Mentoring for Writers
You have something you’re Trying to write.
It could be a story idea for a novel. Or it could be your own personal, powerful story—the one you want to claim as your own.
It could be a book you think could help others, or some other kind of book, like creative non-fiction or a collection of poems.
It could be any number of things. Whatever it is, though, you know deep down you want to write this story. And, it seems to find you everywhere—in the early morning hours while you are making your coffee, while you’re driving to work, as you close your eyes to go to sleep.
But something is standing in your way. You keep running into obstacles.
Maybe, even though you know you’re supposed to write, whenever you sit down at your desk, you feel a strange, inexplicable resistance. You find yourself procrastinating, organizing your desk or doing laundry, making excuses or rationalizing.
Or maybe you’re struggling with a million competing demands on your time - your family, job, house, and more.
Or perhaps you can sense it’s fear that’s stopping you. Fear of what others will think if you write this story. Fear of what you’ll think of yourself if you don’t.
Perhaps you worry you’re not talented enough to tell this story or not inspired enough. Your inner critic rages and edits every word you write, and your inspiration and motivation seem to wither before your eyes.
At best, the idea that you’re meant to write something seems like a flickering little flame of hope. Other days it seems laughable.
I want you to know this is all so, so normal. And, I want you to know you can find the inspiration and courage to pick up your pen and start writing. You can turn your writing idea nto something tangible, something real.
You’ve probably already tried lots of things to help.
You’ve probably taken classes or maybe you’ve joined a writing support group. I know you’ve read lots and lots (and lots) of books about writing. All those things can be incredibly helpful.
And, sometimes you just need more.
Writing and sharing your story matters. And it’s deeply vulnerable. Writing down, and possibly sharing, the words stirring in your heart brings up all kinds of fear and insecurity - about your abilities, your worthiness. It’s all too easy to let yourself get sidetracked as your writing project starts to slip farther and farther away from ever becoming a reality.
What you need is a guide, a mentor, to help you get started on your project and/or to help you remove the obstacles you encounter along the way as you work on your project. You also need to know if your writing is on track, where it works and where it might need improvement.
This program is designed to give you both those things.
Client Experience
“In four weeks, Diane coached me out of a year-long drought, in writing and life, that workshops and helpful reading could not budge. I recommend her generous and practical coaching to get through your blocks and on toward your dreams.
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Who is this program for?
This is the ideal combination of intuitive energy reading, coaching support, practical writing advice, and, if desired, personalized feedback for women who want to write their stories.
This program is also for you if:
Want to find your own unique inner writing voice
Wish writing were easier, freer and more fun
Feel called to write something but might not yet be sure what that looks like
Have always loved writing but are secretly worried you aren’t ______ (fill in the blank: creative, talented, disciplined, etc.) enough to be a writer
Struggle with fears and self-doubt about your writing
Are having trouble consistently making time to write
Want honest and kind feedback on your writing, both on what’s working and where and how you can improve
This program probably isn’t for you if YOU:
Are only interested in an accountability coach, someone to pull out the whistle and clipboard and ensure you make your number of words, no matter what
Are only interested in writing in order to be published (which is different from writing and also desiring to share your work)
Just want someone to tell you what to do
Craft and Courage
Writing is, at its base, a craft, a skill that can be learned. We all learned how to write in elementary school. And, for many people, that’s exactly when the problems started. Often, they were told outright, or came to believe, they couldn’t write, and they continue to hold that belief, if subconsciously, today.
It takes intuitive awareness and careful deconstruction of often deeply hidden limiting beliefs to break through what might be stopping you from writing.
And, the way people are taught to write in school may work for 3rd grade essays about summer vacation. But it doesn’t help you tap into your deeper, more creative writerly-self and uncover your own inner writing wisdom. Each one of us has a unique voice as well as our own inner writing wisdom. I teach a process of reflective writing to help you go deep into your own well of creativity on your projects.
And then, there are ways to improve your writing too. I’m not talking about grammar and punctuation, although those are important, eventually. I’m talking about the bones of a story and what makes it engaging. Working together I offer you the opportunity to share parts of your writing with me, if it feels appropriate for you to do so given the stage of your project.
I’ll take it away, read through it, and give you kind, honest feedback. I’ll let you know what works, so you don’t have to worry, and what might not be working, what might stop readers from fully engaging in your work.
A Personalized Approach
What we work on in this program is personalized for you, with a focus on what you and your writing need most right now.
I meet you where you’re at.
Perhaps you don’t need help with the craft of writing because you’re struggling to just get started. Or maybe, you’ve written some of your story, but you’ve lost inspiration, or need a safe, trusted mentor to help you figure out what you need to do next. You might need a creative partner to help you brainstorm a story structure.
You might need a little bit of all that or something else entirely.
In our first call, we spend time establishing goals for our work together and then throughout the program check in to readjust where needed.
Everyone moves through the creative writing process at their own pace.
