The Writing Coach team are available to work with you on your manuscript or as your mentor. All consultants are either published writers, professional editors or university lecturers and all have broad experience of working with developing writers. Your work receives nurturing, individual attention, with a focus on positive, constructive but honest feedback.
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Jacqui Lofthouse
Jacqui Lofthouse is Founder of The Writing Coach. She is the author of four novels including the bestselling ‘Bluethroat Morning’, and the critically acclaimed ‘The Temple of Hymen’. She is currently working on her own fifth novel.
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Delia Lloyd
Delia Lloyd is a London-based communications expert with over 25 years of experience as a writer, editor and coach. She brings together an unusual mix of rigorous, analytic thinking with an authentic, accessible voice.
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Alasdair Mackay
Alasdair Mackay is a screenwriter and director currently working in the film industry. He has written 15 feature film scripts, numerous award-winning short films and a TV series that is due to launch internationally on Amazon Prime.
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Juliet West
A former journalist and copywriter, Juliet has also worked as an editor and proofreader for a children’s book publisher, working on picture books, early readers and middle grade fiction.
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Mark Leggatt
Mark is the author of five books and a former technology specialist. He is an editor and mentor, whether over Skype or email. Mark is also a member of the author touring group ‘Four Blokes In Search of a Plot’, a show which performs in theatres and arts venues.
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Bryony Pearce
Bryony Pearce is a writer of Young Adult (YA) and Adult novels and short stories. After completing her MA in English Literature at Cambridge University, she worked as a Research Manager before publication of her award-winning debut YA novel, Angel’s Fury.
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Chetan Mahajan
Chetan Mahajan is an author, blogger, and writing coach. He lives in a village in the Indian Himalayas where he writes full-time, and runs the Himalayan Writing Retreat.
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Stephanie Zia
Stephanie Zia edits both fiction and nonfiction at Blackbird Digital Books where she oversees all stages of the digital publishing process. Stephanie has worked in the arts all her life.
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Voula Tsoflias
Voula Tsoflias is a writer of fiction and non-fiction, and a corporate psychologist. After completing her MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck in 2005, she completed her debut novel Honor’s Shadow, published by Karnac in 2011 (under her previous name of Voula Grand.)
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Steph Roundsmith
Steph Roundsmith is a children’s literary agent, freelance editor and runs a reading and writing scheme for children in the north east of England called kidsreadwritereview. She currently works as editorial assistant for Myrmidon Books in Newcastle.
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Stephen Brown
Stephen Brown is a playwright, dramaturg and creative writing tutor. He has given creative feedback to scores of creative writing students and professional writers. He taught playwriting to adults at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, from 2011 to 2019.
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Rosalie Love
Rosalie is an editor and literary consultant who has the knowledge and expertise to help you perfect your manuscript. Rosalie has a first-class degree in English Literature from King’s College, London. She started her career in the publishing industry in 2015.
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Phil Viner
Phil Viner is a Crime writer and writing mentor. Phil has written for stage, screen and audio in the UK, USA, New Zealand and Russia. He returned home after ten years overseas and founded an independent audiobook publisher.
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Nikki Sheehan
Nikki Sheehan is an author, journalist, mentor, and mother of three teenagers. She has published three MG and YA novels and also writes poetry, and books for younger children. She has been shortlisted for, and won many awards.
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Louise Voss
Over her twenty-year writing career, Louise Voss has had thirteen novels published – seven solo and six co-written with Mark Edwards; a combination of psychological thrillers, police procedurals and contemporary fiction.
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Lindsay Hawdon
Lindsay Hawdon is a former Sunday Times and Telegraph travel columnist, a writer of fiction and an Associate Lecturer at Bath Spa University. Her Sunday Telegraph travel column “An Englishwoman Abroad”, began in 2000 and ran for seven years.
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Laura Wilkinson
Laura has published six novels for adults (two under a pseudonym) and numerous short stories. Her contemporary fiction is published by award-winning independent press, Accent. Her latest novel, Skin Deep, has been widely praised.
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Judi Goodwin
Judi Goodwin specialises in helping writers achieve fluency and creativity in editorial features, memoirs and non-fiction. She is a qualified coach and trainer and mentors writers on all aspects of memoirs, non-fiction and journalism.
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Jon Magidsohn
Jon Magidsohn is a writer and musician originally from Toronto. He is the author of the memoir Immortal Highway. His writing has been featured in The Guardian, National Geographic Traveller, Yes & No Magazine, Hippocampus Magazine, Full Grown People and Today’s Parent among others.
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Heidi Williamson
Having been coached or mentored at key stages in her writing life, Heidi understands the enriching experience and significance of both. Her latest poetry collection, The Print Museum (Bloodaxe, 2016), won the 2016 East Anglian Book Award for Poetry and the Book by the Cover Award 2016.
