Grand Junction Workshops

Editing and Coaching

Retreats

About Sandy

Books and Selected Work

Response From Writers

Editing & Coaching

As an editor, my goal is less to “fix” text than to discover each writer's strongest voice and to listen to what sings. A fundamental goal is to act as a mirror to writers so they can recognize their best writing and finish it. I am attentive to the market, but not driven by it. Thus I edit single projects to help writers get manuscripts out the door, and I also develop long-term relationships with writers over the years that books and scripts require. All genres are welcome: literary novels, mysteries, science fiction, short stories, essays, critical work, trade books, grants, proposals and scripts.

Help can be:

• Response on specific concerns, from grammar and syntax to language and form.
• Ongoing coaching sessions in response to drafts and seed pieces.
• A written analysis of your manuscript, followed by discussion with you.
• Restructuring suggestions for writers who sense that a project has gone off track.
• Careful line editing on a final draft.
  

Consultation begins with talking by phone or in person. This gives you a chance to ask questions, allows me to get to know you and your goals as a writer, and gives us both time to determine the most productive way to work together.

After I read a sample of your work and we agree what needs to be done, I'll give you a time and cost estimate, either by the hour or by the project. Manuscript editing, for example, is on an hourly rate, and you stipulate the maximum time. You can meet with me for coaching sessions to start a project, and continue meetings or ask me to simply read the pages you've produced.

Please contact me to set up a time to come to my office. Good luck with your work.

"Sandy Dorr brings to editing a reliably clear eye and ear for the language, and shape, of literature. No writer could ask for a more faithworthy partner.'

–Molly Gloss, The Heart of Horses, Wild Life