I'm a London-based freelance literary consultant.

I've worked with writers since 1993, when I facilitated a weekly creative writing critical feedback group as a student at the University of Birmingham. On leaving Birmingham I joined The Frogmore Papers as Assistant Editor, soon moving to Ambit magazine as Editorial Assistant and becoming Co-Editor in the late 90s. After pausing my worklife to look after my young children, I returned to Ambit as Fiction Editor, and at the same time set up a writing school in London, which to my great joy is still going strong (find it here: writingroom.org.uk).

In all this time I've loved helping writers achieve their best work. As a proofreader, I'm a stickler for punctuation, typos and consistent language usage. As a copy-editor, I love to make sure your prose is true to your unique style in a way that will never trip up the reader unless it means to. As a literary consultant, I'm responding with close  and careful consideration of how the storytelling is working, how the characters are developing, and how the whole world and feeling of the book is coming across.

I've worked with many short-fiction writers, novelists and memoirists. It always starts with a conversation about what a writer wants to achieve from consultancy. Communication and setting achievable targets for working together are important. Often, we check first with a small section, to see that we're both thinking along the same lines.

Do have a look at some testimonials, so that you can see what other writers have found helpful in working with me. The different services I offer, along with the rates charged, are here.