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Glynis Kozma
Glynis Kozma works with clients who want to develop their writing around their interests and passions, as writers of non-fiction books or features. She is the author of two non-fiction guides for parents and has written features for The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Independent.
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Dr. Pauline Kiernan
Dr Pauline Kiernan is an award-winning playwright, commissioned screenwriter and prize-winning short story writer. She is also a Shakespeare scholar and taught English Literature at the University of Oxford for twenty five years.
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Dr Sara Bailey
Dr. Sara Bailey is a writer, consultant and lecturer who has been working with authors and screenwriters for many years. She has a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing from Bangor University and is the author of two novels.
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Vanessa Neuling
Vanessa Neuling is an experienced editor of fiction and memoir. She started her editorial career at Virago/Little,Brown, working with high-profile literary authors, before moving to become a Commissioning Editor at Random House.
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Jacqui Lofthouse
Jacqui Lofthouse began her career in radio production and media training. In 1992 she studied for her MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia under Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. She is the author of four novels, The Temple of Hymen, Hamish Hamilton/Penguin 1995/1996, Bluethroat Morning, Bloomsbury 2000, Een Stille Verdwijning, De Bezige Bij 2005 and The Modigliani Girl
Jacqui’s first degree was in Drama and English from the University of Bristol and she has a PGCE in English with Drama from the Institute of Education, University of London. She is also a qualified life coach (CoachU, USA). She has taught creative writing in a broad variety of settings including at City University, at Richmond Adult and Community College, and at Feltham Young Offenders Institution. In addition, she has taught English and Drama in London secondary schools and is a member of NAWE (National Association of Writers in Education). Jacqui’s journalism has been published in The Literary Review, The Good Book Guide and The New Writer magazine. She has been profiled in The Independent and her novels have been widely reviewed. She is also an actor.
Jacqui founded The Writing Coach in 2005. Her mission was to help writers to be confident and productive, producing their best work and getting it into print. She is currently working on her own fifth novel.
Testimonials
Jacqui is the first person I show all my novels to and my most important critic. As well as being a terrific novelist in her own right, she has an acute eye for what is not quite working in any piece of work and is exceptionally good at pointing it out in a way that is firm but constructive and helpful. I can recommend her highly to anyone who needs help.
– Louise Doughty – Colleague, Booker Prize Judge 2008 and Author of Costa Prize 2011 shortlisted novel Whatever you Love and the bestselling Apple Tree Yard.
Delia Lloyd
Delia Lloyd is a London-based communications expert with over 25 years of experience as a writer, editor and coach. She brings together an unusual mix of rigorous, analytic thinking with an authentic, accessible voice. Her particular expertise is in non-fiction and academic writing, as well as blogging, journalism and editing.
Delia holds a PhD. in political science from Stanford University and has taught public policy and international development at MIT and The University of Chicago. During 2001-2, she was a Senior Development Adviser at the United States Treasury Department, where she was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. Most recently, Delia was the Head of Policy and Research Insight at BBC Media Action, the BBC’s International development charity, where she was in charge of commissioning, editing and disseminating policy and research outputs.
A seasoned journalist, Delia’s reporting and commentaries have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Washington Post and The BBC World Service. Her popular personal blog, RealDelia, explores the journey of adulthood, and she is a regular contributor to two websites exploring women’s fulfilment as they age: Better After 50 and Sixty and Me.
In addition to her work as a writing coach, Delia has edited numerous policy briefings, research reports and blogs. Her clients span the commercial, non-profit and higher education sectors, and include the BBC, London Business School, The London School of Economics, Oxford University, and the UNDP.
Testimonials
In 2019, my plan was simple: hire a writing coach to equip me with the necessary writing skills that I would need when applying for my Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in the year 2023. What started as a series of short stories covering my life and aspirations is slowly becoming a collection of short memoirs. Delia Lloyd is the real deal and she certainly lives up to her legendary professional profile. For anyone with a technical background that is looking to gain skills in creative writing, Delia is one of the best in the business. I have truly learned a lot from her and I am ecstatic she was recommended to me!
– Chiko Tembo (Civil and Structural Engineer / Future Philanthropist)
Delia is a wonderful and warm coach – she worked to understand my writing, content and audience, before then creating a personalized programme of practical actions to enable me to move forward with my writing. Providing some brilliant practical exercises that I could apply to my writing going forward.
– Katie – Social Impact Professional
The editing was really helpful. It was great to have Delia on board. I really liked her changes and kept most of them. Following her work I was inspired to work through to the end myself and make my own edits in her style, which I had struggled to do before, and became much more confident about cutting unnecessary words.
