Hello, and welcome. Sometimes people sign up to writing coaching and mentoring services in good faith without knowing much about the person to whom they entrust their writing. Sometimes people sign up for mentoring with a high-profile writer. Being a published writer is an excellent start to effective coaching and mentoring but working with someone who has substantial experience as a writer plus writing teaching experience offers the best of both worlds. I bring a valuable combination of skills and experience to Written Word Coaching, including a thirty-year plus cross-form/genre writing and publishing history and many years of creative writing and English Literature tertiary teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at top tier institutions like NYU Sydney and the University of Sydney. I also have creative and scholarly expertise in the writing of trauma, and an adult learning and teaching education qualification (Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching for Higher Education).

I see learning as a lifelong process encompassing a wide range of experiences. I have earned three degrees: a BA Communication (majoring in writing and philosophy) from the University of Technology Sydney, an MA by research in creative writing from the University of Queensland, and a PhD in the Writing and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University. I understand the value of education in developing skills and character and transforming lives and society. I also recognise that some of my most valuable development as a person and writer has taken place outside institutions. The word that defines the teaching and mentoring I have benefited most from, whether within formal education settings or not, is nurturing. To be nurtured means to be cared for while growing, to be helped and encouraged in the process of development. Good writing coaching and mentoring nurtures both the writing and the writer.

Writing makes a vital contribution to society. We human beings are storytelling and sense-making creatures, but sometimes, we get blocked, or when we sit down to write, we struggle to find our voice or to craft our writing in a way that works. And sometimes, what we need to write and make sense of is painful and personally or creatively challenging. Having a warm, safe sounding board and expert guidance can make all the difference.

In addition to a generalist service, Written Word Coaching offers a unique, specialist service in the writing of trauma. My PhD forged an influential understanding of trauma and affective operations in literature and the way creative thinking and writing can address impacts, and I have published three major works focussing on writing and trauma in addition to numerous minor academic and creatives works. Traumata, published by University of Queensland Press in 2018, was widely reviewed and critically acclaimed, with Books + Publishing announcing it ‘a humane, thought-provoking and heart-breaking addition to our understanding of individual and collective suffering’ and The Weekend Australian stating it is ‘an incisive case study of trauma’s effects, how it can compound at an individual level, and how it operates in society’ that ‘achieves powerful clarity within page-turning tension.’ My academic monograph, The Poetics of Transgenerational Trauma, published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2017, explored ‘how literary testimony might reveal something of the processes of trauma’s transmission in the world at large’ (Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature) and was declared ‘masterful’ and ‘fascinating’ (Hypatia). And Traumatic Affect, an international volume I co-edited was published in 2013.

Samples of my literary writing and a list of publications are available on my writing website. Please complete the questionnaire and book for a free 15-minute initial consultation if you are considering working with me.