Creative Coaching for Writers
Are you struggling to find the time and space to write? Are fear, resistance, and self-doubt keeping you from putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)?
If you're in the midst of a book or a large-scale writing project, are you having a hard time sustaining your enthusiasm and staying the course?
As a writing coach, my mission is twofold: to help you advance your work in progress and deepen your relationship with your creativity.
As an author and freelance writer, I understand what it means to face a blank page. I know how exhilarating it feels when the words are flowing, when you're graced with a great idea. I also know how devastating it feels when resistance and perfectionism—a.k.a. writer's block—keep you from doing your best work.
When we work together, I share stories, lessons, and tools from successful creators and from my own writing life. I want you to benefit from everything I've learned (and continue to learn!) about the creative process from working as a freelance journalist to becoming a Big 5-published author.
See what writers have said about working with me.
My coaching approach
As creative beings, we tend to think our writing lives are separate from our lives as a whole. However, whether we like it or not, everything that happens away from the page impacts how we come to the page.
When we work together, we focus as much on your writing project as we do on your relationship with your creativity.
Elevate your relationship with your writing + advance your work in progress
I've designed my coaching programs for experienced writers who are committed to creating a wholehearted relationship with their writing as they advance their works in progress.
My writing coaching programs
Every writer develops their own creative process and their own unique relationship with their writing. That said, certain elements are essential to a healthy writing practice, and I've incorporated them into all my coaching programs. They include:
- zeroing in on why you write and why you want to write this particular work in progress
- clarifying your writing goals and making a plan for reaching them
- exposing and working with fear and resistance
- engaging with your sources of creative inspiration
- creating space for your writing practice in the context of your other priorities and obligations
Though these elements are important for anyone who wants to write, every writer approaches them differently. This is why I've created coaching programs to meet you where you are in your writing practice: Process Revival and The Writing Life.
Process Revival
"...The creative act often involves a betrayal of the status quo."
― Alan Watt
The Process Revival coaching program is designed to elevate your writing practice, increase your capacity to cope with fear and resistance, and revitalize your relationship with your creativity.
We do this in three phases:
- Assessing: In which we perform a thorough check-up of the current state of your writing process, including what's working, what's not working, and what calls for change.
- Experimenting: In which we use what we learn during the assessment phase to generate new approaches and/or recalibrate existing tools to integrate into your writing process.
- Anchoring: In which we consider all the discoveries from the experimentation phase and co-create ways to build creative resilience, sustain your enthusiasm for your writing, and fortify the pillars of your creative life.
By the end of the program, you'll have a precise picture of your writing process and your sources of creative support. You'll also develop specific tools to meet and work through your creative challenges. Together, we'll explore your immediate and long-term writing goals—and co-create strategies to reach them.
The Writing Life
"If you want to work on your art, work on your life."
— Anton Chekhov
The Writing Life coaching program includes all of the elements of the Process Revival program. In addition, we focus on strengthening your sense of creative purpose as you advance your work in progress.
We dig deep into your intentions and help you connect (and reconnect) with your motivation to write. Why this this writing project? Why you? Why now?
We also look at who you're trying to reach with your work and what you want your writing to be in their lives. Along the way, we experiment with tools to support your writing practice and your creative life.
We co-create strategies to help you move forward with your writing project in a way that feels natural, flexible, and generative for you.
By working at the internal and external levels, The Writing Life gives you the tools to repair and revive your relationship with your creativity, build a lasting, wholehearted relationship with your writing, and set you up to publish work that moves people.
How do you know I'm the right coach for you?
Since coaching is such an individualized process, it's important to figure out whether we're a good fit, both personally and professionally.
I work with writers who are experienced professionals. They are passionate about the stories they want to tell. They have compelling ideas. They want their work to serve others. They welcome constructive feedback. They are willing do whatever it takes to grow their relationship with their writing.
The writers I coach want to feel safe and free to explore their inner creative territory. They want unconditional support for their writing and their writing lives. They also want proof that I can help them reach their writing goals.
The only way we can know whether all of this is possible is to do a trial coaching session together.
How to apply for a coaching spot
If you'd like to find out what it's like to work with me, the first step is to apply for a coaching spot.
I'll review your application, and if it seems like we might be a good fit, I'll contact you to set up an initial coaching session. During the session, we'll focus on your writing goals, your current challenges, and the possibilities for your writing project.
There's no fee for this initial conversation and no obligation to book additional coaching.
The goal of our introductory conversation: to give you the tools you need to jumpstart your writing project and help us determine whether one of my coaching programs might help you reach your writing goals.
Ready to get started? Apply for a coaching spot here.
Working with Layne opened up a self-compassionate approach to writing. I have started to trust my own process, to create in a joyful mode rather than exerting pressure, and to allow all the time it takes. I have come to see structure as support and to look out for inspiration in order to place myself in a lineage of engaged women writers. Also, I write for my own fulfillment and no longer try to fulfill demands of people I don't care about. Working with her has set so much in motion!
—Rea Mair, Author and playwright
Layne is not only a wonderful writing mentor, but a motivational coach of the finest kind. I've been working with her since February 2020, when I started working on my first book. Now it's October. The first draft has been finished for a good month. Working with Layne has opened my mind and freed my creative spirit. Plus, she is wonderfully funny.
—Ilona Clemens, Author of Kraniche im Grenzland
I have been writing for a very long time. However, my writing consisted of academic papers, lectures, and co-writing two plays. I was aware of Layne's success as a writer and discovered that she also was a coach. I knew nothing about coaching and wondered how would it work. Would I be given assignments? Would she be too critical? I wrote three short stories about people in a retirement home. Layne was with me for the entire process. Layne also had me stretch myself. She constantly challenged me. The retirement home stories were fun to write and I was very happy with them after I followed most of Layne's suggestions. However, I decided that I needed to write a short story about a horrific event that happened when I was a teenager. Layne helped me so much with this. I never could have written this without her. In summary, I thought that Layne was a great coach. She was extremely patient, adaptable and always positive. I learned more from working with Layne than I could either from reading a book about writing or taking an online course. I am looking forward to working with her again after I catch up on some of my other activities.
—Diane Claerbout, Playwright and independent researcher
What inspired me to seek writing coaching was my curiosity. I wanted to learn how I could create an environment that would encourage me to write regularly. With Layne I learned that it's less about waiting for THE idea and more about creating the conditions that make writing possible. I also learned that what matters in writing is not living up to a certain set of standards, but refining and trusting the process. Layne's coaching style is very empathetic, focused, and solution-oriented.
—Joachim Bessell
What Layne manages to do is hold up a mirror for me to reflect even more deeply than I realized I could. She gives me tools to continue my journey of self-discovery not only as a writer, but as a creative person. Her insight is keen, and her gentle questioning is as eye-opening as it is on point. I always walk away with significantly more than I brought, and with not only a renewed sense of motivation, but a refined one. Layne helps me find the best I have to offer.
—Emry K., Writer and storyteller