You have an idea, and you’re eager to put words on the page… but a little pre-planning can go a long way.
Imagine a few weeks from now
You know the heart of your story, have a solid understanding for the world in which your story takes place and how it impacts your character(s), you have a sense for how your story might connect with readers and live in the marketplace, and you’re ready to write forward with an outline that marries the external journey (plot) with the internal journey (character arc). You are ready to write forward with confidence.
Hi, I’m Margaret
I’m an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach and author who loves helping writers plan, write, and revise their novels. I have an MFA in fiction and an M.A. in English & creative writing, and I teach writing at the college level. When I’m not writing, coaching, or teaching, I enjoy painting, drawing, playing with my corgi, reading of course, and watching period dramas.
Are you ready to say goodbye to…
Muddy middles.
Endings that leave loose threads.
Stories that are too plot driven.
Stories that don’t have enough plot.
Plot holes.
Losing steam after writing 100 pages.
Writing in a void.
Feeling stymied by imposter syndrome.
This is for you if…
How I help writers plan their novel
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Blueprint Elements
We’ll start out with elements from Author Accelerator’s Blueprint for a Book: the why, jacket copy, world building, and inside outline. You’ll receive a video detailing how to work on each section, and then you’ll write each section. While the total number of pages usually comes to about 7-10, this is an important thinking process, and ideally you will take one to two weeks to complete it.
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In-Line Comments
I’ll provide feedback in the margins of your work to help you understand what’s working well and what could use some more thought and tweaking. I’ll help you understand why those elements are important for your novel, and how your reader might respond to the decisions you’ve made in planning. You will receive comments on all sections of your work.
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Editorial Letter
I’ll write you an editorial letter that will explore my feedback in a more macro way, working together with the in-line comments to help you gain a full understanding of what works and what (and why) needs additional thought to help you write forward. I’ll also provide some next steps, in priority order, to help you continue to prepare to write your novel.
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Coaching Session
We’ll have a one-hour coaching session to discuss my feedback, your story, and next steps. You’ll be able to bring questions about my written feedback (if you have any), and we can address any craft considerations, as well. A 1:1 coaching session helps you take the written feedback and start to think through how to best use it so that you can begin writing forward with more confidence — and less imposter syndrome.
Your investment for this service:
$500 USD (payment plans available)
A few kind words from writers who have planned with me…
“Margaret is a true educator and worth every cent of the investment!”
“Margaret is knowledgeable, generous and gracious, and someone you want at your side while writing your novel and in your life in general.”
“Margaret has a big heart and a big bag of wisdom and education to offer to those who are willing to explore their writing in ways that feel nothing less than pure magic!”
This is not for you if…
Common Questions
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I’m going to let you in on a secret: We do, really. You’ll do prep and thinking work for each of the sections you’re going to give me, and it’s often very clear when coaching those sections which other steps from the larger Blueprint need more thought or development.
I’ve chosen a handful of sections that you’ll give me for this reason, and also because I wanted to design a service that could be completed more quickly to get you writing forward sooner, and also a package that was more accessible to writers of different income levels.
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I help beginner and experienced writers alike. I specialize in working with writers who have imposter syndrome because I do not believe that it is something we need to live and create with forever… because I myself have freed myself from its grip. But even if you don’t have imposter syndrome and you want to work together, we’d have plenty to talk about regarding your story that we can still work together.
I’m happy to work with writers in any fiction genre except erotica. I have nothing against it, but it’s not a genre I feel comfortable coaching.
I do not coach nonfiction, memoir, poetry, or children’s books. If you’re writing short fiction and would like coaching, feel free to reach out. I’ve coached short fiction writers in the past and loved it, but it’s not the type of work that comes across my plate frequently enough to have a package for.
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Let’s talk about it. We’re all human and life happens. We can both be understanding with one another and give each other as much advanced notice as possible.
I want you attending coaching sessions ready and well so that you feel like you can make progress.
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I’ve priced my services across a wide range so that hopefully, I can help any writers who seek my coaching. I do offer payment plans for monthly coaching so that you don’t need to pay it all in advance; we can talk about this on our discovery call before we work together if you like.
In the meantime, feel free to stay connected. I try to share advice and resources when I can, or stories from my own creative writing journey in hopes of helping writers for absolutely no monetary investment at all.
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It all starts with you reaching out. Just fill out the intake form below, and I’ll respond to let you know if I think we’re a good fit. If we are, I’ll invite you to schedule a discovery call. You can expect the discovery call to last about 15-30 minutes. During that call, we’ll talk about your needs, your story idea, and I’ll answer any questions about working together that you may have. If you decide to work together, we’ll go ahead and get you signed up.
After that, I’ll send you the resources you need to start to plan your novel, and we’ll go from there! I’ll always keep you updated on where we are in the process and the next steps to take.
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AI has become so integrated with our entire online experience. Sometimes, like in web searches, it can’t be avoided. But I don’t use generative AI.
I’ve sampled it, and while I liked it at first, my thoughts on it soon changed. That said, I know writers who swear that it helps them write where they wouldn’t be writing at all otherwise.
I don’t judge my writers on whether or not they choose to use AI. I would prefer not to coach pages written by AI without the writer going through and making them their own, simply because I think AI’s writing gets a little boring to read.
If you want to hear about my AI experience with creative writing, you can listen to this episode of my podcast (14:20 mins).
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Of course! It’s not a requirement, but I do talk about it a lot because not only did I have it and not realize it for a long time, but for a while, I also succumbed to what others said about how it never goes away. I don’t subscribe to that belief.
But if you’ve already worked through imposter syndrome and kissed it goodbye, or if you never had it to begin with (you lucky duck!), then I’d still love to talk to you about your book.
Let’s work together.
Interested in working on a Blueprint with me? Fill out my intake form below and I’ll be in touch if I think we’re a fit. Then, we’ll have a brief discovery call and get you started!