If you get stuck, that’s where I use my intuitive ENERGY and coaching skills to help you remove what you find standing in your way of your writing.
I’ve helped clients move past all kinds of blocks. Like fears they aren’t good enough to be a writer, or that they don’t have anything interesting to say, or they don’t have the time, money or space to be writing. The list is long. I’ve helped clients, even ones with whole manuscripts written, believe in themselves and take practical steps toward putting their words out in the world.
Client Experience
“At a time when living the Writer’s Life was little more than a dream of mine, the universe introduced me to Diane. She took me by the hand and heart to help me navigate through the isolation and introversion of writing my first novel. I may never know why the Muse of my story chose me for its telling but, together, Diane and I found the light that is waiting for every writer at journey’s end.
There is a magical place where the art of a story and its writer first meet, Diane will help take you there...”
Comprehensive Support
This program lets you get the support you need over time. That’s why the package contains the number of sessions it does (6) and is structured with flexibility.
I’ve helped hundreds of clients understand what is holding them back, and I’ve spent years reading pages of writing and giving caring and honest feedback. I point out things I find particularly powerful and moving and what might need some more depth or clarity.
This program can help you:
Get clarity on what’s hampering your relationship with your writing
Discover your unique “why” for writing
Tap into your own intuitive writerly self
Be surprised by your own unique creativity
Find your inner writing voice
Move past your inner critic
Find the courage to get your beautiful words out in the world!
A Mentorship Program
This program is a personalized approach to helping you make progress on your writing projects.
We’ll meet together on a regular basis. I recommend twice a month to keep the momentum focused and to allow time for integrating and moving forward on objectives between calls. However if you want to move faster, we can do that instead and meet every week.
All of our sessions are recorded, and you’ll have access to the cloud recordings for a month after we stop working together so you can go back and refer to what we covered at any time. I’ll send you a link after each call so you can download them to your personal computer to have permanent access.
Client Experience
“Diane has just the right combination of critical eye and gentle touch that I needed to guide me as I completed my book. Her excellent observations, often phrased as questions, allowed me to sharpen my message and see the passages that could be improved, moved or eliminated. Always allowing me the ultimate decision on any changes, I appreciated her clear vision and ability to focus on individual pieces of writing while keeping the whole work in mind. She was instrumental in guiding me to focus on my audience and she helped me shape my book into a much more cohesive work.
Unfailingly positive, her encouragement and belief in my writing gave me courage and the confidence to submit it for publication. She was flexible in her approach to the timing of the editing process and allowed me to decide on the amount of material we would tackle during each session, yet she encouraged me to stay on task and her involvement gave me the structure I needed to complete the work. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work with Diane and I highly recommend her as a coach.”
Your Writing Mentor
I spent much of my life looking for home. Now I want to help others find theirs.
My search for home was both literal (I lived in 15 different places across three continents over the past several decades) and metaphorical. For a long time, I lived life dedicated to learning all the rules, hoping to finally fit in. Until one day I realized that feeling at home is something I needed to find within.
Now, I know that when I’m being most unique individual self - claiming my essence, fulfilling my purpose, using all of my gifts and talents and my voice - rather than fitting in, this is when I feel most at home.
And that’s what I want to help you with in this program - coming home to yourself in your writing and sharing your unique voice through your work.
Writer and intuitive Guide
In this program, I bring two of my strongest skills together - writing and intuitive coaching. I’ve been a writer my whole life. I remember sitting in my bedroom with my younger sister when I was about 10 years old, a box fan rattling in the window and stirring the humid summer air. We’d spend the afternoon writing stories and then gather up the loose leaf sheets of paper and draw a cover for our books with crayons on construction paper.
I’ve never stopped writing since. I love writing. It makes my soul sing.
I also love exploring the connection between writing, creativity and spirit. I’ve done so in the last several years by hosting reflective writing retreats designed to help women uncover the messages their souls are longing for them to hear.
I offer intuitive energy readings and powerful coaching to help you remove any obstacles and blocks you encounter as you go on your writing journey, and I give you honest, heartfelt feedback and practical advice on the next steps in your writing journey.
endorsed intuitive and certified coacH
I’ve always seemed to know things that others didn’t. For a long time, I wrote that off as coincidence or just lucky guesses.
In 2016, I decided to align my work in the world with my own gifts and talents. I completed an in-depth coach training program, and then went on to become a Martha Beck Certified Wayfinder Life Coach. As part of my own journey, I then left my corporate marketing job to become a coach
After that, I went on to study intuition and learn the ARTs method of energy reading at Beverly Belling’s Intuitive Arts Studio where I soon became one of the program’s Endorsed Intuitives.
Since then, I’ve spent hundreds of hours mentoring and giving energy readings to writers, artists, coaches and healers helping them get unstuck and bring their work into the world.
