Writing Coach: My Life-long Journey with Language
With an English teacher for a mother, I think I was destined to love language.
Speech therapy at the age of three must have prepared me for a particular affinity for language. When I was twelve years old, I argued with my mom about how to pronounce a particular word. I grabbed one volume of our two-volume dictionary off of the bookshelf in our study. “See!?” I insisted. “It tells you right there how to pronounce the word.” I pointed at the marks indicating the international phonetic alphabet, incredulous about why my mom continued to pronounce the word with her Louisiana accent.
Of course, I’ve learned a lot since then and have a greater appreciation for each person’s unique voice and the contributions that each voice has to share with the world. You may have seen this very wise saying on the internet: “If a person mispronounces a word, she probably learned it from reading.” This I could understand, having grown up as an avid reader and having learned many new words long before I knew how to pronounce them.
If a person mispronounces a word, she probably learned it from reading.
I graduated in May 2018 with a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing, editing, and publishing, but this was by no means the beginning of my career with language. I’ve always excelled at grammar and the mechanics of writing, and friends often call on me when they have writing tasks that they want to shine. I’ve been a teacher of English as a second language to middle-schoolers up to adults, as well as a mainstream English teacher at the high school and college levels. In total, I’ve taught English for 16 years. I held a temporary position as assistant editor of Origin magazine, where I copyedited articles before print. While part of Sam Houston State University’s (SHSU) creative writing program, I interned at the Texas Review Press, where I performed editing and layout for books prior to publishing.
While I was teaching freshman composition courses, I used to wish that I could simply give students the feedback they needed to improve their work and skip the grading part. This is one of the aspects that I love about editing because I get to do just that! I love editing and I’m good at it—what greater joy is there than finding a job that combines one’s passion and talent?
While my time at SHSU helped to hone my skills with writing and editing, my many years of teaching and personal growth work have prepared me for working with writers. Twelve years of active participation in the More to Life program (a 35-hour course in personal growth and development) gave me the skills that make me a talented and inspirational coach. I ask evocative questions that lead others to discover the answers that may be lurking just below the surface and move to the next level in their writing process. Sometimes, all you need is for someone to ask you the right questions.
Sometimes, all you need is for someone to ask you the right questions.