Manuscript Editing/Publishing Coach

Molly offers manuscript editing services for poets, non-fiction writers and the editors of anthologies in any genre. If you are putting together your first poetry manuscript for submission to contests, working on a volume of personal essays, a how-to book for advanced birdwatching, or an academic study of the similarities between Ambrose Bierce and Meryl Streep - even if you're compiling an anthology of Bratislavian sonnets and Lithuanian sestinas, she can help. (Translation is extra, of course.)

She'll give you margin notes, line editing, pointers on structure and organization, and a detailed written critique. For poets, she can also provide a list of the current first book competitions and their deadlines (which is actually pretty easy to compile yourself).

For those writers who feel ready to send out their work, or those who are way past ready but can't seem to find the time, Molly provides a gentle but make short and long term plans, target agents, editors, magazines, publishing houses, and contests, and design an easy record-keeping system.

Fees for manuscript editing and coaching are $65 per hour; editing turnaround time varies, but is generally 3-5 weeks. Coaching can move as fast as you are ready to, but typically involves meeting (or conferencing online) once a week for the first month and once a month, if necessary, thereafter. Homework is given. For more information, e-mail Molly: molly@oro.net.

If you're looking for an editor for fiction, Molly recommends the expertise of Molly Giles, Associate Professor of Writing at San Francisco State University, and author of two wonderful short story collections: Rough Translations and Creek Walk. Her first novel will be out in 2000. Molly was instrumental in helping Amy Tan put together her first novel The Joy-Luck Club, and has helped many writers pull the best of their work out of early drafts.

Another source for non-fiction editing is Margot Silk Forrest, co-author of EMDR: The Breakthrough Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma, and the editor of several non-fiction best-sellers, including a non-fiction health book which has sold more than 180,000 copies. She taught Molly (Fisk) almost everything she knows about editing and is a joy to work with, besides.