Do I Need a Writing Coach?

For many years, I opened academic writing workshops asking participants to identify their primary concerns about scholarly writing. Most of their responses fell into two broad categories: time and anxiety. Writing coaches are uniquely poised to help writers manage each of these concerns.

Writing Coaches Help Clients Manage Time Constraints

Writing coaches can’t add more hours to the day, but they can help clients create project management strategies whether they are developing a journal manuscript, drafting a book, or starting a dissertation. A coach helps the writer break a larger project down into more manageable chunks, decide which tasks to prioritize, and determine how much time to set aside for specific tasks. Most importantly, the coach provides a source of external accountability, which can be extremely helpful for some writers.

Coaches can also help writers explore underlying issues that might contribute to procrastination or feeling stuck. Coaches aren’t therapists, but by asking powerful questions, they can help clients learn more about their motivations for writing, the messages they hope to communicate, what it means to be a writer, and what they need to write successfully, among others. This kind of self-knowledge can help writers prioritize time for writing and identify strategies that will make their writing sessions more productive.

Writing Coaches Provide Emotional Support

Writing coaches normalize feelings of stress that accompany the writing process for many. They can also demystify the writing and publication process, easing fears associated with the unknown. A writing coach can be especially useful during the revision process, helping the client interpret critical feedback and keep it in perspective.

Again, coaches offer clients space to reflect on their values, needs, goals, and identities as writers. As a result, clients may be able to more effectively negotiate competing demands that make the writing process more stressful. Coaches also provide encouragement when the writing process is slow or difficult. And they can be there to celebrate when clients figure out a thorny problem in their writing, finish a long-delayed project, or submit a revision.

Writing Coaches Improve Writing

In addition to helping with project management and accountability and providing emotional support, most writing coaches functions as developmental editors. Developmental editors provide high-level feedback on a work in progress, helping writers work through issues related to structure, organization, message, audience, and voice. A writing coach also helps clients brainstorm and develop proposals and query letters, make sense of genre conventions, craft specific elements of a manuscript, and develop good writing habits.

Coaches typically work with writers over a period of months, allowing them to build trust with clients and support the evolution of a manuscript. This long-term relationship sets writing coaches apart from editors, though coaches and editors may offer similar feedback on manuscripts. Editors offer feedback at a moment in time, helping the client move a manuscript from one stage to another. Coaches, on the other hand, are deeply invested in the development of the writer and work closely with clients to create a space conducive to realizing their personal and professional writing goals.

What questions do you have about working with a writing coach? Feel free to email me at hello@tracylskipper.com to learn more.