We’ll discuss your creative work, from goals to brainstorming to “yes, there is a social bias against romance novels and it’s based in misogyny, so, really, your romance writing is more punk and transgressive than your gross ex’s boys’ club bullshit.” Then I’ll recommend a book (Dangerous Books for Girls by Maya Rodale, originally introduced to me by author Jen Safrey, whom I adore, and who has cultivated a Marianas Trench of knowledge on this topic).

So what’s been on your authorial mind? Tell me everything.