Writing Coaches & Consultants

Sara Burnett

Developmental Editing, Proofreading, Poetry Manuscript Review, High School Tutoring

Sara Burnett (MFA, MA) offers developmental editing, proofreading, poetry manuscript reviews and high school ELA tutoring services. She is a poet, writer, licensed middle school/high school educator and freelance curriculum developer. Sara has published articles on education equity and immigration, developed curriculum to those aims, as well as published several poems and a chapbook. She most enjoys working 1-1 with clients offering specific and helpful feedback to achieve their writing goals or to fulfill an assignment.

Carolyn Clark, PhD Classics

Writing Coach, Editing, Business Writing

Carolyn Clark, PhD, Pushcart Nominee 2020 is a retired teacher who sometimes leads workshops at The Writer’s Center. She is the author of Watershed – new Finger Lakes poems (2023), Poet Duet: A Mother and Daughter (2019); Choosing Lethe (2017); New Found Land (2017); Mnemosyne: the Long Traverse (2013) and has four poems in the Covid-19 anthology When the Virus Came Calling.

John DeDakis

Manuscript Editing, Personal Coaching

John DeDakis is a former copyeditor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis is the author of five novels in the Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense-thriller series. His two most recent novels have won five awards including Reviewers Choice and Feathered Quill. His editorial services include personal coaching and manuscript editing. For his manuscript editing service, DeDakis provides several options: a comprehensive deep-dive copyedit; a manuscript assessment; or a “weed whack” if your manuscript is too long but you don’t know how to cut it. For a complete breakdown of his services and fees, contact DeDakis through his website.

Meg Eden

Manuscript Feedback, Developmental Edits, Proofreading, Author Website Evaluations and Assistance, Promotional Material Design Work

Meg Eden’s work is published or forthcoming in magazines including Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, Crab Orchard Review, RHINO and CV2. She has been teaching creative writing at the university level since 2013, and has worked individually with student novels at the University of Maryland, as well as mentoring debut authors at the small press California Coldblood Books. She is the author of five poetry chapbooks, the novel Post-High School Reality Quest (2017), and the poetry collection Drowning in the Floating World (2020). She runs the Magfest MAGES Library blog, which posts accessible academic articles about video games (https://super.magfest.org/mages-blog). Find her online at megedenbooks.com or on Twitter at @ConfusedNarwhal.

Melanie Figg

Certified Creativity Coaching in all genres, Private Poetry Instruction (including Chapbook Editing), Developmental Editing in all genres, College Essay Tutoring

Melanie Figg (MFA, PCC, CPCC) is a certified professional coach and an active member of the International Coaching Federation. She works 1-1 with writers on their novels, memoirs, personal essays, and poetry collections. Her award-winning book, Trace, received a prestigious Kirkus starred review, and named it one of the top 7 inde books of 2020. Melanie’s work has been published in dozens of literary anthologies and journals The Iowa Review, The Rumpus, Nimrod, Hippocampus, Colorado Review, and others. She’s received many awards for her writing, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maryland State Arts Council, and grants from the McKnight and Jerome Foundations, and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County. Melanie also offers women’s writing retreats and private classes. Through her website, she offers a free 30-minute consultation to talk about how she might help you with your writing.

Nikki Frias, Book on a Budget Coaching

Writing Coach and Mentor

Nikki Frias has contributed to Forbes, The Daily Beast, and Boardroom. She is an author, writing coach and teacher specializing in comedy writing. After noticing the struggles with finishing her own book, she started “Book on a Budget” coaching to help writer’s achieve their goals with an affordable a la carte style to help at any stage. Her book is titled “Does this Divorce Make Me Look Fat?” and she currently teaches sketch and comedy writing at The Writer’s Center.

Claudia Gary

Editing & Proofreading (Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry), One-on-One Poetry Tutorials, Developmental Poetry & Nonfiction Editing, Meter/Form/Rhyme Coaching, Complete Chapbook Editing & Production.

Claudia Gary teaches Villanelle, Sonnet, Natural Meter, Poetry vs. Trauma, and Whole-Brain Poetry workshops at writer.org (currently via Zoom). Her experience as a health/science writer, poetry editor, history magazine editor, and musician/composer all enrich her coaching, consultation, teaching, and editing. Claudia’s sonnets, villanelles, and other poems can be found online in international journals, and in anthologies including Villanelles and Extreme Sonnets. Author of Humor Me (2006) and chapbooks including Genetic Revisionism (2019) and Epicurigrams (2017), she is a three-time finalist for the Nemerov Sonnet Award and 2013 semifinalist for the Hecht award (Waywiser). Follow @claudiagary.

Jennifer Hamady

Finding Your Voice

Presentation Development, Performance Coaching, Public Speaking, Vocal Training

Jennifer Hamady is an author, therapist, and performance and voice coach specializing in self-expression. She works in private practice with writers and others to help them find their voices, manage performance anxiety, and authentically share themselves and their work. Jennifer writes for Psychology Today on creative and personal expression and leads workshops on public speaking, including for The Writer’s Center.

