Need a Writing Coach?

Dorian writes:

Apart from the workshops that I run, I offer writers a one-on-one mentoring service. Mentoring involves finding out where you want to go with your writing and helping you get there. I respond mainly via suggestions and questions. Helping you find your voice. Together we enter a great conversation. Who knows where this will lead?

Much of my response is based on The Writer's Voice: A Workbook for Writers in Africa. (Zebra Press 1998.) I'm interested primarily in the joy of creating and crafting and hold a deep belief in our creative potential. I can't teach you how to write but will encourage you and help you teach yourself. How to invoke your creativity and imagination and be at home with words. How to enter a space where the writing ‘arrives.’

I do not publish writing nor do I find a publisher. What I can offer is to try to make the work publishable. (If that is where you want to go.) A key question is how can the writing involve the reader as a creative participant? If you wish we can also use the writing process as a way of exploring new possibilities and potential or deal with personal/ work-related issues.

I'll give your writing my energy and attention. I'll send you a written response which includes a general commentary and specific comments within the text itself. Additional feedback can be via email, mail, phone or personal contact.

There are four options: (*Prices valid for 2008)

A: up to 9 hours = R 395 per hour

B: a 10 hour package = R 365 per hour x 10= R 3450

C: a 20 hour package = R 335 per hour x 20= R 6200

D: a 30 hour package = R 295 per hour x 30= R 8250

Options B, C and D can be paid in two instalments:

at the beginning and at 5, 10 or 15 hrs respectively.

*Foreign rates negotiable

Writing projects I mentored during 2006-7 involved autobiography, personal odysseys, spiritual quests, business ideas, motivational books, a book on dying, fiction, an academic thesis, life coaching, a film script, poetry, and an encounter with the wild.

I am moved by the meaningful improvements that you have wrought to my work. I wasn’t aware that editing could be so helpful. I suspect that I am especially fortunate and that serendipity touches our convergence on this, particularly your expertise that extends beyond grammar to include the spiritual content. Thanks again, Dorian.

Raymond Reichman-Israelsohn, Attorney

I was very excited to meet Dorian . After having struggled for 10 years with little support in writing and publishing my own books, finding a 'writing mentor' whom I could really trust was so motivating and such a relief.

Ruth Tearle, Strategic Planning and Change Management Consultant

Responses from clients:

I am moved by the meaningful improvements that you have wrought to my work. I wasn't aware that editing could be so helpful. I suspect that I am especially fortunate and that serendipity touches our convergence on this, particularly your expertise that extends beyond grammar to include the spiritual content. Thanks again, Dorian.

Raymond Reichman-Israelsohn

"I was very excited to meet Dorian . After having struggled for 10 years with little support in writing and publishing my own books, finding a 'writing mentor' whom I could really trust was so motivating and such a relief."

Ruth Tearle, Strategic Planning and Change Management Consultant

I found your input incredibly valuable indeed. In just two sessions with you, I learned more than I could have in a whole course of writing. It has made a huge difference to the manuscript. Every one of the issues you raised has become an indelible part of my approach. You were spot on with your incisive comments and direction.

James Saunders