Kelley and I are proud to announce the launch of Sterling Editing: editing, mentoring and coaching for writers. If you want to make your writing better, we can help.

The website is brand new, but this is something I’ve been doing unofficially for a very long time. I’ve been helping other writers since I founded the Northern Dykes Writing Workshop in the early ’80s. I’ve had 25 years’ experience. I do it well. I love it.

I love sharing what I know. I’ve helped children with their dream stories, teenagers with their plays (a young woman I helped earlier this year won a young playwright’s competition for the piece we worked on), emerging writers with their new and still forming talent, old pros with their I-don’t-know-why-it-doesn’t-work story, and retirees with the memoir they’ve been longing to tell for a generation.

I do it for Kelley. She does it for me. (We wrote a whole essay about it.)

Helping someone see to the heart of their own work gives me enormous pleasure. It never gets old to see that sudden beam of delight, that sheer joy of understanding How to tell the story. It’s a thrill to work with a patched and lumbering lump of prose and help find the sleek, aerodynamic story just waiting to emerge.

I’ve done this with all kinds of writing at almost every length and in a variety of genres (I count literary fiction as a genre): short stories, novels, essays, articles, memoir, plays… Just about everything, with the exception, sadly, of poetry, which I love to read but on which I don’t feel able to offer expert advice.

If this sounds like something you want to think about, go take a look at the website, built by the fabulous FoAN Karina BODY,.aolmailheader {font-size:10pt; color:black; font-family:Arial;} a.aolmailheader:link {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; font-weight:normal;} a.aolmailheader:visited {color:magenta; text-decoration:underline; font-weight:normal;} a.aolmailheader:active {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; font-weight:normal;} a.aolmailheader:hover {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; font-weight:normal;} Meléndez. It’s very new, so we’ll be adding to it during the coming days and weeks: blog posts on the craft and business of writing, links to editor and agent blogs, and lists of resources such as grants, prizes, and submission guidelines. For now I’d like to point out two things in particular: the seriously nifty (so, so cool) editcast, and the sample edit package. There’s also a brief blog that ties in with both. When we’re really rocking and rolling we’ll start doing interviews with editors, agents, publishers, and writers who will be able to offer war stories, insider tips, and writerly advice. I also have notions of another cool informational tool, but that’s not ready to go yet.

So go play. And if there’s anything you want to know, about Sterling or writing, just ask us. Have fun. Keep writing.