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Unusual Writing/Editing Services

us vs. them, by chaosinjune

UPDATE in 2012: The services below have evolved into Writer’s Shepherd Services. For more information, including contact information, see instead the Writer’s Shepherd page on my new website: The Curious Writer.

I offer an editing/writing service that’s unusual, but effective and efficient. It requires a degree of participation from you, but the outcome is writing that speaks in your voice and says what you want it to say. Think of it as assisted writing, with a final edit for completion.

I’ve successfully used this process to help people finalize web pages, media kit resources, emails, letters, articles, and much else.

I’m good at helping people translate all kinds of things into words, including instructions and emotions (tough letters to family members, for instance, can be written with both power and kindness).

Here’s how it works:

  1. You send an email to me telling me a bit about you and your project.
  2. If I can help, we schedule a phone appointment that’s appropriate for the size of the project.
  3. I bill you via PayPal (which accepts major credit cards) and send an invoice to you for your records, via email. Payment is required before the session begins.
  4. You email to me the Word document or documents you’re in the process of writing. Yes, there needs to be work in progress to begin with. I don’t write for you from scratch. The process works best when you’re clear about the purpose you have for the written piece. The more thought you put into the piece before you send it to me, the easier you may find our session to be, since I’ll ask clarifying questions if something seems unclear to me. I’ll never judge you or criticize the writing you send – it wouldn’t even occur to me to do so. I’ll only help you say what you want to say how you want to say it. That’s one of the ways I enjoy helping to empower people.
  5. During the phone session, we edit together – each of us looking at the document at the same time. I listen and suggest, confer and tweak. I make the edits on my computer as we talk. Depending on your degree of interest in learning how to improve your writing, I can also tell you what and why I’m making the changes I suggest as we go along. By the end of the session I have a document to email back to you with the revisions already completed.

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Flickr photos: us vs. them, by chaosinjune

5 Comments

  1. jo martin wrote:

    Thanks for the announcement and for the explanation — I’ve seen the link on your page about this but never followed through. Sigh. But now I know and am grateful for that, seems to me that you would be a truly sensitive editor (well, duh, but still . . . ). Don’t know anyone at the moment who’s seeking an editor, but I will send them your way when/if I do.

    Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 7:30 am | Permalink
  2. Actually, I’d had a services page for a while, but offered more services than I felt comfortable providing and got overwhelmed (eye-rolling here) and stopped offering any services until I’d gained some clarity about it. The writing/editing service described here is what filtered through. Thanks for your support, Jo, as ever.

    Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 11:13 am | Permalink
  3. Denise wrote:

    I loved working with you in this unusual way, Grace. It was a great experience – collaborating with you and at the same time your skills to edit and capture my thoughts creatively and succinctly for the web was a great process. It really helped me grow and learn more about myself,what I want to create and attract into my life, my work. BTW, I will need a session to work on my new service, ART Therapy. How does the last week in August look for you?

    Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 11:17 am | Permalink
  4. Andrea Ballard wrote:

    Unusual? Perhaps. But effective, empowering and just plain fun, too! What a great idea. Brainstorming on the page. I love it.

    Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 8:02 am | Permalink
  5. Thank you, Denise! Yes, let’s confer via email about scheduling.

    Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 11:01 am | Permalink