Editorial Services

Need help preparing your poetry manuscript, editing advice that will get your personal essay or memoir ready for publication? Whether you’re applying for an MFA or in need of final edits on your latest project, I will help you get the best out of your work.

Memoir and Personal Essay

I have received a major Literature Bursary (grant) for memoir from The Arts Council (Ireland) and designed and taught memoir courses for The Center for Fiction, The Irish Writers Centre and Hudson Valley Writers Center (more than 100 hours in total). I have line edited and provided global story advice on novels, memoir, personal essays, and poetry, and taught at New York University, University College, Dublin and The American College, Dublin. I’ve worked as an editor of three literary journals, and studied with David Lipsky (Of Course You End Up Being Yourself) and Lawrence Weschler (New Yorker writer and author of many nonfiction books).

Manuscript Review

Manuscript evaluation services to authors of memoir and personal essays.

  • Sharpen your prose with line edits

  • Differentiate between showing and telling (scenes and exposition)

  • Locate the thread of the deeper story you need to tell (through-line, or story spine)

  • Polish your narrative voice and the narrative arc of your work

  • Developmental advice related to shaping your manuscript.

Rates start at €2,000 for 50,000 words / €3,000 for 80,000 words

MFA Application Portfolio Advice

Need help writing your cover letter?

  • Receive line edits

  • Developmental guidance

  • Cover letter advice

Rates vary depending on number of pages

Creative Writing Mentor

Receive advice on craft issues as well as the psychology of moving through your work.

  • Editorial suggestions

  • Advice about macro developmental story arc

  • Reading suggestions

  • Prompts and writing exercises

  • Hour long video conferencing sessions with notes and next steps

€70 per hour

Writers I’ve worked with

“David McLoghlin is an award-winning writer and an engaging and thought-provoking teacher. Having taken a course of his, and after reading his work, I asked him to edit my memoir. The process has been inspiring. David looked at the structure and story arc of my memoir and made a suggestion to rearrange chapters in a way that grabs the reader up front. He had beautiful copy-edit suggestions, and pointed out what to cut or to further develop. He is a poet, and looks at language for clarity, but also for its rhythm and sound. David responded personally to the material, which helped me to see how it came across to at least one extremely literate reader. He kept his eye on themes and motifs and made suggestions to amplify their impact, and also helped me to see which characters needed more development, or less. I feel enriched by the experience of working with David and am grateful for his knowledge, direction and insight.”

Robin Perls-Shultis, emerging writer

“David edited my travel memoir, chapter by chapter, over the course of about nine months. Just as an expecting parent might look forward to periodic ultrasound appointments, I always anticipated receiving David's enlightening, encouraging, and entertaining comments. These included thorough line edits with a poet's sharp eye for language, and probing structural insights that revealed his broad and deep study of the art of the memoir. Looking back at David's comments on the first excerpt I sent him, I can see how prescient they were. He pointed out what was working best, what I should "lean into"; a year later, a literary scout for a major publisher (whom David put me in touch with) identified those same qualities as among the memoir's strongest elements. David also identified structural issues, including the advice, "you might need an overarching preamble, but you might not find it until you finish the whole thing." Six months later, just such a prelude came to me; I doubt it would have had that mental seed never been planted. In short, it was a great pleasure working with David, and extremely helpful in developing my memoir.”

Richard Prins, recently published in Best American Essays 2024, poet, essayist and literary translator

“I am very grateful for David’s encouragement to explore aspects of the specific through line of my memoir project. It’s opened up a lot for me and helped in many ways!”

Heather Harrigan, student from The Center for Fiction

Application for Developmental Editing

Please tell me about your project and your goals for working together. I’m currently taking on editorial clients on a rolling basis and will respond within 24 hours.

Poetry Consultation

As an Irish poet who lived and studied in New York City for 10 years, I have intimate knowledge of the US and Irish poetry worlds. I have worked with both experimental and traditional poets from Europe and the USA, and have over 10 years of experience editing book-length manuscripts and pamphlets (chapbooks). Previous clients include a National Poetry Series winner and writers who have gone on to publish their first and second books, as well as poets who have been accepted into prestigious MFA Programmes in the USA.

Whether writing a themed book/project, or collections, I help you shape the arc of your manuscript in terms of how the poems relate to each other and where they should be placed in the collection. Get directions on your next round of edits, identify underlying themes and gaps, and directions for writing new poems to fill those gaps. Learn to balance thought and emotion, how to write original work that avoids sentimentality without sacrificing feeling, and how to successfully end a poem.

Manuscript Consultation

Prepare to submit a pamphlet or book-length manuscript to a publisher or competition.

  • Line edits

  • Developmental advice related to shaping the collection

Full Manuscript of 60 pages or less: €700

Pamphlet of 30 pages or less: €350

Individual Poems

Receive fully edited poems with thorough suggestions for future drafts.

  • Submit 3-6 poems

  • Line edits

  • Can be combined with a mentoring session

€30-€60

Poetry Mentorship

A client-led video call that is 100% focused on your needs.

  • Craft-focused

  • Pathways around psychological and creative blocks

  • Gain practical takeaways and actionable items for growth and future work

€70 per hour

MFA Application Assistance

Advice for prospective graduate students in Creative Writing on your writing portfolio and application.

  • Submit up to 20 poems

  • Line edits

  • Developmental guidance

  • Advice on your statement of purpose

€250

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 ... 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

  • For my second M.F.A. application cycle, I knew I needed a trusted and experienced reader to help me improve my work, and I found that reader in David. He helped me refine my poems and arrange them into an effective portfolio that obtained multiple fully-funded offers and waitlists. I was then accepted to the M.F.A. Program at the University of Oregon where my writing has improved even further. David is a catalyst for your best work.

    Joey Wańczyk, poet, musician, and author of Catching Brief and Disfigured (Ghost City Press 2024 Summer Series)

  • 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)