Coaching for Poets

We are delighted to announce our new service – Coaching for Poets. Our poetry coaches, Heidi Williamson and Julia Webb are ideally placed to guide you, whether you are a beginner to poetry writing or a published poet seeking career development and help with your latest collection.

About Coaching for Poets:

Heidi Williamson writes:

Poets like to write ‘into’ what they’re working on, but starting each new poem can be difficult. Having an aim, a deadline, and an experienced reader can be a great boost to poets at all stages, especially in the ongoing atmosphere of creative discussion that the coaching and mentoring fosters.

Our poetry coaching programme acknowledges the specific needs of poets. Our poetry coaches can support you with feedback on the work, but also offer coaching on the broader aspects of the writing life.

Our Unique Offering:

We offer a tailored version of our ‘Full Mentor’ programme for poets and have designed a version of the programme specifically to suit the needs of those writing poetry.

This programme includes reading and full annotation of up to 20 pages of poetry. This can be submitted at the beginning or at any time during the coaching period for the three month package. Our six month and one year programmes include feedback on up to four extra poems a month, in addition to the initial 20 pages.

Your coach will make notes, consider your work and give you in-depth editorial feedback during your calls. They will also return your manuscript with detailed notes. Coaching and mentoring is conducted by telephone or Skype and includes ongoing email support between sessions. After each coaching session you are invited to submit a review form to confirm your action plan.

In the one year programme, we also build in a unique extra layer of work, not included in our other coaching programmes: an opportunity to resubmit the reworked 20 pages at the end of the process for further editorial feedback – all for the same price.

Our coaching can also address many areas of your life and your writing, including inspiration, motivation, writer’s block, productivity, time management, working methods, business skills, self-marketing, confidence, submissions and publishing.

About 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. Her first, Electric Shadow (Bloodaxe, 2011), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize for Poetry.

Her work has appeared in journals across the UK, America and Australia and she has been translated into Polish, German, and Turkish. In 2008 and 2009 she was Writer-in-Residence for the London Science Museum’s Dana Centre. From 2011 to 2014 she was Poet-in-Residence at the John Jarrold Printing Museum.

Heidi studied poetry and prose at UEA. 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.

Books by Heidi Williamson:

Her playful experiments with form uncover the mechanics at work behind language itself … documenting a contemporary world in which the very ‘substance of a Tweet’ is potentially radioactive – Poetry Book Society Spring Bulletin, 2016 on The Print Museum by Heidi Williamson

About Julia Webb:

Julia Webb is a poet, creative writing tutor, artist and editor based in Norwich.  She has two poetry collections published by Nine Arches Press: Bird Sisters (2016) and Threat (2019). In 2011 she won the Poetry Society’s Stanza competition. Her poem “Sisters” was highly commended in the 2016 Forward Prize and in 2018 she won the Battered Moons poetry competition with her poem “We is in the bank”. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.

Julia has masses of poetry industry experience – she runs Norwich Stanza group, works for Gatehouse Press and Café Writers, and is a poetry editor for Lighthouse (a journal for new writing). She has a first class honours degree in Creative Writing from Norwich University College of the Arts and an MA (poetry) from the University of East Anglia. She teaches creative writing, mentors poets and runs online poetry courses. She also writes poetry book reviews for Under the Radar.

Julia believes in the value of mentoring and has had mentoring herself at key points in her writing career, which she found invaluable. She believes it is never too late to start writing.

Our Coaching Programme for Poets:

Our coaching programmes are, we believe, unique, in that we offer the opportunity for feedback on collections of work. We offer the opportunity to look at a larger volume of poetry than usual and this means that you can focus on building a body of work with the support of our coach/mentor.

All of our programmes include:

• Editorial feedback on a single batch of up to 20 pages of poetry (may be written over the 3 month period for the three month programme)
• One one hour coaching session per month, taken by telephone or Skype
• Full, regular personal email support between sessions
• Membership of The Writing Coach clients-only Facebook group
• Your own list of action points after each session
• Our wholehearted support of you as a writer

A six month programme includes:

• All of the above: your 20 pages are read upfront at the beginning of the coaching
• You then receive editorial feedback on 4 additional poems a month
• Additional half hour per month for editorial feedback discussions (quick call-in or extra time on the session)

We estimate this equates to reading and annotation of around 44 pages of poetry over the six month period

A twelve month programme includes:

• All of the above, plus the opportunity to resubmit 20 pages for editorial feedback at the end of the mentoring period

We estimate this equates to reading and annotation of around 88 pages of poetry over the twelve month period.

Fee:

All our prices are inclusive of VAT

Three month programme:

The fee for the three month programme is £720 (approx.$985) when paid in full in advance.

OR £260 (approx. $355) per month for three months.

Six month programme:

The fee for the six month programme is £1225 (approx.$1675) when paid in full in advance.

OR £225 (approx. $307) per month for six months.

Twelve month programme:

The fee for the twelve month programme is £2150 (approx.$2940) when paid in full in advance.

OR £2325 (approx. $3181) via one advance instalment of £950 ($1299)  followed by eleven monthly payments of £125 (approx $171).

OR £215 ($294) per month for twelve months – total of £2580 (approx $3530).

If you are interested in the programme or have any questions, please contact us to arrange a time to speak to Jacqui Lofthouse, Heidi Williamson or Julia Webb. We are very happy to speak with you to explain what the programme entails and to find out whether we are a good ‘match’ with you.