One of my goals is to provide a library of free content for writers, including tools I have found useful as an author, as an editor, and as a sensitivity and artistic ethics consultant. This will include resources for writers who are trying to learn to navigate the publishing industry and career life as an author, trying to manage difficulty with the writing process, and trying to improve their writing skills.
I want these resources to be something they can turn to before paying an editor. Marginalized authors in particular often have to count every penny when budgeting for editorial and consulting services, and I hope to make some of the answers they need easier to find without spending anything.
As part of this goal, my plan for 2020 includes regularly updating three new ongoing series of blog posts:
Writing Process: Posts that discuss the physical and emotional process of writing rather than the technique of writing. I am always craving more discussion and insight into what the day-to-day experiences of writing can be like, including how disability, mental health, community stress, and poverty impact life as a writer. I want to share what I’ve learned about why and how writing can be hard, and hopefully bring some relief and insight to other writers who are struggling.
Artistic Ethics: Posts that discuss oppression, representation of marginalized people, sensitivity reading, and the responsibility we have as artists. Morality is never separate from artistic pursuit, because art arises from who we are as people, and the values that matter to us in the world are always a part of that picture. My areas of advice as a sensitivity consultant are about trans representation, feminism, queer representation, and disability representation related to neurodiversity (especially autism, ADHD, and OCD), trauma, and mental health. However, I also aim to bring to light a broader view of the general ethics of art.
Writing Craft: Posts that discuss writing technique, how to improve your writing skills before you pay for an editor, skills that will serve you in an author career, and how to identify writing advice that will actually help you. There is a huge amount of writing advice that authors are exposed to, and some of it can be misleading or even damaging. I hope to help authors make sense of this and come to their own conclusions.
Check Out My Ko-Fi
You can also follow me on my ko-fi page where I’ll be writing short posts and updates, including under the series Politics of Emotion. These will be shorter blog-style entries that focus on the emotional and relationship aspects of politics, identity, ethics, and justice.
As a reminder, I am not a licensed therapist or mental health professional, and I don’t claim any institutional or medical authority on emotional well-being. This is just a topic I am passionate about and that will relate to my writing on artistic ethics and writing process.
Editorial Schedule
As of August 2020, my editorial schedule is open for the foreseeable future. This means I am looking for new clients (for any of my editing services) as well as open to new projects from existing clients. Feel free to send an inquiry to my email at mayrpeterson@gmail.com.
