Poetry: Mentoring and Manuscript Consultation
I work with individual writers and poets, and provide services that include line editing and assisting in shaping the arc of poetry collections; previous clients includes a National Poetry Series winner and writers who have gone on to publish their first and second books. Along with manuscript consultation, I offer publishing advice, as I am equally familiar with the Irish and US literary scenes, and am attuned to the needs of beginning and experienced writers.
Creative Writing Mentoring: The programme begins with an introductory call to discuss your needs and interests, and consists of a maximum of up to 10 poems submitted per month. Each month begin with a check-in call along with your submission, and ends with your work returned to you thoroughly line edited with suggestions for the next draft. Our time together includes suggestions for further reading, writing prompts and tips regarding where to submit your work.
Manuscript Consultation: This option will best suit poets who are preparing to submit a manuscript to a publisher or an application packet to an MFA or MA in Creative Writing Program. I have over 10 years’ experience in working with poets on their manuscripts and understand the craft of both themed books, or projects, and collections more typically seen in first books of poetry.
If you have not yet written a manuscript, feel free to submit three to six poems for line editing. Poems will be returned fully edited, with thorough suggestions as to next steps for future drafts.
Contact me via the Contact form for rates and further information.
Testimonials
“I first shared new work with David over a decade ago, and in all the time since he has never let me down as a reader and advisor. He has a keen sense of what individual works need to take them further, and also how to put works together in a collection–culling what doesn’t belong, and arranging what does so the remaining writing is in lively conversation.” —Benjamin Cartwright, poet and winner of the Powder Horn Prize for After Our Departure.
"David's love of this craft comes through not only in how he writes, a marvel in itself, but in how he lifts up other writers at every stage of their journey (with a single written piece, or in the course of their writing life). He reads work sensitively and attentively, reflects on it keenly and expertly, and responds to its author inquisitively and compassionately. To have David as an editor is to give your writing a steadfast friend." —Arden Levine, poet, editor, and reviews writer, author of Ladies’ Abecedary (Harbor Editions, 2021).
“I've worked with David across a wide spectrum of settings—as students, as teachers, reading for this or that series, you name it—and the eternal throughline has been his dedicated, generous, always-illuminating sensitivity. Here is a man with the broad capacities of the Early Moderns, the sharp scrutiny of the Modernists, and the presence of mind of all of us hypermoderns. In other words, a person of register; a listener. In correspondence, that means a warm approachability married to the will to probe. In analysis and critique, that means thoroughgoing notes with special attention paid to the surprise, the turn. In person, he's a pleasure to speak with, never relinquishing the thread of accessibility, but also never obtruding when the occasion calls for singular strangeness. He asks questions like the best journalists, knowing the risks that entails, and he drives towards the story when lesser writers/readers settle for gimmickry. And, crucially, he understands that while lived experience breathes life into a piece, it's the otherworldly that stays with us and transforms our own lives. When you turn your work over to David, it's in the best hands: spry, welcoming, practiced, winking, but never tame. Do yourself this favor.” —Peter Longofono, poet and musician, author of Chords.