–Alice Grahame, Author of Walters Way and Segal Close: The Architect Walter Segal and London’s Self-Build Community
I was impressed with the mentoring support that Delia Lloyd provided to me. Her feedback was detailed, comprehensive and, most importantly, incisive. I asked for straightforward feedback about my writing, and that is what I got. It was delivered in a supportive and encouraging way. Delia is a very experienced and talented writing coach. Her support has helped me create a very good first draft of my book which, with some tweaking, I will take to agents with confidence.
– Tom Irvine
Delia has had the ability to make my writing shine. With clear suggestions she guided me through structuring my many ideas into coherent and strong compositions. With her great intuition and encouraging attitude she helped me finding my voice in academic writing. Her support is punctual, effective, and highly professional.
–Antonella Diana, Marie Curie Fellow, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Delia is a great writing coach: perceptive and quick witted. She provides an authentic blend of encouragement, guidance and constructive criticism which yields clear results. I highly recommend working with her!
– Jenny Bernard
Work with Delia
Alasdair Mackay
Alasdair Mackay is a screenwriter and director currently working in the film industry. He has written 15 feature film scripts as well as numerous award-winning short films and a TV series that will be launched internationally on Amazon Prime later this year.
In his first year in the industry he saw 7 short films produced and, by 2013, was starting to see his work screen at international film festivals including Cannes. His films have won awards from places as far a field as New York, New Delhi and Nottingham.
Alasdair is currently anticipating full financing for two of his feature projects, with at least one likely to go ahead this year. These will be 7-figure budget productions, but he has also written to order in the form of novel adaptation or concept development.
The series “NightwatchMan” is currently in the later stages of post production and will hit screens on Amazon Prime in the UK, USA, Germany and Japan in 2019.
Work with Alasdair
Juliet West
A former journalist and copywriter, Juliet has also worked as an editor and proofreader for a children’s book publisher, working on picture books, early readers and middle grade fiction. Juliet holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Chichester, where she won the 2010 Kate Betts’ Memorial Prize for the best work in MA Creative Writing.
Juliet’s critically acclaimed debut novel Before the Fall (Pan Macmillan, 2014) is set in London during the First World War, while The Faithful (Pan Macmillan, 2017) was picked as a recommended read by Good Housekeeping and Red magazines. Juliet’s contemporary-set short stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies including The French Literary Review, The Sunday Times and Murmurations (Two Ravens Press).
Juliet has run numerous creative writing workshops and enjoys helping writers to sharpen their literary skills, both at the ‘micro’ level and in broader terms of plot, story structure and character development. As a one-to-one mentor, she works with writers at all stages and across various genres including historical fiction, literary fiction, memoir, children’s/middle grade fiction and Young Adult fiction.
I was a ‘mentee’ myself while writing my debut novel, and so I know how valuable it can be to collaborate with a professional who will read your work with a critical but friendly eye. Whatever stage you’re at in your writing, I will always seek to be constructive, offering positive and honest feedback alongside practical advice on the writing process.
Testimonials
Juliet gave me just the sort of feedback friends and family couldn’t. She was positive in her criticism and gave me exactly what I hoped for. She was encouraging about the good bits and advised on my weaknesses. There were no surprises in what she said but no one had been able to offer the quality of feedback that she did. The writing coach was a birthday present and it was brilliant!
Work with Juliet
Mark Leggatt
Mark is the author of five books and a former technology specialist. He is an editor and mentor, whether over Skype or email. Mark is also a member of the author touring group ‘Four Blokes In Search of a Plot’, a show which performs in theatres and arts venues, and writes a very short crime novel live on stage, while discussing all the aspects of being a writer and publishing. The stories are truly terrible, so it’s just as well it’s done for laughs or he’d never sell another book. He has appeared at festivals across Scotland and was invited to Thrillerfest in New York for three years running. He is represented by a leading London literary agency.
He has a keen interest in technological and international thrillers, crime, especially Tartan Noir, and loves fantasy, sci-fi and psychological crime. He enjoys the mentoring of debut authors, so he can show them all the mistakes he made as a debut, so they don’t have to. Just as well he can laugh about it.
