Personalised coaching - $65 per hour
We have experienced writers who are happy to coach aspiring writers. Our coaches are either; published authors, won writing awards, assessed manuscripts for publishers, completed Master of Creative Writing courses at University or worked with us at The Story Mint to learn the skills of coaching. They are experienced and skilled writers.
Their role is to work with you, coach and guide you with your writing so you can produce a quality piece of writing.
They will work with you on any piece of writing from a short story to chapters of a novel.
Vivienne Merrill
Vivienne’s writing career has spanned more than 30 years and in that time she has published a considerable body of work for children, including seven trade books and many educational books for Learning Media’s international literacy programme (under the name Vivienne Joseph). She has also published work for adults, including a prize-winning book of adult poetry. Her short stories have won competitions and been published and broadcast on Radio NZ. One of her children’s novels won an Honour Award in an international competition and the last teenage novel was shortlisted in the NZ Book Awards. Recently, Vivienne won first prize in two national (adult) short story competitions. Vivienne privately assess manuscripts, tutor/mentor adults and children in creative writing. For the past five years, she has worked as a tutor for Stotts’ Correspondence College.
Rochelle Maroon-Neale
A Wellington born Writer, Editor and Children’s Book Illustrator, Rochelle’s children's book, I Know About Babies, was published in 2005. Rochelle began her career as a freelance writer and journalist and her first major feature article At Risk was published in the NZ Listener when she was only 18.
Rochelle worked for Mallinson Rendel Publishers, Wellington for several years, specialising in assessing and editing Children’s and Young Adults’ literature. Many titles Rochelle worked with have appeared as finalists or winners in the New Zealand Children’s Book Awards and international awards. Rochelle trained as a professional artist and completed her Bachelor of Applied Arts and Design in 2011.
Enos Russell
Enos has always enjoyed writing. Although he studied mathematics and physics in college, he still found time to write articles for the school paper and hold the position of prose editor of the literary magazine. During his early years of teaching and coaching at a private independent boarding school, Enos managed to get several articles published in sports journals.
Enos retired from teaching to pursue a doctorate degree that focused on cognitive issues related to online learning. Most of this time was spent researching and writing formal academic papers. Using these skills, he spent several years as a corporate consultant researching emerging technologies for mid and upper level management. Teaching and coaching have always been his first love. Enos joined the faculty of a leading online university and taught formal writing skills to graduate students.
Enos’ stories reflect an eclectic interest of the impact new technologies impose on individuals and social groups. His latest research into programming the human genome, epigenetics, and brain development has led to several novels, novellas, and short stories.
Enos conducts writing workshops for his writers’ guild, with the latest examining the techniques and technology surrounding self-publishing. He believes knowledge is meaningless unless shared.
Autumn J Conley
At the age of fourteen, Autumn’s first byline appeared in The Springfield News-Sun, for a short editorial piece she wrote about baseball legend Pete Rose. That byline excited her like nothing ever had, and it was at that point that she decided, “When I grow up, I want to be a writer.”
After twenty-some odd years of working secretarial day jobs and writing and editing on the side, Autumn came to a point in July of 2009 when her editing and writing ‘hobbies’ seemed to be requiring more time than she could squeeze in between her nine-to-five in the cubicle and her duties as a wife and mother. Autumn decided to take the leap and turned in her two-week notice.
Since then, Autumn has had the privilege of editing nearly 400 books, as well as short projects for authors and publishers worldwide. While she enjoys editing fiction, she also has a strong grasp of editing all types of content on a vast array of topics, putting her love of words and grammar know-how to work to help her clients smooth out their writing to a polished finish. She serves as an on-call editor for several publishing companies and businesses, and many of the writers she has worked with have returned to her time and time again.
While it is challenging to run her own business and still fulfil the obligations of caring for her family, Autumn’s passion for helping writers keeps her going. “I love the work I do,” she says. “There is no better feeling in life than helping someone realize their dreams, and that’s why I love working with authors, helping them earn their own bylines.”