1:1 Coaching for writers, and other creative people, to finish projects with more ease and confidence
Has your project been on the back burner so long it’s starting to stick to the pan?
Maybe you write when you’re inspired, but you really wish you had a more regular writing practice, one that could withstand interruptions from kids, work, and a pile of other commitments. Maybe you struggle through anyway… most of the time.
But you’re not making the headway that you’d like to, and you’re not able to pick yourself back up when you lose motivation, experience a long dry spell, get overwhelmed, or run into a wall.
The reality for most writers is: We aspire to have a consistent writing routine that allows us to make steady progress on our work, but we can’t actually manage it without practice, structure, and the right mindset.
How to keep life from disrupting your writing practice and halting your progress — that’s the challenge.
It takes more than willpower and commitment, and more than accountability (though having someone hold you accountable realy helps).
But you’re not making the headway that you’d like to, and you’re not able to pick yourself back up when you lose motivation, experience a long dry spell, get overwhelmed, or run into a wall.
The reality for most writers is: We aspire to have a consistent writing routine that allows us to make steady progress on our work, but we can’t actually manage it without practice, structure, and the right mindset.
How to keep life from disrupting your writing practice and halting your progress — that’s the challenge.
It takes more than willpower and commitment, and more than accountability (though having someone hold you accountable realy helps).
You will get the benefit of my experience with the writing process and publishing industry combined with coaching support to help you overcome the mental, emotional, and logistic obstacles that make consistent writing practices so difficult to maintain.
I prepare my coaching clients to…
- Make substantial progress in their writing projects
- Publish their work in literary magazines or other venues
- Complete other creative community projects
- Find agents and publishers excited about their work
- Successfully apply to contests, fellowships and prestigious MFA programs
- Overcome their inner critics to write with more confidence and ease
- Let go of unhelpful mindsets and find themselves talking action instead of "just thinking about it"
- Break down the overwhelm into manageable, do-able steps
This coaching is for serious writers (regardless of how long you've been doing this) and other creatives who:
- Have a novel in the drawer you’ve been working on (or thinking about) for years
- Are ready to focus on one creative project: novel, essays or stories, collection of poems, musical project, etc.
- Are overwhelmed about how to organize all the pieces and begin and create a clear path forward
- Are tired of struggling alone and want an accountability partner with expertise in writing and publishing (saving you so much time and frustration)
- Value practical tips and structures to write better, faster, and easier (my tips will save you years of wandering in the woods)
- Understand that the struggle to produce isn’t just with finding the right words, but with our own selves -- with confidence, clarity, and the willingness to speak truth and be seen
Most importantly, you’re ready to build your writing routine — and finish your project!
I will help you find clarity to move through blocks, stay on task, keep your focus, and work on craft issues like dialogue and character development. We can brainstorm and troubleshoot, I’ll tell you what’s working and what isn’t.
My work with clients is informed by
My work with clients is informed by
- 14+ years of working as a coach (I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach)
- Neuroscience-backed approaches to productivity and habit formation
- My training and experience with mindfulness and meditation
- Three decades of teaching poetry and creative writing and editing
- My experience as a working artist, and one who has written and received multiple artistic project grants
Curious?
Let's have a free 30-minute chemistry session to talk over what you're looking for. During the call, I'll answer any questions you have, give you a sense of what coaching is and how working with me would help you reach your goals.
Want to hear me talk about why I love working with writers, and what working with me as a coach might be like? I was recently interviewed for Brock Swinson's podcast, Creative Principles. Listen now!
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As a writing coach and mentor for 35 years, I’ve found that the answers to creating work consistently (whether as a writer, musician, chef, teacher, business leader) lie much deeper than a mere issue of time.
In 1:1 creative coaching, we don’t set blind goals based on an ideal calendar, and you don’t set off on your own without regular support and encouragement. Together, we address:
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We dig into the inner work it really takes to be creative and to get the work done.
Writing isn’t just about the words on the page. It’s about your whole life.
Hi, I’m Melanie Figg, writing instructor for 35 years and Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). I began coaching in the late ‘90s in a rigorous international leadership program, and I immediately saw how applicable personal coaching was for writers. My approach to writing coaching, informed by my Co-Active and mindfulness training and the neuroscience behind habit formation and productivity, is to listen carefully, challenge gently, and help you work through the difficult issues at the root of procrastination and overwhelm.
This combination of skills, experience, and training not only enables writers and others to finish projects that have sat in drawers for years, but also yields bonus results that affect their whole lives.
This combination of skills, experience, and training not only enables writers and others to finish projects that have sat in drawers for years, but also yields bonus results that affect their whole lives.
Yes, we focus on writing, but we also talk about why making time for writing is so challenging. You’ll quickly see that working on these things in one aspect of your life can impact other aspects. |
- You may always be a perfectionist at heart, but you’ll learn to manage it better, so it doesn’t stop your progress.
- You may always have a nagging inner critic voice, but you’ll learn to rein it in and actually use it to create better results.
- You may always want to make everyone happy, but you’ll develop strong, healthy boundaries that make sure your desire to give is balanced by guarding time that is just for you.