As a new author the task of writing a novel that is worthy of securing an agent and getting published, is very daunting. The first thing to get right is the product! The book needs to be written well and you need a plot / storyline that will hook your readers. ‘The Writing Coach’, and specifically Mark Leggatt, have produced an amazing report that shows me exactly what I need to do to take my novel to the next level to secure an agent. Now the hard work begins, and I have a clear idea of what I need to do to progress my work to the next level. Thank you! Adrian Quinton
Mark Legatt is a very experienced monitor and a well-reviewed author in his own right. I found his corrections and suggestions extremely helpful. It may help that he has written novels in the same genre as myself and knows the ropes. He takes a joke well and is very meticulous in his corrections on format and punctuation. Paul Purnell
Work with Mark
Bryony Pearce
Bryony Pearce is a writer of Young Adult (YA) and Adult novels and short stories. After completing her MA in English Literature at Cambridge University, she worked as a Research Manager before publication of her award-winning debut YA novel, Angel’s Fury. Since then, Bryony has had a further six YA novels published, in the sub-genres of science fiction, dystopia, paranormal and horror. She is currently working on her next projects out next year, and has a number of short stories published in science fiction and YA anthologies. Her adult thriller debut will be in Spring 2021.
Bryony conducts creative writing workshops and visits schools to spread her love of literature. She has been working as a literary consultant for over six years.
Work with Bryony
Chetan Mahajan
Chetan Mahajan is an author, blogger, and writing coach. He lives in a village in the Indian Himalayas where he writes full-time, and runs the Himalayan Writing Retreat. Over the past two years the Himalayan Writing Retreat has hosted over 15 events which have been attended by people from 5 nationalities, some travelling from halfway across the world.
His first book was published by Penguin in 2014. His writing career started at the unlikely venue of an Indian jail. Wrongly imprisoned as the fall guy for his employer, Chetan realized he was surrounded by interesting subject matter. Always a closet writer, Chetan started to write a daily diary. This was published by Penguin in 2014. The non-fiction The Bad Boys of Bokaro Jail is the story of an Indian jail told through Chetan’s eyes.
In addition to coaching and teaching, Chetan is also working on his next book. If he follows his own advice, it should be in the stores by mid 2019. His blog (Uncityblog) about leaving the city for the mountains recently won the Indiblogger award for humour. A graduate of the Northwestern University in Chicago, Chetan has formerly worked in the corporate world both in India and the US.
Work with Chetan
Stephanie Zia
Stephanie Zia edits both fiction and nonfiction at Blackbird Digital Books where she oversees all stages of the digital publishing process from commissioning new works to editing, formatting and promotion. Stephanie has worked in the arts all her life: at the BBC, the Guardian and as a published novelist. As author of Self-Publishing Ebooks including Self Publishing Ebooks: The Absolute Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide, she has guided many authors through the digital maze of ebook and POD paperback publishing.
She has had two commercial fiction novels Baby on Board and Keeping Mum, published by Piatkus and two non-fiction books published by Hamlyn. She has also written for a variety of magazines and newspapers and for five years was a regular columnist for The Guardian Weekend Magazine’s Space Solves page.
Work with Stephanie
Voula Tsoflias
Voula Tsoflias is a writer of fiction and non-fiction, and a corporate psychologist. After completing her MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck in 2005, she completed her debut novel Honor’s Shadow, published by Karnac in 2011 (under her previous name of Voula Grand.) In the same year, she was a contributing author to The DK Psychology Book, which won an award from the British Psychology Society. She is currently working on a new novel.
Voula combines her writing activities with her work as a leadership psychologist in business. These two worlds collide in a collaboration with writer Isabel Costello: they offer a workshop on “Resilient Thinking for Writers.”
Voula enjoys general and women’s fiction, speculative and dystopian fiction; and her special interest and knowledge in psychology makes her well suited to support writers of psychological drama (as she herself writes) and non-fiction writers of psychology.
By Voula Tsoflias
As an experienced coach and mentor, I draw upon the principles of positive psychology. I can help writers develop a mindset for success through resilient thinking, whilst also providing coaching on the technical aspects of the craft of writing, drawn from my MA in Creative Writing and my Faber Edit Your Novel Course. I especially like to help people see where their writing really “sings” so they can fully understand their best work, as well as helping them address areas for improvement. Finally, I think it is very useful to help a writer to fully understand and respect their own writing process, to make friends with the way they work, as a source of energy and inspiration.
Work with Voula
Steph Roundsmith
Steph Roundsmith is a children’s literary agent, freelance editor and runs a reading and writing scheme for children in the north east of England called kidsreadwritereview. She currently works as editorial assistant for Myrmidon Books in Newcastle and specialises in fiction and children’s books. Steph spends a lot of her time working with children’s authors, schools and children and has built up a wealth of knowledge as to what children want, what publishers are looking for and what booksellers are hungry to sell.
Steph is very keen to work with children’s authors in any genre up to YA and has a wide-ranging skillset from proofreading and copy-editing to mentoring and consultancy. Steph has worked with a range of writers and has a talent for spotting a great story with the ability to polish it to submission standard.
