Align your story®
Introductory Breakthrough Session for Writers Considering Ongoing Coaching:
Most clients start with my five month one-on-one coaching program, and the minimum time commitment with clients is four months, but this 60-minute introductory session gives you a sense of what it’s like to work with me and see if we're a good fit before you dive into the longer coaching program. In this session, we’ll talk about your plans/goals as a writer and look at up to 8 pages of your writing for editorial and emotional support and a clear path forward. You’ll come out of these 60 minutes with a clear sense of what your next steps as a writer are.
Price for Introductory First Session. Please contact me to see if I have space.
Five-Month One-On-One Coaching Program
This five-month package helps you move forward in a tangible and efficient way with a writing project so that you can finally write the work you’ve been meaning to write. Even if you don’t know what that work is yet, I can help you get clear on your your goals and come into a more aligned relationship with your writing and voice.
Perhaps you’re writing for personal exploration and healing. I’m here to encourage and guide the writing and outcomes that make sense for you at the moment.
Perhaps you’re just starting a project and not sure how to begin; or you’re stuck in the middle and need some guidance; or you have a vision for where you want to be but need some support to actually get there.
Or perhaps you’re ready for the publication process. I’m here to give you the practical and emotional support you need for your writing, wherever you are!
In this intensive writing coaching program, we’ll meetings every three weeks to discuss your project and its development. (If you prefer to meet more regularly and do this package in three months, that is also an option.)
At least 72 hours before we meet, you’ll send me your writing (up to 15 double spaced pages) and I’ll read it, make comments, and give feedback.
I have the unique capacity to help you not only with process but also with product. With my keen editorial eye, I'll help you understand your project better and build it out and revise it so that it's your best writing. I'll provide developmental editing when appropriate, and, when appropriate, more detailed editorial support.
In the meeting, we’ll discuss both editorial aspects and the process of writing, what’s getting in your way and where you want to go, the big ideas, and what’s happening, moment by moment, on the page. And we’ll work together to get over any blocks and realize your authentic voice.
You’ll come away from each session with a clear direction forward for the upcoming weeks and personalized strategies for working effectively and enjoyably.
If you wish, I’ll also send you a recording of our session.
Between our live sessions, we’ll have an email check-in for accountability and to address any questions/ bumps you might be facing. This package also includes additional email support when you need it.
This package consists of six 60-minute meetings and six email check-ins (and more if you need extra support).
This is highly personalized writing coaching that exceeds the attention given to students in MFA graduate programs. I'll be coming alongside you every step of the way. This is great value for your money, and a great program to jump-start and deepen your creative alignment and to write the work you know you’re meant to write.
If and when you’re interested in publishing your writing, I’ll also walk you through the steps you need to get your work published and strategize with you about best techniques. Together we’ll come up with a game plan so that you have a clearly executable plan and a good understanding of the relationship between the writing and the publishing process.
I’m holding your project with you so you have real support and see real movement with it. Clients have told me that they feel like they made years of progress in just three months!
At the end of this package, most students continue working with me, going even deeper into their projects.
I often work with students through an entire book-writing project. I like to break the packages into five month segments, however, so that writers can set goals and intentions in quarterly increments and have milestones to chart their progress and direction.
In this plan, we meet roughly every three weeks, so you have time to process and produce new work. But if you prefer to meet more regularly, we can condense this package into a three-month package.
Payment can be made month to month.
Four monthly payments.
Contact me before signing up to see if I have availability and to see if this is a good fit.
Creative Alignment, Follow-through, Manuscript Consultations, and Coaching for Book Projects in Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, Poetry and more
What’s holding you back from completing your project? Where does your project need fine tuning? Stuck and need some feedback? I will help you effectively move through internal and external obstacles so that you create your finest work.
In this package, we will work together to create a realistic timeline to meet specific goals. Once outlined, your goals will be met with me as your coach; whether you want to write a chapter, complete a first draft, or finish a final draft, we will work together to break it into manageable segments and make sure the work gets done.
Over the course of our work together, I will provide the very highest quality editorial support, and the spiritual and emotional coaching you need to follow through on your projects and make them align with your greater life purpose.
I bring my sharp editorial skills and insights as an intuitive reader to give you the tools you need to edit and present your most accomplished work.
I help clients with overall structuring, filling in holes, understanding the narrative arc, and honing stylistic aspects so that your manuscript is in its best possible shape, and your voice and vision come across clearly and compellingly.
I can also help with the publication process: when are you ready to send your work out? Where should you send it? Can you send smaller sections/ individual pieces before whole books?
Many of my students have published books and articles after working with me.
Students complete this package with a great sense of accomplishment, fulfillment and energy.
Depending on the scope of the project.
Contact me to discuss your unique project.
Testimonials
See what some people have said...