Judith Harris

Editing, Teaching, and Coaching (in all genres, including academic writing); Submission for Publication

Judith Harris, PhD, has taught at several universities in DC including George Washington University and American University. She is the author of four poetry collections (LSU) and a critical book on psychoanalysis and literature, Signifying Pain: Constructing the Self Through Writing (SUNY). Her poetry has appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, The New Republic, New York Times blog, Slate, Hudson Review, among others. Her articles have been published by AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle, College English, The Washingtonian, Tikkun, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, Midwest Quarterly and she is currently writing the book, Poetry and Grief in Romantic and Contemporary Elegies for Routledge. She is associate editor of The Psychohistory Forum. She has mentored books by authors that have been published or are forthcoming in print.

GG Renee Hill

Creative Coaching, Project Development, Platform Building

GG is a self-help memoirist and creative coach who specializes in helping writers build creative courage, resilience, and a sustainable long-term writing practice. She offers coaching services that include idea generation, process and planning strategies, and accountability. Her guidance includes insights from her experience building a writer platform through online storytelling and content creation, self-publishing and traditional publishing, and creative consulting for nonprofit and corporate clients. GG helps writers stay on track and work through blocks, and she serves as a sounding board to support with brainstorming and ideation, feedback, and process issues. In addition to working with individuals through 1:1 and group coaching, GG’s past and present clients include a diverse list of organizations including The Writer’s Center, The Recording Academy, University of Maryland, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Cornell University, and BAE Systems, Inc. to name a few. You can learn more about her work and review client testimonials on her website.

Kathryn Johnson

Developmental Editing, Critical Reads, Private Coaching, Instructional Edits, Submission Guidance

Kathryn’s à la carte services for novice and experienced writers offer gentle, comprehensive guidance in all genres of fiction, memoir, and creative nonfiction. An instructor at TWC for over 10 years, Kathryn is the author of The Extreme Novelist, inspired by her most popular course. (In print, digital and audio formats: https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Novelist-No-Time-Write-Drafting/dp/0692420835/.) She has published over 40 novels with major New York publishers including Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins—and is the winner of the American Library Association’s Heart of Excellence Award and Romance Writers of America’s Bookseller’s Best Award.

Website: KathrynJohnsonLLC.com

Email: Kathryn@KathrynJohnsonLLC.com or Kathryn@WriteByYou.com

Laura J. Oliver, MFA

Story Development Editor, Manuscript Assessment, Writing Mentor (all genres), Publishing Guidance

Laura J. Oliver, MFA, is a story development editor, newspaper columnist, and weekly NPR contributor on Morning Edition, who provides writers with manuscript assessment and developmental editing to prepare fiction and memoir for publication submission. The author of The Story Within: New Insights and Inspiration for Writers (Penguin Random House), Oliver’s clients have landed book contracts with publishers such as Simon and Schuster. Oliver’s own work appears in national publications such as The Washington Post, Country Living Magazine, The Writer Magazine, The Sun Magazine, and numerous literary journals. Oliver won a Maryland State Arts Council Award Individual Artist Award, an Anne Arundel County Literary Arts Award, a Pushcart Prize nomination and has taught at the University of Maryland and St. John’s College.

Katherine Pickett

POP Editorial Services, LLC

Copyediting, Proofreading, Developmental Editing, Self-Publishing Consultation

Katherine Pickett is the owner of POP Editorial Services LLC, where she provides copyediting, proofreading, and developmental editing to authors and publishers across the country. A strong believer in the collaborative approach to editing, she adapts her style to fit the needs of her clients. She has been involved in the publishing industry since 1999 and has professional training in both fiction and nonfiction editing. She is also the author of the award-winning book Perfect Bound: How to Navigate the Book Publishing Process Like a Pro. Her articles have appeared on Publishing Perspectives, JaneFriedman.com, Writer Beware, IBPA Independent, and others. Find her blog at thePOPnewsletter.com.

Ann Quinn

Poetry Mentoring, Manuscript Evaluation

Ann Quinn is the author of Final Deployment and Poetry is Life and winner of the 2015 Bethesda Poetry Contest. In addition to classes through The Writers Center and other venues, she works with individual poets to hone their work for publication. In the words of one student, “Ann is sensitive to the feelings of fledgling poets but doesn’t pull her punches. She has a forensic eye for detail and spells out, without a hint of scorn or dogmatism, just what works—and more importantly—doesn’t work in a poem.” Current students have won awards and had chapbooks accepted for publication.

Contact Ann through her website for a free phone consultation.