Work with Steph
Stephen Brown
Stephen Brown is a playwright, dramaturg and creative writing tutor. He is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Queen Mary University in London. He has given creative feedback to scores of creative writing students and professional writers. His approach is sympathetic, detailed and creative: he aims not just to point out problems but also to suggest fruitful new directions.
Stephen’s adaptation of Rory Stewart’s bestselling memoir Occupational Hazards was produced on the main stage at Hampstead Theatre in 2017 and broadcast on Radio 4. His play Dr Semmelweis, an epic tale of 19th-century medical discovery, starring Mark Rylance and directed by Tom Morris, will premiere at Bristol Old Vic in late 2021 or early 2022. He is currently adapting his short story ‘Ishmael’ into a film for Dog Rose Productions and working as dramaturg on Clod Ensemble’s This is My Room for performance in summer 2021.
I am particularly excited to have Stephen on the Writing Coach team as I have chosen him as my own mentor, as I complete my first play. Stephen is incredibly knowledgeable about the genre and is a brilliant and astute teacher; I cannot recommend him highly enough to aspiring playwrights – Jacqui Lofthouse
Stephen’s patient, thoughtful approach put me at ease from the start. His extensive knowledge of theatre-making and what goes into a successful play was invaluable. His comments not only helped me to think freshly about the work we discussed, they sparked real changes in my writing process. Thanks to his guidance and encouragement, I now have a much firmer sense of what I need to do to evolve as a writer. Anne Rouse
Work with Stephen
Rosalie Love
Rosalie is an editor and literary consultant who has the knowledge and expertise to help you perfect your manuscript.
Rosalie has a first-class degree in English Literature from King’s College, London. She started her career in the publishing industry in 2015, and has worked for both independent and multinational publishing houses. Whilst Commissioning Editor at independent publishing house Blackbird Digital Books, her first commissioned title Valentina achieved great commercial success, resulting in book-prize nominations and features in the media. She has subsequently worked in the Education division of Cambridge University Press, and has continued to work closely with authors throughout the editorial and marketing process.
Her strengths lie in her eye for detail, her passion for stories, and her ability to spot what makes a book a success.
Work with Rosalie
Phil Viner
Phil Viner is a Crime writer and writing mentor. Phil has written for stage, screen and audio in the UK, USA, New Zealand and Russia. He returned home after ten years overseas and founded an independent audiobook publisher creating the SmartPass and Shakespeare Appreciated brands.
His first novel The Last Winter of Dani Lancing was shortlisted for International Crime Novel of the Year and is in production with Warner Bros for Showtime. He has been developing a new crime show Consequences for ITV global. His new book will be published next year.
Phil lives in Brighton with his wife, the academic and writer Lynne Murphy and their 9-year-old daughter.
Mentoring new writers excites Phil as he has a very visual way of working with timelines and structural breakdowns, which he thinks is ideal for developing crime stories.
The key skills I bring to working with fledgling writers is that I’m good at structure and plot. That is a key factor in writing crime and thriller but also in most forms of writing. Planning, creating time lines and seeding back motivations by analysing where the gaps are and where the plot has sprung a leak, this is very important and I can really help. The plan in mentoring is to get you thinking like a professional writer and learning how to get yourself out of trouble by seeing it, addressing and solving it.
Work with Phil
Nikki Sheehan
Nikki Sheehan is an author, journalist, mentor, and mother of three teenagers. She has published three MG and YA novels and also writes poetry, and books for younger children. She has been shortlisted for, and won many awards, and her books Swan Boy and Goodnight, Boy were both nominated for the Carnegie medal.
She is passionate about nurturing creativity, and is a very experienced workshop leader and mentor. Nikki is used to facilitating original stories, poems and scripts with all ages and abilities, and particularly enjoys working with advanced writers to extend their work and achieve their writing goals.
Nikki lives in Brighton and is available for one-to-ones locally and in London.
Work with Nikki
Louise Voss
Over her twenty-year writing career, Louise Voss has had thirteen novels published – seven solo and six co-written with Mark Edwards; a combination of psychological thrillers, police procedurals and contemporary fiction (including the No.1 bestseller Catch your Death, which was the first novel by independent authors to reach Number One on Amazon back in 2011). As well as being self-published, she has been published by Transworld, Harper Collins and Thomas & Mercer. Her latest book, The Last Stage, was published in 2019 by Orenda Books: “A cracking page-turner that sucks you straight into the dark heart of human behaviour. I couldn’t put it down!” (Marnie Riches)
Louise says:
I have an MA(Dist) in Creative Writing and have taught and mentored extensively. I love helping writers turn their manuscripts into taut page-turners ready for submission to agents and publishers. I will help you with plot, structure, dialogue and characterisation, and am also happy to help with copyediting and proofreading where required. All genres considered, although my main areas of expertise are crime (specifically psychological thrillers) and contemporary fiction.
