Julia Forster, author coach and writer’s retreat host offers this definitive guide to deciding if hiring an author coach is right path for you.
Why would you consider hiring a writing coach?
Are you a writer with an established practice who has been struggling with what to do next with your work-in-progress?
Maybe you’ve been beset by writer’s block and aren’t sure how to move through it?
If so, a writing or author coach might be a good way to move through the doldrums and finish your project.
Writing coaches work with their clients to move towards a goal. They do this in a very particular way which is distinct from mentoring (telling them what to do next), giving editorial critiques (marking up their manuscripts) or therapy (looking in-depth at why the writer behaves in a certain way).
Instead, coaches take a strength-based approach with their clients, and work with them to focus on actions and next steps – oftentimes small incremental steps – in order to help the writer improve the conditions in which they are writing and help them with their writing practice.
If this sounds like something you might benefit from with your writing practice, read on…
What does a writing coach actually do?
A writing coach works with the client to raise their awareness around the issues they are facing, for example that might be a negative mindset, working through writer’s block or imposter phenomenon. Coaches are trained to listen non-judgementally and to ask insightful and open questions which support the writer as they navigate the process of working through these issues.
In addition, coaches provide one-to-one guidance, accountability and support through this process. In between sessions, the writer often sets goals and coaches act as a thinking partner to check in around how achieving that goal has gone at the subsequent session. They get curious around what worked well, what didn’t work so well and then they work with the writer to look beyond this and move towards the broad aim of the overall sessions.
I like to think of writing coaches as being co-enquirers around the creative process.
What are the benefits of hiring a writing coach?
- Personalised feedback and challenge One key benefit of hiring a one-to-one writing coach is that they will offer personalised feedback as opposed to one-size-fits all tips. An author coach will also gear their level of challenge around what you’ve agreed on at outset, but they will also flex on the day. Some clients like to be pushed and challenged, but we all have off-days. An author coach worth their salt will adapt their level of challenge depending on the feedback they are getting in-session, too.
- Accountability and motivation A second key benefit of hiring a writing coach is to have someone whose role it is to hold you accountable to your goal. That accountability doesn’t need to look like a stick to bash you with, though! For example, at Write Within I take a holistic view of accountability and I would gently enquire if a goal hasn’t been met, using that as useful data to inform our session and get curious about what we can discover about what a different strategy might look like, without my making any assumptions around this. The writing client is always the expert in themselves!
- Goal Setting and Structure Full-length works are often many years in the making and represent a writer having sat at a desk for marathon sprints, writing thousands upon thousands of words. An author coach can help you to break down your goals, tweaking them depending on the the stage in the process you are at. You might have written the first draft of your novel, but be unsure about how to move through the next stage of re-writing. In that case, we’d consider together strategies for what would be the very best next step for you to ease your way into re-writing. I like to think of the structure coaches lend authors as ‘scaffolding’: we help to hold the container and support the project while you are making (or writing) the work. And then the scaffolding or the coach can be removed once the sessions are complete. Having someone to check in with regularly can be a great source of motivation for writers. I provide each of my clients with a simple Goal Setting Planner to help them stay on track.
Do I need a writing coach? How to decide
If you are a writer who struggles with ideas generation, or who finds re-writing difficult or have noticed your motivational levels have dropped off mid-project, then hiring an author coach might be for you.
At Write Within, I work with clients who have a committed practice – in other words, I work with writers who aren’t at the very outset of their writing journey, but have written for a few years. The writers I work with don’t need to have been published or self-published, but I find author coaching can be particularly effective for writers who have had a bit of exposure to the writing process already.
This is because it is an investment of writers’ time and money, and it’s good to know from both sides that you are serious about your commitment to the prospect of having a sustained writing practice, whatever that means for you.
How to pick the best writing coach for you
The key thing to think about when choosing a writing coach is to think in terms of congruence. In other words: does the coach communicate in a way you find easy to understand? Do they have some experience of working with the particular issues you are facing? Most importantly but also practically: is the coaching programme they offer affordable for you, and can you meet them at a time that suits?
I always recommend to clients I meet on my 30-minute initial conversations that, after the call, they take at least 24 hours to sleep on it before committing to taking up coaching.
Before committing to a coaching programme with me, I always recommend the writer considers having discovery calls with other coaches as well as reflecting on whether other writer development initiatives – such as residential writing courses at Arvon or Ty Newydd, or mentoring with The Literacy Consultancy for example. That’s because the writer might decide that actually what they need is a manuscript assessor to go through their work-in-progress with a red pen, or they might realise they love going on group residentials and that’s the boost they need, rather than one-to-one coaching support.
As an author coach, I like to keep up a sustained professional creative practice myself so that I am also alive to the realities of writing today – I’ve published two books (non-fiction and fiction) with a third (poetry) currently on submission. Alongside this, I worked for many years a freelance book publicist which means I have also worked with authors at the very end of the process in helping them to promote their book.
Is a writing coach worth it?
I trained as a coach because I realised that, when I was an emerging writer, what I needed more than anything was someone to listen to me, rather than telling me what to do. I became a writer through a series of trial and error. Looking back, I would have benefitted from an author coach to gently guide me through the maze which is sustaining a writing life by offering accountability, a curious mindset and a compassionate lens through which to view my goals.
Add a 90-minute session during your writing retreat at the Cabin if you’d like to try out some author coaching. I look forward to working with you!