Experienced Marketer
I spent 16 years as a Director in a company in the talent mobility industry, working with some of the world’s largest companies. I spent the last several years of my corporate career as a Director, Global Marketing and Communications. I bring all those project management and professional writing skills to my work now, helping writers break down their writing projects into easy, manageable steps and feel more confident that they are making progress.
PUBLICATIONS
”Finding a Place to Call Home.” World Lives, Prairie Living, edited by BJ Elsner and Terri Wiebenga, Razor Edge Press, 2005
“Unlocking the World in the Backyard of Myself.” Selah Alumni Contest Winner. Grinnell College. May, 2010.
“Button Box.” Mary Jane’s Farm, vol. 13, no. 5, Aug-Sep 2014
“From Behind the Veil.” Song of Ourself: Voices in Unison. Dragolin Press, 2018.
“debt.” Pasque Petals. Fall, 2023
“insomnia.” Pasque Petals. Fall, 2023
I’ve just completed my first poetry collection manuscript, and am currently revising the draft of my first novel.
Client Experience
“What I like most about working with Diane is the comfort I feel in talking with her. There is no judgement on her part, nor any alternative agenda; she is genuinely listening to me and offering me questions to ponder about my work, pushing me further than I thought I could go and is there to support me every step of the way.
The most transformative part of this coaching experience has been the tremendous growth on my part because of her questions and our discussions. She helped me see how I was the only person holding myself back and gave me the ability to nudge myself until my novel was finished. I will carry her knowledge and insights with me as I continue to write my next novel and just move through life in general. I would not have finished my novel nor be where I am in my writing career without Diane. She is magical!
I would highly recommend working with Diane. I truly enjoyed every second of our coaching sessions because she is simply easy to talk with, supports you in every way possible, listens better than anyone I know, and gets to the heart of what is hindering your creativity. Every time our sessions ended I felt energized and ready to tackle my writing project with a renewed enthusiasm.
None of it I write feels eloquent enough or strong enough to state how wonderful I believe Diane truly is, not only as a person but as a coach. I feel blessed to work with her!
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What’s Included in This Program?
This Program Includes:
Six (6) 60-75 minute individual sessions, twice a month that include, depending on your needs and where exactly you are at with your writing, some, or all, of the following:
a discovery call where we explore you, your story, your writing ‘why’ and what it is you are doing/want to create in the world
an intuitive energy reading focused on your relationship with your writing and what is asking for your attention
a discussion of challenges you uncover as you grow your relationship with your writing, including coaching, intuition, and/or practical suggestions to help you remove obstacles
collaboration and ongoing support on any writing goals you feel called to set
enchanted exercises to unlock the mystery of where your writing may want to take you
conversation, assignments and/or teachings on any applicable elements of the writing craft to help move your work forward
creative visualization exercises to develop or fine tune your story’s characters, plot line, or project essence
journeying to find a Writing Guide to help you solve a writing problem or answer a question your project has
practical help and advice to begin sharing your writing more broadly, which could include tips to get going via email, a blog, speaking engagements, social media, etc.
Session recordings
You get access to cloud-based recordings of our calls that can be downloaded to your computer for permanent access.
We cover a lot in our calls. Sometimes we go deep, and other times we go wide. Often it’s a lot to absorb in one go. And when you go off to work on your writing the next day, for example, it’s nice to be able to review the details of what we discussed. These recordings let you re-absorb ideas that emerged from our sessions whenever you’d like.
Steps to take between sessions to help ensure you are moving forward in your writing journey, as needed
High-level, verbal feedback via email on one piece of writing as needed, up to 5 pages, that you submit between sessions
We don't just spend time on calls. When you write, you get my honest, experienced and kind feedback.
Using collaborative Google docs, so I can give you very specific feedback, I spend time going over your materials. I help you make real improvements to your writing, as well as understand where I hear your voice coming through the most powerfully. You’ll know what’s not working so well as well as what is, so you don’t have to second guess yourself.
Available email support between sessions
Weekly emails with visual inspiration and messages
Price: $875 USD
(payment can be made in one or two equal payments)
Are You Ready to Get Help With Your Writing?
If you’re ready to work together with me as your writing mentor, here’s what to do:
Step 1. Click the “Apply Now” button below to answer a few questions so I can know a bit about you and what you’d like to get out of coaching with me.
Step 2: Once your answers have been submitted, you’ll receive a link to schedule a consult call within one business day.
Step 3. At the scheduled time of your consult, we’ll consult! We’ll use the opportunity to make sure we’re the perfect fit before you commit and answer any outstanding questions you may have.
Step 4. Then we’ll get started! If you decide to work with me, I’ll tell you the exact steps for getting started. If you decide not to work with me or if we aren’t a perfect fit, I’m happy to share other resources to help you get what you need.
Still Not Sure?
Feel free to ask me any questions you have about the Inner Wisdom Writing program. I promise I don’t do hard selling and am not trying to get you on the phone to ‘close the deal.’ I want you to feel comfortable to ask any questions you have.