When I took my first class with Nadia, I knew I'd found someone special to work with. I count myself very grateful that we still work together. Nadia is a coach and mentor to me; she's also a wise woman. She has helped me stay centered and find my authentic voice—a voice I now recognize.
When I first met Nadia, I had little trust in my ability as a writer. Through our time together, I’ve grown in confidence and can see how much my creative writing has developed. Nadia has a great editorial eye and ear, and I can see how working with her, I’ve developed my own inner ear.
I’ve taken Align Your Story and Nadia’s Thirty-One day Meditation Writing Course, and continue to work with Nadia one-on-one. Each way of working together has allowed me to sink into my creative self in different ways and aided my growing writing practice and body of work. Because of our work together, I’ve written a whole collection of poetry that I’m proud of and is now published, something I never could have done on my own. I’ve gone from being a novice to having poetry be at the center of my life.
Thank you, Nadia!
Copy of I was on version 2 of my manuscript and really struggling with the direction and core message of the book. Nadia was instrumental in helping me sift through the content and distill the essence of that message. We worked together for a number of months and her combination of writing coaching and regular accountability check-ins kept me on track; I made progress that I would not have made without her. If you need a writing coach, I highly recommend working with Nadia
I was on version 2 of my manuscript and really struggling with the direction and core message of the book. Nadia was instrumental in helping me sift through the content and distill the essence of that message. We worked together for a number of months and her combination of writing coaching and regular accountability check-ins kept me on track; I made progress that I would not have made without her. If you need a writing coach, I highly recommend working with Nadia.
I had written several poems over the years that seemed to suggest a project.
I had written several poems over the years that seemed to suggest a project. I took a memoir workshop that helped me confirm its viability. But I was stuck. Was this a memoir? A poetic memoir? A story in poems? What was its shape? What did I know about the time, place, and people in this story and what did I not know? Would anyone want to read this? Why does that matter?
These questions and more were burbling up when I started to work with Nadia. As we met, my work came into focus.
I was drawn to working with Nadia because not only is she a writer and writing coach, but she is also a yogi with a spiritual practice. Her guidance led me to a door through which my own writing and clarity about my project was waiting. Nadia’s approach is about consciousness and compassion, including self-compassion. For my creativity to flourish and my writing to flow, I need to stay tethered to these concepts, which Nadia helped me do.
Working with Nadia makes me love both the process and the product! Nadia has supported my staying focused and provided excellent editorial input so that there is, in fact, a great product: a published poetry collection that came to fruition as a result of my work with Nadia.
Copy of Working with Nadia helped me get much needed footing during a critical turning point in the creative process of writing my book, Generative Scribing. I first reached out to her seeking a coach with a sensitivity to a first-time author, a solid practice in mindfulness, and writing chops. With all her facets and talents, Nadia definitely covered these three. I was able to shift an abstract assemblage of written-down experiences into a coherently expressed body of knowledge. Her expert guidance through this process was key, and I’d highly recommend her writing coaching.
Working with Nadia helped me get much needed footing during a critical turning point in the creative process of writing my book, Generative Scribing. I first reached out to her seeking a coach with a sensitivity to a first-time author, a solid practice in mindfulness, and writing chops. With all her facets and talents, Nadia definitely covered these three.
I was able to shift an abstract assemblage of written-down experiences into a coherently expressed body of knowledge. Her expert guidance through this process was key, and I’d highly recommend her writing coaching.
I came to Nadia in 2020 with a book manuscript I’d worked on for ten years and revised twice. I needed a firm opinion of the whole that I could trust. Though I’d taught writing myself for many years, this book was a new direction for me—about my family’s history rooted in colonialism and climate change. I was trying to sort out the trauma that keeps people like us quiet about white supremacy and what is happening to our earth. As I wrote, the world was waking up, and new voices arose with kindred ideas. I needed wise help about how to finish so I could get my book out into the mix.
Working with Nadia was a pleasure. She understood my needs, read the manuscript quickly, sent me her notes, and we spoke on zoom about it. Her feedback helped me see small and larger things I could do to make the text more readable. I was able to revise and send my manuscript off at the end of the year, and the book is now published. I appreciated Nadia’s blend of experiences, her wisdom, and her professionalism. I will highly recommend her to other writers at various stages in their writing process.
I started writing my first memoir on my healing chronic pain and after writing 70 pages, I knew I needed help. While I was looking for a writing coach, what I did not realize is that Nadia would play a significant role in my healing journey as well. She helped me get the project moving forward with some much-needed guidance. Her encouragement and calming nature allowed me to trust my natural writing instinct. She got the book off the ground and got me grounded. Her support over zoom calls allowed me to clarify thoughts, explore emotions, and share my story authentically. Her impact went well beyond the pages of my book. I am forever grateful -
Copyright 2023 Nadia Colburn