From Idea to Manuscript

Get organized. Get assurance. Get the feedback you need.

From Idea to Proposal

Coaching

Have an idea and want to talk through the project from first notion to concrete steps? Coaching can be for a whole book, a chapter, a series of chapters, or a simple essay. I'll work with you to bring your work from an emerging idea to a pitch, a proposal or a complete manuscript. This is bespoke guidance on demand, curated to find the right publication home.

a man riding a skateboard down the side of a ramp

a man riding a skateboard down a street next to tall buildings

Manuscript Consult

Take your written work, chunk by chunk, and receive holistic feedback to hone the piece for the audience, the genre, and the ultimate publication home. I'll help you dial in on the structural elements and sentence-line elegance that fit your publication goals. You set the time and amounts and gain maximal editorial feedback.

Bring your finished manuscript to its final pre-pitch stage with edits that perfect your organization, facts, history, and the elegance of your sentence craft. From deep content to line-by-line edits, I'll edit and offer suggestions that will unlock insights into how readers engage your prose and how to craft a piece that moves from plain to memorable, from functional to artistic.

Editing

Schedule a Free Consultation

Writer to writer: we have the idea. A fellow writer once commiserated with me, "Writers need an audience, a purpose, and a deadline." A little fist bump on our voice never hurts either.

Writer to writer: I'm here to help you own your voice, identify your audience, clarify your purpose, set and meet your deadlines so you launch your next piece with confidence.

Together, we'll bring your manuscript out of ideation to completion, ready for proposal, pitch, publication.

Below are the formal services.

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Maria is a talented editor with a keen eye for both content and structure in the written word. I have had the privilege of collaborating with her for the past two years as a fellow memoirist and editor of my work, as well as that of others in our group. She approaches her suggestions with tact and insight, always aiming to enhance our submissions. Maria is professional and dedicated, striving to bring out the best possible outcomes for everyone she works with.

Gwynn Wills

★★★★★

Maria is a born teacher and a lover of language who has read widely—making her perfect for this work. She is able to separate herself from the minutia of words and grammar to grasp the bigger picture, while not foregoing the details. For more than two years, I’ve benefitted from her insights and expertise as she workshopped, among other things, the chapters that became my memoir. It’s a delight to see the way she's energized by this work and pours herself into her craft, always seeking deeper education and wider knowledge. I admire her, learn from her, trust her, and highly recommend her to help you bring your project to fruition.

Kelly O’Dell Stanley

Poet & Memoirist

Author

The Artist, Ladoga, Indiana

woman using computer sitting on black chair

a woman sitting on top of a rock writing

Maria has a rare gift for hearing and believing in the writer’s voice. Her vocation as writer and teacher is a powerful combination—her empathy for the writing and her teaching skills translate into invaluable, sometimes game-changing improvements in a manuscript. And with her marketing skills, she was able to choose the most compelling cover for my book before even I realized how strong it was!