Writing Coaching - what is it and why should you pay me for it?
Great question! Let me start by telling you how I ended up claiming the title.
Why ‘coach’ instead of ‘teacher’
When I work with you I’m looking at the whole ecosystem of how you approach your writing ‘assignment’. Because there may be more than one assignment, or because some personal issue may bleed over into a professional one, I am also looking at how different contexts affect your ability or willingness to write. Even though good teachers do exactly this, I feel like ‘coach’ carries this meaning in the title more directly for more people than ‘teacher’ does.
A piece of relevant personal history
When I was in my mid-20’s my ballet master in New York asked me to start up a beginning adult class. I’d been teaching ballet since I was 17, but building up a class from scratch was something new. The thing I realized immediately was that my first task in building this new learning environment was not to teach steps. I had to start by creating a container that would make it safe for each student to become a dancer, no matter what their abilities, knowledge, or even, to a degree, their emotional state.
I had to build a foundation of trust in me, trust in the structure of the class, trust in their own body, and trust in physical self-expression. Everyone and any body can be a dancer, if they trust themselves to be. Writing is no different.
So… what do we do when we do ‘Writing’?
We are all communicating, all the time. Sometimes we choose, or have to do it, through words that other people read. The question is, what are we really saying? This question has more than one answer!
First of all, what am I truly, madly, deeply wanting to say?
Secondly, how are my readers interpreting what I am saying?
Whether you are a poet or responsible for the emails meant to make sure the latest compliance policy is read, understood and implemented across your organization, as a writer you are initiating a conversation. You want to be listened to; you need to be heard. This is your heart’s desire; this is how you bring home the bacon or Better Burger.
So, your next double-pronged question, as a writer, always needs to be: am I saying what needs to be said?, and, am I saying it so it can be received?
Most of us do not do this well. It is not part of our education or on-the-job training.
This is why people hire me.
My work as a writing coach will help you understand what you want or need to say and to figure out how to say it so that your intended reader can understand it too.
What exactly will we do?
Our work together is co-created. What you need to build or expand your safe writing foundation and meet the requirements of your professional or personal ‘assignments’ is always specific and often highly nuanced.
This is why my tools—beyond decades of writing, editing and teaching and and my (vast and varied!) knowledge of what it means to work, manage and produce in different professional, cultural and language contexts—include dance improvisation and choreographic exercises, guided meditation and embodiment practices, timed writing assignments and other highly personalized modalities.
Interested? Click one of the buttons below to learn more about working with me on your writing.
“I felt taken into account as a full person. Lise really stays present. She found the tiny little things that turn me on and made it possible for me to start thinking about writing as a practice, which hadn’t occurred to me before. It’s so easy for her that she doesn’t seem to think it’s a superpower!
-Olivia Lehrman Sblendoiro, Land-in-the-Net Money Coach