Got Voice? Let me help you find yours.
Whether you are a new writer struggling to find your voice or a more advanced writer seeking the next level in your prose, I can help.
Depending on your editing needs, I can provide re-visioning of your manuscripts or an eagle-eye review to finalize your work for submissions.
![]() Have a short story for Kate to review?
After we agree to work together, you will send me a hard copy of your manuscript. I will provide my critique within 3-5 weeks, depending on the projects in queue ahead of yours . I provide a critique and an analysis of your work on a couple of different levels. First, I will analyze your characters and setting, dialogue, chronology, story structure, themes and tone. To what extent do you need to sharpen these writing tools? Second, grammar and language use will be scrutinized—while recognizing, of course, that creative writing sometimes calls for incomplete sentences. To make dramatic points. Finally, I’ll check whether you’re accomplishing what you set out to do. Is your story about what you mean for it to be about? Do you need to further develop some aspect of it in order for that to happen? Depending on your writing style and experience, I may need to focus on one level of critique more than the others. $275 for up to 7,500 words. Includes individual consultation in person in the Twin Cities, or by phone or Skype. For flash fiction or memoir (less than 1,500 words), $200 minimum charge. |
Click here to email me!It’s important for me to understand your vision for your story. To critique your work, I’ll need to know what your piece is about—just a short summary. Whatever you are working on, you will want to let me know your goals as writer and where you are now (even just to let me know it’s the first piece you’ve written). Knowing this, I can give you and your writing the care and attention to detail your work deserves.
MY FAVORITES Books: The Song Poet by Kao Kalia Yang Normal People by Sally Rooney An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott Latest favorite read: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin I've enjoyed more than one book written by the following writers (their interviews are inspiring, too): Anthony Doerr Nora Ephron Louise Erdrich Kazuo Ichiguro Jhumpa Lahiri Kiese Laymon Toni Morrison Ann Patchett F. Scott Fitzgerald David Sedaris Oh, and Judy Blume & Kate DiCamillo, too! Quotes: I write to discover what I know. ~Flannery O’Connor I try to leave out the parts people skip. ~Elmore Leonard Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov |
![]() Have a book length manuscript?
The summary you provide in your email is especially important, so I can evaluate how well your story is achieving what you want it to, and so I can more effectively steer you in the direction you want to go. The more I understand your characters as I enter your work, the more I can make sure your writing allows readers to live the experience of your story, just as you intend. As with shorter pieces, I provide critique and analysis on all three levels. (For a detailed explanation, see the critique process for short story reviews.) For book length manuscripts, this process needs to done on the chapter level and for the story as a whole as well. As I review and analyze your manuscript, I may find one area requires more attention than others. In that case, I will focus attention on that area so as to bring your writing to the next level—where it belongs. $75/hour $750 minimum charge $250 deposit required Expect an editing fee of $1100-$1500 for a manuscript of 80,000-100,000 words |