Our Approach
The first step of every Amicus relationship is a thorough review of your materials and intended audience. Through this review, I evaluate how to best position your written materials. I want your writing to shine, and I can best do that once I have a strong sense of who you are writing for.
Following that comprehensive review, my process is highly individualized. As you’ll see from my Services, I tailor my services to meet your budget and desires. For those who are struggling with what to focus on, I help think through the most interesting features of the story you are trying to tell, as well as how to structure a compelling story supporting that narrative.
Once you have an approach locked down, we then work together to refine draft materials. While some clients produce a robust full draft, others send me a more skeletal outline. In either case, I provide detailed commentary on how to elevate your writing, focusing on making it compelling, clear, and concise. With my expertise in storytelling and argumentative writing, I excel at helping you craft compelling narratives that ring true.
The Feedback You’ll Receive
My commentary occurs at three levels: in-text edits, marginal notes, and a summary comment. My in-text edits correct detail-oriented issues with syntax, grammar, or clarity, while my marginal notes provide feedback at the paragraph level, advising on how you might best structure or orient your argument. The summary note reiterates the main points of my feedback, underscoring both the areas of your essay that already shine and the places where most work is needed. While I do not always dictate the exact edits you need to make, I take pride in providing actionable feedback. This means that I will often offer a menu of options about how you might best approach specific revisions.
Once you have my written feedback in hand, even my most basic package offers a 30-minute meeting via Zoom (or equivalent). By meeting with you after you’ve received my initial feedback, I ensure that you feel confident about implementing my suggestions. That said, many clients come to the meeting having revised their writing in light of my feedback, ready to ask questions about the areas they want a quick verbal round of feedback on.
My goal is for every Amicus client to conclude our work together feeling excited to submit their writing.