Editorial Services

My current offerings focus on my greatest strength and interest: working with fellow writers who are reckoning with their own troubled family histories — especially generational repetitions and traumas — to bring to the page their deepest, truest, most courageous, and most potentially transformative stories. And because getting flooded and retraumatized in the process of open-heartedly exploring ancestor trouble is a high risk, I’m also invested in helping writers prioritize their own boundaries and well-being as they do this work.

My background includes two decades working as an editor at a major media company, and an equally long history of writing book criticism. As a writer who also edits, I have an intimate understanding of how to work through snarled and stalled drafts. I’m adept at identifying the beating heart of nonfiction and fiction projects and helping writers reconnect to excitement that can get lost when projects bog down. As my schedule permits, I periodically open my books to work with a handful of writers through the offerings below. Please note that I don’t advise on the business end of publishing: agents, query letters, proposals, or book deals.

Fifteen percent of the proceeds from this offering will be split between the Manna-hatta Fund, the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, and the Black-led Small Business Capital Fund of Mississippi

Ancestor Project: Deep Dive

For manuscripts that are underway, I’ll read a significant section of your work in progress, along with a description of your project more broadly. I’ll provide thorough editorial feedback in addition to serving as your intuitive, compassionate, and confidential advisor. We’ll meet via Zoom to talk through the heart of your project. We’ll discuss what’s working best and resonating most in your current draft — how it serves your intentions, and where you can go deeper and connect your strongest threads. During our meeting, I’ll serve as a sounding-board for your hesitations and concerns around what you’re working on. We’ll discuss ways to connect with your excitement around the project, and ways to set boundaries and protect yourself as you remain tenacious about doing the work. Afterward, I’ll send detailed notes, along with line edits and a proposed list of suggested reading and resources.

This offering is for writers of nonfiction, fiction, and hybrid works with some level of experience. For inquiries on larger word counts, please email project details through my contact page.

How it works:

  • At booking, send up to 10,000 words of your project.
  • Include a description (up to 1000 words), including your stuck points.
  • Meet with me on Zoom for an hour and thirty minutes.
  • Come away with a deeper sense of your project’s true heart.
  • Receive detailed follow-up notes and line edits, along with suggested reading and resources.

$1250 for 1hr 30min

Ancestor Project: Getting Started (or Unstuck)

If you’re beginning a family history project or stalled out in the early stages, I’ll serve as your intuitive, compassionate, and confidential advisor. I’ll read a little bit about what you’re working with. We’ll meet over Zoom to talk through the heart of your project. During that time, I’ll serve as a sounding-board for your hesitations and concerns around what you’re working on. We’ll discuss ways to connect with your excitement around the project, and ways to set boundaries and protect yourself as you remain tenacious about doing the work. Afterward, I’ll send my follow-up notes and a proposed list of suggested reading and resources.

This offering is for writers of nonfiction, fiction, and hybrid works at all levels.

How it works:

  • At booking, send a description (up to 1000 words) of your project, including your stuck points.
  • Meet with me on Zoom for an hour and thirty minutes.
  • Come away with a deeper sense of your project’s true heart.
  • Receive follow-up notes, along with suggested reading and resources.

$400 for 1hr 30min


“Maud’s unerring ability to see the potential in the messiest of drafts has been an endless source of encouragement (often just when I’ve needed it most!). I highly recommend Maud as a compassionate, constructive, and inspiring literary advisor.”
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— Emma, Writer and Critic
“I am stunned at the depth of engagement with my writing and all of the thoughtful suggestions Maud provided. Just — wow!”
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— Writer and Scholar
“I greatly appreciated Maud’s insight and specificity—she highlighted not only the gaps in narrative and sources but also how to FIX them.”
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— Linda R. Monk, Author, Author of The Bill of Rights: A User’s Guide

About Me

I’m a seasoned writer and critic, and I’m also a longtime editor, with a background of more than two decades’ experience editing for a major media company and an equally deep history in book reviewing. I excel at working with personal narrative, deeply researched nonfiction, and fiction of all kinds.

My book, Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation, was named a best book of 2022 by The New Yorker, NPR, The Washington Post, Time, Esquire, The Boston Globe, Garden & Gun, Entertainment Weekly, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and Roxane Gay Book Club pick, and a finalist for the 2023 John Leonard Prize, awarded by the National Book Critics Circle for a first book in any genre. Previously, I received the Narrative Prize and the Stark Short Fiction Prize.

My nonfiction essays and articles — which range from personal narrative to criticism to intricately researched reporting — have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, the Guardian, Esquire, Narrative, Harper’s Bazaar, the New York Times Book Review, Oxford American, Time, the Wall Street Journal, Curbed, and many other publications and anthologies, including Best American Travel Writing 2015.


Newsletter

You might want to subscribe to my free Substack newsletter, Ancestor Trouble, if the name makes intuitive sense to you.