Coaching nonfiction writing .... And that's the truth.
Coaching nonfiction writing .... And that's the truth.
Just like the people who report to them, executives often need help improving their writing. Whether they are writing to or about their own enterprises, C-level people and top managers, too, may need confidential, individual writing coaching.
Identify your own learning needs and objectives. Challenge yourself to participate actively.
Q. What, really, is a writing coach?
A. She’s similar to a personal trainer at the gym. She reviews your manuscripts. She asks what aspects of writing plague or terrify you. She makes a “diagnosis” of where you need help.
Q. What does coaching look like?
A. You bring in the piece you want to discuss. I tease out the parts that might need work. I ask what you mean in a particular passage. I ask what verb would be stronger. I hint when your word choice is not precise.
Q. That doesn’t sound painful.
A. No, it’s not. We might discuss organizing, finding a better way to begin, avoiding repetition and lots more. It’s not painful. If you need help with leg raises, I don’t mention your arms. If you want to learn to create brighter metaphors and analogies, that’s all we discuss.
Q. How will I know if it’s working?
A. As your abs feel tighter and you can run like Rocky up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, you know your training is working. As you begin to recognize a passive verb you have already typed and know you have to revise the sentence, you know it's working.
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