Short stories, Personal Essays, Memoir

You: Are not mainstream in your outlook. Your vision is wide, and you are moved to write a work that has deep resonance for your community, your environment, your country, your world. Your story could be intimate and personal or complex and global or all these things. You are a literary writer who has worked on your project using all the tools at your disposal. You want a discerning reader who can evaluate your work using a fresh lens based not only on what you have already created but where you might take it. I have taught for decades in the US and abroad and published collections of stories, and essays, and novels. I have also published poetry and worked as a freelance journalist. I meet writers where they are, with regard for who they are as people, what has moved them to write, and with a view to helping them go further. I help writers to lean into the emotional truths that underlie their writing, to draw on their strengths, and to develop under-utilized aspects of their repertoire. 

I begin by talking with you about your project in an initial meeting to assess what you are trying to do, and what would be most useful to you as a writer. Following that, we would work out a series of meetings that would suit your project. Because of the intensely personal nature of creative writing, I choose to work with students whose project/ethics resonate with my own and whom I know I can help in the long term. Please submit a work sample of ten pages to  cheyenne@theshipmanagency.com in advance so I can determine fit. If it is a go but your circumstances make the fee prohibitive, let’s talk and see if there is a way to negotiate a compromise that is mutually respectful. 

Manuscript Feedback/Fiction & Memoir: If you have a completed manuscript where the structure is fairly straightforward, and you want feedback on the project, send me the first 50 pages double spaced in 12 pt font, and a synopsis. I will review your work and return it with a comprehensive assessment of the project. This process, including an initial conversation via phone or zoom, and a follow-up call, will take 6 hours. You also have the option of requesting an entire manuscript review up to 200 pages, which would be a 20 hour engagement including the initial call and two one hour follow up calls.

Coaching: This is for those of you who want to excerpt stand-alone sections from a manuscript to send to journals  and seek guidance on both the piece and the submissions, and for those who have a handful of stories or essays but need help shaping a manuscript. We will read your work aloud over zoom once a week, pausing along the way for comments regarding language and craft. We can get through a minimum of ten pages an hour. The process is best utilized with a longer time commitment over several months. The work we do together provides you with built-in deadlines, and the format gives you a cumulative benefit as you shape your project. 

Please note: upfront payment is for first hour; number of hours and final cost to be discussed after registration.