I’ve been working with Mary for thirty books now, and from the beginning she respected my voice and my audience. She wasn’t looking to change my writing, just strengthen my story and deepen my characters. I have never felt attacked or belittled from her comments as she interacts in a positive way, despite bringing the necessary critiques. I leave our editing sessions feeling invigorated because I can see a clear vision of how I’m going to make my story better.

I love Mary’s process. The overview comments help me focus on the big issues that need addressing, but it’s also helpful to have in-text comments that highlight each place the issue arises, and any other smaller issues that need addressing. My plots can sometimes be complex, but I feel confident they are well explained as Mary will always highlight any areas of confusion. 

The phone conversation to discuss the edits is the best part of all! In those conversations we can really hash out any problem issues as well as possible solutions, so that I leave them not only being confident about the problems but also knowing how to fix them. 

Writing can be a bit of a solitary business and I really value having Mary to bounce ideas off. Her insight and thoughtful feedback have helped me identify multiple ways that my stories can be improved. Two of the books she’s worked on with me have gone on to be traditionally published and I’m currently working through the third.

I have worked with Mary for almost a decade, and I have always found her to be highly professional, highly knowledgeable, and highly reassuring with her critiques, suggestions and edits.

Mary has a sense of story that allows her to intuitively understand where a book needs improvement. Her professional qualifications mean she can clearly and concisely explain to me exactly what the problem is, and suggest ways to fix it. 

Mary’s understanding of story beats and structure across genres is unmatched in my experience. Her ability to give gentle criticism that won’t destroy that sensitive creative ego means I don’t come away feeling bruised and battered; I come away feeling energized and excited to get into edits and revisions. 

I’ve worked with Mary for around a dozen books now. It’s gotten to the point where I hear her voice while I’m writing. “What does that mean?” she says, or “Will we learn more about this?”, or, “Why did they do that?”.

Mary doesn’t just give me criticisms. She also includes little notes from the reader perspective. The bits that made her laugh or smile or cry. These comments can be just as important as the criticisms. They tell me when I’m getting it right.

I always brace myself before opening Mary’s edits because I know they’re going to contain a lot of hard work for me. She provokes me into thinking more deeply about things I might have glossed over previously, and she encourages me to dig deeper. You know the thing that always drives me crazy? When she asks why. Why did you say that? What does that mean? Half the time, the answer is “I don’t know, it just sounded cool/mysterious/interesting”, but it makes me justify myself. I really appreciate her insights and she so often comments on something that seems perfectly obviously once she points it out, but I wasn’t able to see it before.

I always brace myself before opening Mary’s edits because I know they’re going to contain a lot of hard work for me. She provokes me into thinking more deeply about things I might have glossed over previously, and she encourages me to dig deeper. You know the thing that always drives me crazy? When she asks why. Why did you say that? What does that mean? Half the time, the answer is “I don’t know, it just sounded cool/mysterious/interesting”, but it makes me justify myself. I really appreciate her insights and she so often comments on something that seems perfectly obviously once she points it out, but I wasn’t able to see it before.