Lynn Auld Schwartz

Story Development Editing, Manuscript Assessment, Individual Instruction, Ghostwriting, Performance: Reading and Storytelling Coaching

Lynn Auld Schwartz is a story development editor and ghostwriter for fiction, memoir, and performance works. For 20 years, Lynn has provided writers with manuscript assessments, developmental editing, and instruction—preparing writing for publication submission or performance. Lynn has received two Individual Artist Awards in Fiction from the Maryland State Arts Council; her plays/staged readings have been performed, including at Lincoln Center; and she founded NYC’s Temple Bar Literary Reading Series. A graduate of The City College of NY, Columbia University, and Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater, Lynn has taught at St. John’s College and The Writer’s Center.

Katherine Hutt Scott

Writing coaching, Writing, Message Development, Developmental Editing, Copy Editing, Proofreading

Katherine Hutt Scott is a recognized poet in the Washington, DC, area and loves all forms of beautiful writing. The Rose Theatre Co. performed two of her poems during Poetry & Music concerts at Glen Echo Park, in April 2024 and April 2025, and she won 3rd place in the 2018 Bethesda Urban Partnership poetry contest. Katherine has coached various professionals in effective writing, including health policy experts and entrepreneurs for the SBA’s Small Business Development Center in Washington, DC. She also has edited a book of poetry and helped a retiree with cognitive difficulties write his memoir about surviving brain cancer. Katherine has worked 15 years as an international communications professional and two decades before that as a journalist.

Marilyn W. Smith, PhD

The WordSmith

Coaching and Consultation, Developmental Editing, Copy Editing, Group Facilitation, Encouragement

Marilyn Smith earned her Ph.D. in Education Policy/Higher Education and an M.A. in Reading Education. She took numerous writing classes from The Writer’s Center and has taught a wide variety of courses/workshops/seminars since 1969. Marilyn has published two books—her memoir, The Yin-Yang Life of a Baby Boomer, and an anthology of medical memoirs, Tales from Our Hearts and Other Body Parts: A Women’s Health Anthology. Marilyn works with writers in memoir, family history, fiction, and non-fiction including academic writing and theses. She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and thoroughly enjoys her work as The WordSmith! References available upon request.

Susan Sonde

Poetry Editing, Coaching, Manuscript Revision and Preparation

Experienced, widely published prize-winning poet ready to help those at any stage of their careers. Whether you have a full-length manuscript or a select few poems, Susan will help you reach a wider audience through publication.

Elaine Stromquist

Editing, Tutoring (English, French, Writing), Educational Consulting

Elaine Stromquist is an educator, editor, and tutor. She has a BA and MA in French Language and Literature. She has taught and tutored all levels of French during her professional career. In addition, she has worked as an Editor and Educational Consultant, editing educational reports and publications and assisting clients with college essays and creative writing projects. She has had a lifelong passion for language, art, and international culture.

Mathangi Subramanian

High-quality editorial feedback; Personalized, private instruction on writing novels picture books, memoir, and nonfiction; Practical publication advice; Time management techniques; Specialized support for neurodiverse writers

Do you dream of seeing a book you authored on a library shelf, but aren’t sure how to start, let alone finish? You’re not alone! At Moon Rabbit Writing Studio, writing coach, editor, and writer Dr. Mathangi Subramanian specializes in supporting socially conscious writers with seriously busy lives. With 20+ years of teaching experience, a doctorate in education from Columbia University, and an extensive list of accolades for her books and other publications, Mathangi provides editorial advice, one-on-one coaching, and private instruction to clients from diverse backgrounds, abilities, and learning styles. Her inclusive, compassionate approach has helped clients achieve everything from publication in magazines like Newsweek to securing book contracts. She is trained in differentiation and able to provide accommodations for a variety of neurotypes.

Scott Swinney

Individual and Group Coaching, Concept Development, Ghostwriting, Research, Proofreading and Editing

I’ve taught college-level writing and research for 20 years, and I directed a university writing center for more than a decade. From the drawing board to the editing desk, I’ll be your discreet occasional collaborator or your affordable silent partner who helps you present your ideas clearly and concretely. I specialize in academic and professional writing, but I’ve worked with authors in many fields. I’ll also step in with a turn of phrase or an editor’s eye when you need it. Stop procrastinating! Let’s work together to make you a more focused, professional writer.

Sue Ellen Thompson

Poetry Mentoring, Manuscript Evaluation

Sue Ellen Thompson is the author of five books of poetry and winner of the 2010 Maryland Author Award. For more than 20 years she has been working with individual poets to revise their poems and improve their chances of getting published. She provides line-by-line feedback on specific poems either in person or via email; revised poems can be re-submitted for critique at a later date. She also work with poets who are preparing chapbooks or full-length manuscripts for publication. Several of her former mentorees have gone on to win contests and publish their books.

Hank Wallace, JD

Write & Speak Like the News

“Lead with the future — not background” is the most important of 9 journalism skills hankwallace.com/agenda.html that will transform your writing and speaking. Become “concise as news, precise as law” with Hank Wallace, a Columbia Law School graduate who wrote the FCC’s plain-language newsletter. Preview how you’ll learn: hankwallace.com/PDF/TrainLiketheNews.pdf.