About me
My love of reading from an early age led me to study English at Cambridge University, and afterwards took me to a publishing house in Germany where I began my editorial training in earnest. Back in the UK, I worked both for publishers and book production companies – widening my knowledge to include the practicalities of book production.
Since 2007, I have worked with hundreds of writers from the UK and beyond (including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece and the U.S.) as a literary consultant. In addition to being trained to spot and remedy the weaknesses in a manuscript, I know both the common gripes and concerns of publishers, agents and the book-buying public, as well as the common worries and stumbling blocks for writers.
I have spoken at writers’ groups, festivals and events throughout the UK and facilitated writing workshops on a wide range of book-related topics, including first ideas, writing a memoir or family history, editing your work, book marketing, routes to publication, goal-setting, what makes a book sell, media training for authors and the nuts-and-bolts of self-publishing. I have also been tasked with assessing writers’ funding applications for organisations and adjudicating writing competitions.
In my literary consultancy and editorial services, I aim to bring out the very best in the writers I work with.
My writing handbook 52 Dates for Writers is based on my work as an editor and writing mentor. Stockists include Waterstones, Blackwells, the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh Writers' Museum, the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries and the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh.
Set over a summer in Berlin, my novel Saving Francesca Maier probes the secrets every family hides and the choices we make in a volatile world. Saving Francesca Maier is available in paperback, large print and e-book formats.
52 Dates for Writers brings together all that I have learnt in my work as an editor and writing consultant. My starting point was the common trouble spots I saw writers stumbling over. I wanted to find a way of helping writers avoid these pitfalls whilst enjoying the process, and so I came up with a series of writing dates to reinvigorate a novel draft.
I’m based near Edinburgh for in-person consultations and also have links to Cornwall, where meetings can be arranged.