Testimonials
Louise’s carefully considered insight really helped me to see my work through a fresh pair of eyes. I’m currently editing and can already see how much better some of the scenes are. Natalie Gordon
Work with Louise
Lindsay Hawdon
Lindsay Hawdon is a former Sunday Times and Telegraph travel columnist, a writer of fiction and an Associate Lecturer at Bath Spa University. On leaving school, she spent three years travelling around Europe, Africa and India, hitching rides and sleeping under canvas. She has since travelled to over eighty countries. Her travel column “An Englishwoman Abroad”, began in the Sunday Telegraph in 2000 and ran for seven years.
Her articles for The Sunday Times, “Have Kids Will Travel” followed a year’s trip travelling solo with her two young boys around South East Asia. Their most recent trip, featured in a monthly column for the Independent called “The Rainbow Hunters”, took them around the world to find the origin of colour, raising money for the charity War Child as they travelled.
She has had numerous short stories published and in 2015 her first novel Jakob’s Colours, which was shortlisted for The Authors Club First Novel Award, was published by Hodder and Stoughton. She is currently writing her second novel. Lindsay also works as an Associate Lecturer at Bath Spa University, runs a writer’s workshop now in its third year, and has a wide experience of editing and proofreading.
Interests: Travel, adventure and nature writing. All fiction especially literary, women’s fiction, crime, thrillers, commercial fiction and experimental.
Work with Lindsay
Laura Wilkinson
Laura has published six novels for adults (two under a pseudonym) and numerous short stories. Her contemporary fiction is published by award-winning independent press, Accent. Her novel, Public Battles, Private Wars, was a Welsh Books Council Book of the month. Her latest, Skin Deep, has been widely praised. See her work here.
Alongside writing, she runs workshops on craft and has spoken at literary events nationwide. Over the past seven years she’s worked as a developmental editor and mentor, coaching writers to competition shortlistings and publication.
There’s almost nothing better than helping a writer find their voice and develop a compelling story, whether they wish to be published or not. While everyone’s journey is unique, because I am a novelist, I have personal insight into and understanding of the pleasures and pains of authoring. My interests include: manuscript assessment; substantive editing; developmental mentoring from early draft through to finished submission package in women’s fiction, romance, psychological thrillers and historical.
Testimonials
I treated myself to editorial advice from Laura for my birthday and I can honestly say this was the best birthday treat I’ve ever had. Laura engaged passionately with the materials I sent her and I felt that she was strongly committed to my writing and to helping me succeed. She was very direct about where she saw I needed to improve (for me it was mainly about the structure of my story) but she was also very encouraging about my writing which has given me great motivation. I am taking her advice fully to heart and I can already see how much better my novel is as a result. I would strongly recommend Laura to any writers out there – and don’t wait until your birthday!” Anna Rowland
Work with Laura
Judi Goodwin
Judi Goodwin specialises in helping writers achieve fluency and creativity in editorial features, memoirs and non-fiction.
She runs inspirational workshops on writing from the right brain and believes more understanding of the psychology of the process will help aspiring and experienced writers produce more creative text faster and without the struggle.
As a freelance journalist she spent four years as Commissioning Editor for Ideal Home and many of her features were syndicated internationally. She was a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph, Radio Times and many leading consumer magazines as well as BBC Woman’s Hour.
She is a qualified coach and trainer and mentors writers on all aspects of memoirs, non-fiction and journalism including how to impress editors, finding killer ideas, negotiating fees and copyright, and pitching stories. She has run professional courses for two of the UK’s largest magazine publishers and the National Union of Journalists.
Judi believes lack of confidence and procrastination are the two biggest obstacles we face as writers. She says,
Running workshops for more than two decades has given me a lot of understanding of how lack of confidence can block our creativity. So I work with the conscious and unconscious mind enabling clients to abandon self-doubt and to access a wealth of creative possibilities.
