Manuscript Critique
I specialize in editing lyric essays, prose poetry, auto-theory, cross-genre works, and creative-critical hybrids, however I am available to critique and edit all fiction and nonfiction manuscripts, from short works (1000 words min.) to full-length book drafts. I love to see my clients go on to publication, awards, and other successes; or to simply feel they have reached completion and achieved their goals, be those aesthetic, rhetorical, or political. Rates are competitive and available on request.
Writing Workshops
I am available internationally for personalized writing workshops and seminars on specific creative writing topics (memoir, cultural criticism, lyric essay, short prose forms, auto-theory, American prose, postcolonial writing, autobiographical writing), creativity unblocking, and writing and social justice. I am based in the Bay Area, California, and will next be in New York City in fall of 2019.
Previous workshop venues include: Columbia University (New York, NY); New York Writers' Coalition (New York, NY); Apogee Journal/Brooklyn Arts Council (Brooklyn, NY); Hudson Valley Writers' Center (Westchester, NY); Literature House (Bergen, Norway); Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart, Germany); and University of Stuttgart (Germany).
Please contact me at: mjn2131 |@| columbia.edu, or use the form below to request further details.
"Thank you for the outstanding workshop. Your professionalism, dedication, knowledge, and teaching skills gave our group a fantastically productive and inspiring day... You handled the various talents and passions of the group just right. I was, and remain, knocked out by your multiplicity of talents and knowing."
—Jadi Campbell, President, Writers in Stuttgart
"Melody's feedback was useful, thoughtful, and engaging. She delves deeply into the motivations and actions of both the characters and the writer. Her comprehensive review gave me a new lens with which to re-enter the editing process."
—Alejandro Varela, Writer, NYFA Fellow, 2022 National Book Awards Finalist, Brooklyn, NY
"I have been meaning to write to you to tell you how much I enjoyed your workshop. I can't tell you how much it helped me. Although I have had several novels published, the last while has been really tough... Being in this limbo really has eroded my confidence, and has effected my ability to work on my current book. I was beginning to worry about what I should be writing that will provide me a living, rather than the book I want to write. Your workshop brought me back to the place I need to be as a writer. It was so absolutely fundamental to clearing the block I was experiencing, to connect with others and acknowledge that all these fears are part of being a writer, or an artist, or a musician. I have been working on a new novel the past few months, and the work we did on 27th June helped me take it to a new level and connect with my unconscious. So thank you so very very much. You are an absolutely fabulous facilitator."
—Noelle Harrison, author of numerous novels including Last Summer in Ireland, The Boatman's Wife, A Small Part of Me, I Remember, The Adulteress, and co-founder of the Aurora Writers Retreats.