Creative writing & essay development

Editing & tuition for middle-upper secondary students

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Overview

I am a writer. That means, I sit in a studio in my back garden and write—most days.

As a practicing writer I can offer students support and encouragement at the time of their education when creativity is still required. My knowledge and understanding are experiential and on-going, and I enjoy working with young people. I understand the tediousness of writing, the frustrations, the vulnerability and personal discoveries. I hope that in the pursuit of good grades, the people I work with will find enjoyment and develop lifelong skills.

Over the past few years I’ve been approached by family and friends to read and edit both university essays and secondary school creative writing. The creative writing pieces were big—some twenty to forty thousand words long. The creativity was alive and well in these works, but the formatting was poor and time-consuming to amend. This led me to the idea of offering structural editing and syntactical guidance to middle and upper-secondary students.

About Me

I lost interest in writing website content due to its primarily commercial objective. There is very little heart in the text. However, reading grade nine fiction reminded me that secondary school is, for many people, the last time they will practice creative writing. It is (unfortunately for some) a necessary part of the curriculum, and, fortunately for all, a task undertaken for no other reason but practice and skill building—if we can all forget about scores and grades for a moment.

The creative process is a necessary part of our human development.

For the past nine years I have worked closely and consistently with writing mentors. The writer-mentor relationship is an integral part of my creative writing process—just like therapy; we know what we mean when we say it out loud and someone speaks it back to us. I hope to offer age-appropriate and skill-appropriate coaching and companionship to those I tutor.