Testimonials
Judi offers exquisite guidance, professional wisdom and appropriate challenge. Her coaching sessions have helped to clarify my book idea, develop a realistic plan, and to keep on track with my current writing project. Her support has been invaluable.” Masha Bennet, Psychotherapist, Trainer and Author
I felt alternately respected and challenged working with Judi and I soared under her firm guidance and insights. Meeting her has been one of the most enriching turning points in my life.” Karin Doucette, Writer, Toronto
I published my book on Amazon Kindle three weeks ago and it went straight to number 3 in Women’s Fiction.” Caroline James, Author of ‘Coffee, Tea, the Gypsy & Me’
My coaching sessions with Judi were a real turning point in my writing life. Her support and knack for asking just the right questions guided me to a place where my writing opened up and naturally became more prolific, spontaneous and fun.” Zoe Basil, Writer and Creative Director at Mind Rescue
Judi quickly stripped my blog writing apart word by word and sentence by sentence. I was told underneath all my sloppiness was a good writer, which spurred me on. Thank you Judi for giving me the ability to express my ideas with more punch, accuracy and confidence.” Tony Taylor, Fitness Trainer
Judi is a fantastic listener and I found the experience incredibly supportive and beneficial. I set myself writing goals that were sometimes challenging so this could be uncomfortable at times. But she made me feel accountable to someone outside myself and her positive manner was inspirational and energising.” Marian McCraith, Novelist and Writing Tutor
I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks once again. It feels great to be able to hold the paperback in my hand, and to see it out in the world.” Adam McNelis, Author ‘Halo by the Oak Tree’
Work with Judi
Jon Magidsohn
Jon Magidsohn is a writer and musician originally from Toronto. He is the author of the memoir Immortal Highway. His writing has been featured in The Guardian, National Geographic Traveller, Yes & No Magazine, Hippocampus Magazine, Full Grown People and Today’s Parent among others. His album of original songs, A World Without Corners, was released in May 2020.
I believe that if you can crack writing via memoir; if you can fully explore the path toward writing the story of your memory, digging deeply enough to show your truth – the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ – then you’ll be equipped to write about anything.
Testimonials
Jon’s varied life experiences have brought him to a place of deep connection and understanding of human beings. Working with him is a life-enhancing experience and doesn’t feel like ‘work’ at all. He is consistently constructive and positive in his critique. His words ‘be fully expressed’ and ‘write fearlessly’ will stay with me for a long time. It is a joy to have him as a coach.
– Dr Sangeeta Mahajan, Consultant Anaesthetist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Blog: www.kidsaregifts.org and website: www.sangeetamahajan.org
Work with Jon
Heidi Williamson
Having been coached and mentored at key stages in her writing life, Heidi understands the enriching experience and significance of both. She qualified as a Writing Coach through the National Association of Writers in Education and the Arvon Foundation and is a professional member of the Association of Coaching (AMAC), specialising in Writing Coaching.
She is currently an Advisory Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund and was RLF Fellow at the University of East Anglia from 2018 to 2020. Her third Bloodaxe poetry collection, Return by Minor Road, published in April 2020, focusses on her time living in Dunblane at the time of the Primary School shooting.
Her second collection, The Print Museum (Bloodaxe, 2016), won the 2016 East Anglian Book Award for Poetry and the Book by the Cover Award. Her first, Electric Shadow (Bloodaxe, 2011), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize for Poetry.
From 2011 to 2014 she was Poet-in-Residence at the John Jarrold Printing Museum. In 2008 and 2009 she was Writer-in-Residence for the London Science Museum’s Dana Centre. Her work has appeared in journals across the UK, America and Australia and been translated into Polish, German, Turkish and Romanian. She regularly works with poets worldwide by Skype.
Testimonials
I’ve been lucky enough to be mentored by Heidi for a year. At first I signed up because I really wanted to learn how to write better poetry, more truthful poetry, that felt like it came from my experience rather than just me with an intention to write. I also wanted to feel less blocked in other areas of creativity too, such as music.
Heidi is encouraging, supportive and honest. She gives very detailed, very careful feedback that leads me straight to the areas I need to work on and gives me ideas and tools I can use to help me get there. She is a very careful listener and tailors suggestions for exercises and work towards my ways of working. The sessions with Heidi are very practical, which I love, and she provides a great deal of sources and activities to stretch the work, see how it can be improved, and help me work with what’s on the page.