As you articulate, air out, and resolve these issues, you’ll find that your inner development and the development of your work are in lockstep, and you’ll be able to write consistently, and produce more, with greater ease.
What if your subject matter is especially challenging? I know a lot about that, too. Often, (especially with memoir), memories come up that can be confronting. It helps to have a writing coach who is trained to help you work through those complicated emotions so you can continue writing with a clear vision, and simple, practical steps to stay in action and reach your goals.
What if your subject matter is especially challenging? I know a lot about that, too. Often, (especially with memoir), memories come up that can be confronting. It helps to have a writing coach who is trained to help you work through those complicated emotions so you can continue writing with a clear vision, and simple, practical steps to stay in action and reach your goals.
Melanie helped me channel my doubts and sensitivities into confidence and self-knowledge—both are necessary for pursuing any kind of project or goal."
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1:1 Writing Coaching tends to be a good fit for writers who
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This may not be a good fit if what you’d really like is a:
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The most successful clients are the ones who are willing to look at themselves and their lives deeply in the interest of transforming their writing life.
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Working with Melanie I have been able to identify specific behaviors and thinking that routinely sabotage my writing process. Our work has helped me develop strategies that can mitigate problem patterns and serve my work.”
Curious?
Let's have a free 30-minute chemistry session to talk over what you're looking for. During the call, I'll answer any questions you have, give you a sense of what coaching is and how working with me would help you reach your goals.
During the time we have worked together, I’ve transformed my creative process. I’ve learned how to bring the skills I already possess to bear in new ways and developed new tactics to approach creativity and my day-to-day work.
As I’ve deepened these qualities—objectivity, openness, and confidence—they are finding their way into other areas of my life, helping me integrate the creative process with my life so my daily lived experience feeds my writing process and vice versa.”
Structure
- Initial 3-month package of 6 coaching calls, plus an introductory 75-minute Goal Setting call to get us started
- Coaching sessions are every other week for 45 minutes, with an accountability check-in every week. (There is also the option for weekly 30-minute calls.)
- Includes phone, text and email support, plus curated articles, tips, recommended reading, and suggestions for improving your craft (depending on what you need)
- Includes access to Prose Reviews of less than 7,500 words for detailed editorial comments. This is an opportunity to have me look at your short essays or prose excerpts and get my in-depth feedback on how to take your work to the next level.
It takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit, which is why I ask for a 3-month minimum commitment for first-time clients |
I ask for an initial 3-month commitment – although many of my clients work with me for 9-15 months (or years!) –because that’s how long it takes to make your writing practice an unshakable part of your everyday life. Rates range from $1400-$80/session, depending on whether we meet bi-monthly or weekly.
The 3-month coaching package investment is priced depending on whether you’d like bi-monthly or weekly support.
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Month-to-Month Continuation
After our initial 3 months, we can keep working together on a month to month basis so you can maintain your momentum — no contract, no retainer. I don’t want to lock you in if you’re not benefitting from our work...but if you're making good headway, I don't want you to lose momentum! (Committed athletes, CEOs, and other professionals know that coaching provides an ongoing structure for growth and success — it’s not a one-time magic pill!) |
Access to Power Boost Sessions
If you choose not to continue with regular coaching, you have the option to schedule a Power Boost Session. This is a 60-minute session in which we can check-in, brainstorm, troubleshoot, help you get back on track, create a plan for how to best use your summer break, or review your latest chapter. You can schedule a monthly check-in, quarterly check-in, or when-you-need-it Boost. These sessions are only available for returning clients. |
Let’s make sure we are a good fit before you commit!
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During this free 30-minute call you'll get a sense of what coaching is (and isn't). I'll describe how I work, and answer all of your questions.
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Praise
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- “If you’re going to work with Melanie, be ready to stop judging yourself and to start inviting curiosity into what is happening with your creative life. Whatever creative homework you come up with, do it. The results will be real and transformative.”
- “Melanie's style is encouraging and motivating, as well as no-nonsense and straightforward, which I greatly appreciated. She helped me see that many hang-ups or trepidations I had were more like pebbles than mountains. These benefits rippled out beyond just my work on poetry, as I started to gain confidence and address blocks. It was great to have someone to walk alongside me to help me along the path. I would highly recommend working with Melanie to anyone who is on the fence." - “I will absolutely be letting you know when publishing is in the works. I'm still incredibly grateful for working with you through the first couple drafts - it was absolutely essential to getting to where I am now, so thank you for all your support." |
- "I signed up for coaching sessions with Melanie to achieve a couple of specific goals, but what I gained from our work together turned out to be a broader and deeper shift in my thinking about what is meaningful to me and how to best spend my time. Melanie not only helped me to identify some thought patterns that were holding me back from directing my energy and time to what matters to me, but she also offered me concrete and effective exercises to counter these patterns. This was unexpected and a delight, which also describes my sessions with Melanie. She challenges me, she is direct, and she has a fun sense of humor - all wonderful qualities for a coach."
"I learned a lot about managing my writing practice, what works and what doesn't, as well as what happens to me in the course of a project, what sorts of things derail me and how I handle the derailment. All this is extremely useful and enlightening." |
