Writing Services

My unique background gives me a discerning eye for editing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and screenplays.

With eclectic tastes and outré interests mixed with a nearly unrivaled enthusiasm for living language and the written word, I strive to inspire writers from all backgrounds to stay true to their artistic journey and their authentic voice. A naturally disciplined writer with a passion for storytelling, I thrive on supporting others courageous enough to bring their experiences and ideas to the page — then the world. My approach is holistic, involving things that fall outside the traditional writing world, enabling me to provide support ranging from generating fresh work to fine-tuning polished drafts to querying agents and getting published, while also helping writers process their experiences and integrate them on the page so that they can remain focused and on track.

My passions include:

Seeing the big picture without becoming overwhelmed

Identifying the scope of your project

Focusing your energy into realistic and rewarding steps

Narrowing research and discovering resources

Endlessly encouraging through dispiriting times

Reframing projects and perceptions in ways that provide clarity, confidence, and permission

Empowering writers toward their authenticity and agency

Transforming writing into healing for self and others

“In love, nothing exists between heart and heart. Speech is born out of longing.”

Rabia al-Basri, first female Sufi saint, 800 AD

Consultation

Overcoming writer’s block

Discovering your process

Developing a lasting writing practice

Finding residencies and the financial support to make them possible

Providing trauma-informed counsel that liberates writers to tell their stories with compassion and authenticity without fear of alienating loved ones

Strengthening elements of craft from character development to writing compelling dialogue

Guidance in all aspects of publishing from query letters, finding an agent, and procuring affordable legal representation

Assisting marginalized writers to find funding for educational, traveling, and publishing opportunities

Helping academics transform their scholastic exposition into creative writing for a broader audience

Supporting writers from marginalized communities such as the LGBTQ+, BIPOC, adoptees, and people with health challenges as they navigate the writing world

Polishing MFA applications

Finding/Deciding on MFA programs

Coaching

My philosophy is that everyone has the answers if asked the right questions — I have total faith in every writer’s individual process. As your writing coach, I merely support you in forging your own distinctive path, carrying a powerful flashlight with you leading the way. Through realistic and attainable goal-setting, time management skills, compassionate accountability, boundary creation around your writing practice, overcoming writer’s block, and sometimes assigning (fun!) homework, I’ll help you stay positive by helping you feel prepared, empowered, and on-task, never losing sight of why you write — and why the world needs your voice. Coaching can be therapeutic, unburdening the spirit, while you begin your self-exploration as a creative artist and together we draw out your gifts. My sessions also bring in the spirit of Gabor Maté’s Compassionate Inquiry, a somatic and trauma-informed psychotherapeutic approach that abides by the same ethos, Nonviolent Communication, Internal Family Systems, and other modalities. My engagements land in the liminal overlap where coaching and psychotherapeutic tools most complement each other, along with my own counsel when relevant and welcome. I endeavor to meet you wherever you are and support you in where you want to go.

Editing/Writing

Literary: My editing services span the genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and screenplays and can include in-line notes and/or overall feedback as well as phone or zoom consultations. From essays, poems, and 10-minute plays to full length novels and memoirs, I love inhabiting other worlds and helping writers take their craft to the next level with compassionate feedback and recommended tools and resources.

Copy Editing/Writing: I assist companies and entrepreneurs craft their message for all aspects of marketing. Language is key to winking at your niche market without excluding your broader audience. As a former web designer and content editor for clients ranging from Harvard University, the National Institute of Health, and biomedical labs at MIT to local artists, real estate agents, and cultural and intellectual luminaries, I’ll help you wordsmith as well as consult on the full design of your materials for optimal user experience and flow.

Personal Legacy Memoir: With a deep respect for ancestry and reverence for oral histories, I have a passion for preserving the stories of elders for their grandchildren. This process includes conducting interviews, outsourcing transcription services, and penning a memoir that captures your voice to pass on your legacy for your grandchildren and beyond. So many of us regret never having taken advantage of the wisdom and stories of our elders when we were young, and so many of us have dreamed of writing a book about our lives only to find that life got in the way! I offer a compassionate space to translate your life’s work into a book for your descendants, an invaluable gift to your loved ones and yourself.

Book Doula

Writing a book has all the elements of the birth cycle: conception, gestation, check-ups, research, breathing, nausea, and delivery. The process is the same and yet the experience is different for everyone, for every book. From the initial stages to the end game, I will support you throughout the life of your project.

My book doula services include:

Helping to define the scope of your book

Penning a working introduction and developing an outline

Maintaining enthusiasm and stamina through countless revisions

Staying focused and composed during the “murky middle”

Polishing the final draft

Educating on self-publishing vs traditional publishing vs the middle ground

Querying agents

Navigating negotiations with publishers

Readying your marketing and publicity

Weighing film/TV options

Teaching/Workshops

While earning my MFA, I found that the traditional approach to writing was lacking the capacity to hold compassionate space for the trauma unfolding on the page, the mantra of standard creative writing workshops being “we are not here to do therapy.” While writers greatly benefit by targeting craft, I have noticed that many times the writing struggles due to unprocessed thoughts and feelings within the writer. In other words, the problem exists on the therapeutic plane, as well as the technical.

My goal is to create a safe and supportive environment where individuals can feel seen and heard. I facilitate workshops that prioritize trauma-informed principles, such as vulnerability, safety, boundaries, and connection, while also considering the artistic, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual elements of the group. By bringing in my training from Gabor Maté’s Compassionate Inquiry, Transformational Coaching, and elements of Nonviolent Communication, writers learn how to read, write, and critique with compassion and mindfulness for self and others.

Classes, Workshops, and Seminars include:

Writing to Heal Workshop Series –

Finding Your Voice

Honoring Your Story

Writing Our Truth with Compassion, Courage, and Connection

Generate, Critique, and Revise: A Multi-Genre Adventure –

Advanced Memoir Workshop

Compassionate Memoir

Compassionate Critique

Dialogue: What’s the Secret?

Panels - Speaking/Moderating

The Agent & Book Deal Process w/ Tatiana Johnson-Boria, Jonathan Escoffery, and Mee Ok Icaro

Moderator – Boston Writers of Color, GrubStreet

In Their Voices: Korean Adoptees Tell Their Stories. An Evening with Nicole Chung and Jenny Heijun Wills with Mee Ok

Moderator – Transnational Series, Brookline Booksmith

How To Pitch: Tips & Advice for Publishing Freelance Work – Mee Ok in Conversation with Candace McDuffie – Journalist (Rolling Stone, Newsweek), Anica Butler – Deputy Managing Editor (Boston Globe), and Arielle Gray – Reporter, Arts Engagement Producer (NPR, WBUR)