Heidi is very sensitive when reading material, I’ve found her very careful at looking at work that means alot to me due to the emotional content. She is extremely emotionally astute, and rigorous too in allowing for one’s own emotions and concerns to come through in the work and encouraging that to happen. I am now at a stage where I could submit some poems to publications and Heidi has encouraged me to do so. It means a great deal to be at this stage. I feel that having Heidi as a mentor has given my practice a shape and a direction and also given me tools to keep going and keep looking critically at work (both my own and other poets’). Working with Heidi has been a great pleasure and has been invaluable in that it’s opened up subjects, methods and a practice that I didn’t think I’d be able to find. Jenny Robottom
I valued this whole process immensely and I am grateful for the way you set it up. It was just perfect and felt generous and unforced but disciplined in its own right way. Heidi was a responsive and lively reader. I felt she entered into my own circumstances and tailored her support to suit exactly. I feel full of gratitude for the whole process. Lydia Harris
Working with Heidi through The Writing Coach has been literally life-changing. I left each session buzzing with new ideas, questions, resources and energy. Heidi is supremely talented at listening to what your poems say and to everything they almost say but don’t quite manage. She has a sharp eye for detail and knows just how much constructive criticism you need to hear, and when. Her knowledge of poetry and literature more broadly is vast, and she always has an apposite quote to scribble down – so much new writing has come from tangents of our discussions. She is full of suggestions and equally good at being flexible with ways to explore. I have looked forward to every single Skype session (though I used to hate Skype), and the insights, encouragement and ideas have lasted for weeks afterwards every time. Over a year, I’ve gone so far beyond the questions and doubts I had initially that they seem cutely ridiculous. I have loved having a guide to explore diverse words and ideas, the opportunity to discuss the whole bright world, and the gift of feeling I can call myself a poet. These joys will go on and on, I think. If it means eating beans on toast 6 nights a week and making all your own clothes to pay for it, do it. It makes meaning, it polishes your soul! Katharine Goda
Work with Heidi
Glynis Kozma
Glynis Kozma works with clients who want to develop their writing around their interests and passions, as writers of non-fiction books or features. She is the author of two non-fiction guides for parents and has written features for The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Independent, as well as a wide range of consumer magazines and websites.
Her areas of interest for her writing include education, family and health. Glynis is a fully qualified coach and a member of the Association for Coaching. A former teacher of English in secondary schools, Glynis now works with clients who want to write non-fiction books or develop their writing as journalists.
Glynis begins by helping her clients source ideas for a book often around their own life experiences, interests or professional expertise, then they move on to prepare a full proposal. With her contacts in the media she is able to offer insight into what publishers look for and how non-fiction authors can raise their profiles to become the ‘go to’ person for their subject. Writers who want to learn journalism will be guided on how the industry works, how to find suitable publications to pitch, and how to write attention-grabbing pitches.
I love working with clients who want to share their passion in their writing. Two of my former clients, who are now published authors, wrote self-help books: one on sport/exercise based on their considerable experience and the other as a parent whose child was born with a medical condition; she is now the founder of a charity to help other parents. You don’t have to be an expert to write non-fiction; you can become one if you have the passion. Similarly, if you have always wanted to share your opinions or experiences with a wider audience, learning how to write for the media is another route. What could be more satisfying then seeing your byline in a national publication? If you’d like support with any of this, I’d love to work with you.
Work with Glynis
Dr. Pauline Kiernan
Dr Pauline Kiernan is an award-winning playwright, commissioned screenwriter and prize-winning short story writer. She is also a Shakespeare scholar, taught English Literature at the University of Oxford for twenty five years and was awarded the Leverhulme Fellowship to work as dramaturgy and research resource with Mark Rylance and the companies at the Globe in its first six years.
She has published two scholarly monographs: Shakespeare’s Theory of Drama, and Staging Shakespeare at the New Globe, as well as the best-selling Filthy Shakespeare. She has also published the best-selling, snappily entitled Screenwriting They Can’t Resist: How To Create Screenplays of Originality and Cinematic Power – Break The Rules.
She has been a literary consultant and creative writing mentor for eleven years and has taught on the University of Oxford’s Creative Writing MA Courses.
Pauline has won several short story prizes, and has just completed a new play, Sedition.
I have a passion for encouraging writers – both emerging and more experienced – to develop for themselves the most imaginative and powerful way to shape their unique creative vision.
Work with Pauline
Dr Sara Bailey
Dr. Sara Bailey is a writer, consultant and lecturer who has been working with authors and screenwriters for many years in London, the Southeast and more recently in the Orkney Islands. Her first book, Writing the Horror Movie was published by Bloomsbury in 2014 and more recently, she was the debut author for Nightingale Editions in 2016 with her novel, Dark Water.
Sara has a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing from Bangor University. She developed and runs the Creative Writing degree for the University of the Highlands and Islands and has now completed her second novel Dark Water.
She is a member of the Crime Writer’s Association, the Author’s Association, the National Association of Writer’s in Education and is actively involved in national and international conferences on writing.
Work with Sara
Vanessa Neuling
Vanessa Neuling is an experienced editor of fiction and memoir. She started her editorial career at Virago/Little,Brown, working with high-profile literary authors, before moving to become a Commissioning Editor at Random House, buying in and editing fiction and memoir. She’s the author of eleven novels under pseudonyms – Vanessa Greene, Abby Clements and Sadie Pearse – and has been published in thirteen countries. She is a sensitive and dedicated editor and writing mentor, with a passion for helping writers find and develop their voices.
Interests: commercial fiction, literary fiction, historical, suspense, book club fiction, and memoir.
