What’s Your Story? (Part 1)

When I first meet with scholarly clients, I ask two questions: what can I do for you and what story are you telling. Another way to think about this is: What is the story you’re telling yourself about your project? What is the story that your manuscript is telling others?

The first can be as simple as “This will never get done” or “If I can just figure out the conclusion (and the introduction, and maybe better signposting across the manuscript), I can submit it to the press editor who’s waiting for it and get one step closer to tenure” or “I just need to incorporate these reader comments and move on with my life.” Maybe it’s “Everything is in place, and now I need someone to help me clean it up and do that fiddly work while I focus on something else.”

Or it can be more complicated. Maybe this is your first book and you’re struggling to see how to shift your dissertation into a book—everyone seems to do it, but how? Maybe you’ve been working on this material for years and feel that you have lost perspective and focus.

Maybe it’s been a long slog through feedback, revision, and workload, and you’re feeling overwhelmed and need support. Maybe you’re facing your second book and finding that coming up with a topic, material, and argument without the long dissertation process is an entirely different, perhaps intimidating, thing.

Maybe you’re overworked and need help prioritizing writing. Maybe you’re missing a writing community and finding it hard to write in isolation.

There is no right or wrong way to respond. There is no right or wrong way to tell your story, to feel about the project you’re engaged in, to look for assistance or community. Sometimes it really is cut and dried, as easy as it seems it should be; sometimes it is more complicated, but that doesn’t make it impossible. With the right sort of support, generously critical eye, and feedback, we can make writing itself engaging, generative, and exciting.

So when I ask “What can I do for you?," I’m hoping to hear your story, of your writing process and needs. I’m listening for what sort of editing might be most beneficial to you, where you are in the moment, and what could get you most productively into that future. I’m exploring how I can be the best writing partner for you in the moment. Then we can turn to the next question, “What story is your book telling?” (And how can we make it even stronger?)

That’s for next week. For now, what’s your story and how can I help? Let me know!