Work with Me
My specialty is helping the writer recognize and develop their own voice. If you are not sure what a writer’s ‘voice’ is, read a few paragraphs of any Great Writer and you will find out. Oddly, it can be very difficult to discover one’s unique voice — or, you can have it at age 14 and lose it at 20 and find it again at 40. It’s a little like Henry James’ writing about anger. As Osmond tells Isabel Archer in Portrait of a Lady: “you don’t lose your temper, you find it — and that must be beautiful.” I can work with you for a few hours or a year — as long as it takes. And if you have more than one voice, that works too. At the least, you’ll be a better writer.
My other speciality is the line edit —as in going over your pages sentence by sentence, line by line. I can help you improve your work by helping you play with words, style, punctuation — to your best effect. I use exercises that help you experiment and find where your treasure is. The new AI editing tools can clean up your typos and grammar and wear down the rough edges that make you interesting (that’s an Edith Wharton reference from Age of Innoence; I wonder if you know it.) But AI is not a person with a spirit.
Dialogue is something my work is often praised for — believable, revelatory dialogue can lift a mediocre work to a great one. I am happy just to consider your dialogue alone, if you choose. Read any of my works and you will see how dialogue can bring your work to life — and be used to convey information with having to explain it.
Here are a few people I have worked with and their publications:
Simone Barlowe, 1st Novel Published, UK
Amanda Ortlepp, 2 Book Deal, Fiction: SIMON & SCHUSTER
Geoff Woodland, Triangle Trade, a Novel published by UK press Pen & Sword - imprint Claymore Press
Mark Jabaut, In the Territories, a Play, produced by Sea Change Theater
Mary Ann Lana published in Stone Canoe
Some Praise from Ted Naylon:
Louise gave me guidance, not just critical evaluation, helping me to understand how to improve my writing. What better advice to any writer is there?
And finally, another summation of some of my work:
I have five books: a fairytale, a collection of poetry and three novels published by indie presses. After voice, finding a form and genre that work best for you is a great pleasure. Switching forms and genres, even briefly, creates new pathways; we often think we should write in one genre and then discover we feel more relaxed and free in another. Of course, you can also write ‘hybrid’ work, or work in your own format.
My first novel, Since You Ask (Akashic Books 2004) won the James Jones First Novel Award. My second novel Miss Me (VUP) was twice nominated for the former Prize in Modern Letters. Both were optioned for film and widely reviewed.
My third novel in crots or vignettes, (playing with style and genre again!) is 52 Men (Red Hen Press, Pasadena, 2015) and is the subject of a long essay by Amanda Fortini in the LARB that calls it "ingenious... brisk, propulsive and infectious."
I published my fairytale Fiery World myself as it is regional and because I just want it to be out there for a few dollars, for anyone who might find it. I can advise on self-publishing versus traditional, should you like.
For many years, I have also worked as a book reviewer and teacher of writing to adults. I am an ESL teacher and have worked in refugee and international communities. I was also Adjunct Professor of American and British Literature at the University of Texas PM.
As for education: I graduated from Columbia College, New York, have an MA from New Zealand and a partial MFA from VCFA. I twice completed a year long mentorship program with Canada's Humber School for Writing and studied at The Poetry Society of America.
Other work — essays, reviews, poems, appears in Tin House, Rumpus, Poetry, Gargoyle, ThoughtCatalog, New Zealand Books and more!
One last thing to note: I have worked with people of all ages and many backgrounds. I moved a lot growing up graduating from international school speaking English, French and some German. I was then a travel writer for some years and now live in Honolulu.
