College Essay Coaching

I have 25 years of experience as a published journalist and am a two-time book author whose favorite form of writing is the personal essay. I'm also a seasoned editor, having worked on-staff at magazines and as a freelancer. Perhaps most importantly, I'm a mom of two teenage boys—one who wrote a great college essay and one who will—and a high school volleyball coach. I love working with teens and helping students find and develop their personal stories to create fantastic college essays.

Most of my writing these days can be found in Outside Magazine, but I spent years as a contributing editor to Runner's World, was the co-founding editor of Adventure Sports Magazine, and have been published in everything from Men's Health to Mental Floss. For more about my writing and editing background, please visit my About page.
But enough about me. I'm here to help students find their voice and craft great essays.  

​Contact me @ [email protected]
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The Process
  • We meet either in person at my studio in Boulder, Colorado, or via GoogleMeet from wherever you are in the world to start the brainstorming process. So much about writing is thinking, so this is to get the wheels turning. I send you home with a thought-provoking list of questions and maybe a tiny bit of light reading.
  • We meet again to discuss ideas and choose a direction or two. We do a writing exercise to get things started.
  • You send me an outline or a very rough draft (whatever works best for you) in a Google Doc by a deadline we set together.
  • We go back and forth in Google Docs. I edit and ask questions, you write and answer and develop your thoughts by a deadline we set. I edit again, and so forth. [3 to 5 times]
  • We refine until you are happy with your essay. [Up to 5 times total back-and-forth included, but we can do more if necessary.]
  • I proofread and we finalize.
Pricing
From scratch to final draft = $850
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Help with any stage of the process = $80/hour

Help with supplemental essays = $80/hour, or can discuss package deal

I am open to working on a sliding scale.