Coaching for Writers

Coaching for Writers

Coaching for Writers is a service for writers of all kinds (creative, academic, professional) who:

  • are finding their way forward
  • are establishing their places in the world
  • want to do more art and fewer briefs
  • are handling the complications of their lives and business and everything and feel totally and utterly stuck
  • are wanting to move into their own art and away from shadow services (such as editing, management, or corporate work).

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What does coaching for writers look like?

Coaching for writers looks like an external set of eyes on what you’re doing.

At some point, everyone needs external eyes. But this is most important when a writer has built a freelance business and can’t seem to move it forwards… or can’t seem to move into doing what they want to do, which is to write for themselves.

Coaching is a deep, personal, and intimate type of experience. In the beginning, you agree a set of standards and rules with your coach. You also:

  • discuss what your goals are
  • discuss your challenges
  • discuss your perceived barriers.

Your coach ought to be a highly skilled and attentive listener, capable of drawing answers out of you. For writers who feel like ‘I don’t know’ is all they have, this is invaluable.

However, your coach will also push you to find the answers. It’s not like asking a friend who wants to keep you happy. Your coach wants you to grow. Growth is uncomfortable. It pushes you into areas that hurt, that irritate, that make you sad. But it’s from that discomfort that learning happens. Without discomfort, you’ll never learn! It’s your desire to get out of discomfort that pushes you forwards.

It sounds nasty, and it can be.

But it can also look like celebrating amazing wins.

In all cases, coaching is personal. When I coach you, for example, it’s an intuitive process. There are no tick-boxes, no checklists, no standardised ways forward. It’s me helping you to learn from yourself. Ultimately, that’s the only coaching that counts.

This type of coaching is NOT a service that will review your writing. I will not read your manuscripts, edit your books, or do anything other than serve YOU as a writer. If you want help with your writing, I highly recommend you visit the Reedsy Marketplace.

This coaching service is a personal support service. Think of a doula rather than a midwife. If you’d like to learn more about it please email me.

What does coaching for writers include?

The coaching that I provide gives you the following:

  1. A list of agreed principles that we both abide by, which governs our relationship
  2. One audio call every month for 60 minutes. This is baseline. Some of my clients–who pay far more than the baseline coaching rate!–have long, extended monthly calls. That’s only on request.
  3. A full set of written call notes emailed to you post-call.
  4. A choice of additional options.

Additional options

You can choose to add:

  • SMS support, via Telegram or Signal (for confidentiality)
  • War Gaming (see below for more information, or ask me about how it can help you!)
  • Extended monthly calls

From a client, Amanda Smith (yes, that’s her real name!)

For the past five years, I’ve been fortunate to have Leticia as my mentor. She’s helped me in so many ways, I don’t even know where to start.

Back in 2017, I was a different person. I was hopscotching around the world, focusing on continents instead of clients. I was interested in lifestyle, more than legacy. I wrote to earn money.

Leticia was always five steps ahead of me. She taught me to take myself, and my work, seriously. She pulled out the artist within me and validated it, celebrated it. She helped me see the work is the reward.

Leticia literally has an answer for every question. I’m constantly in awe of her knowledge. She teaches with the mind of a CEO and the heart of an artist. We can go from talking about systems, processes, hiring and financial management, then legacy, lineage, and love, in one conversation.

Leticia taught me that business is the most spiritual of endeavours. She knows when and how to push me. She holds up a metaphorical mirror and we unpack my limiting beliefs. This led to a few major breakthroughs – the most profound one was getting out of my own way and pursuing journalism. Within a couple of months after this breakthrough session, I was writing cultural commentary for News Corp.

Today, I write for some of the world’s most well-known publications, such as Business Insider and VICE.

I now have a ‘Leticia’ voice in my head. A voice that counters the ‘can’ts and won’ts’, in a ‘what would Leticia say’ kind of way. I wouldn’t have the business I have today without her.

Committing to mentorship with Leticia was the best business decision I’ve ever made. I think differently now, and I’ve set high standards for myself, thanks to her. I’m honoured to call Leticia my mentor, and after all these years, a friend.

Amanda Smith

It’s really more like ‘writer therapy’! 🙂

Many of my clients have told me that what I offer isn’t coaching or mentoring, but writer therapy.

Writer therapy helps writers to see the elephant in the room. That can be a skill they’ve mis-identified; an attitude; a pattern they’ve been unable to break; the time to write that they don’t think they have; or something else.

This is why you’ll often find yourself refreshed, refocused, and renewed after a session. During a coaching session you’ll air your problems and grievances, and I’ll help you to discover the best way forward.

This is not me teaching you. This is me helping you to learn from yourself. That’s why it’s more like therapy.

All about War Gaming with Leticia

War Gaming is for when you’re facing a decision and don’t know what to do.

It is an insanely awesome practise that you can choose to have built into your service, or you can simply buy a War Gaming if you want access to it.

So what is it, exactly?

Here’s how it works:

  1. We discuss the decision and whether it’s suitable for a War Game. If it is, then:
  2. We define a scenario.
  3. You go off and do some preliminary research.
  4. We ‘role play’ the scenario in an online whiteboard session.

During the session, I am your War Game host. I will post questions, play Devil’s Advocate, ponder aloud, and push you to narrate what goes on during the scenario. You will put yourself in a position in time (imagined or otherwise), and uncover what happens as a result of whatever the scenario is.

The outcomes of War Games can be astonishing.

In one War Game, a coaching client wanted to know how she might built a profile in the same way that Joan Didion built hers.

My client is a culture writer of a similar stripe to Didion, but in a wildly different time. Before the session, she went off and did a heap of reading and research, and then we ran the game. The game surprised both of us! I can’t share details for privacy reasons, but it took both of us in directions we never foresaw. As a direct result of that War Game, my client fundamentally change her attitude, her approach to marketing, and her approach to her art. Since then, she has gained significant by-lines, and knows exactly when and how she will be able to produce her first book… and why!

A War Game typically runs for 2-3 hours. You get copies of the whiteboard and any relevant additional notes afterwards, plus follow-up.

Fees

Here are the fees for your coaching and War Game sessions:

  1. Coaching begins at $120 per month. Your first engagement is for a maximum of 3 months.
  2. War Game sessions are $550 each.

I also offer a premium service that begins at $550/month in which:

  • coaching calls alternate with War Game sessions
  • support is available via SMS without restriction between calls.
  • you can access focused help in specific growth areas.

All fees are in US Dollars (USD).

Book a free session to see if it’s for you:

This gets you 1 x 60-minute session as if you were a regular client. This means that you’ll get one audio call, a full set of notes, and clear actions for the following month. For free!

Send me a message below to get started.

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