"The desert has a raw poetry that peels
back the visitor’s skin, exposing shimmering bone and
raw sinew until, finally, there is nothing else."
-Kiva Rose Hardin
Our writing is deeply personal and often sensitive to us – if you are looking for a compassionate but highly attentive and experienced editor, consider working with me. Do you have a single poem or essay that you’ve submitted over and over again, but you can’t seem to get it picked up? Are you working on a manuscript and needing support to think through its themes and structure? Are you caught midway through your novel and are not sure where to go next? Through a blend of detailed editorial notes and individual meetings, I am ready to support you in raising the heat on your current project.
Editorial services include:
-Poetry folios of up to 5 pages (minimum rate: $25)
-Individual essays (minimum rate: $50)
-Chapbook projects up to 32 pages (minimum rate: $150)
-Full-length poetry manuscripts over 48 pages (minimum rate: $300)
-Full-length prose, fiction, & hybrid manuscripts (minimum rate: $500)
Each of the chapbook and full-length options come with a minimum of one hour-long consultations with me to discuss the work in depth.
TESTIMONIALS
"I burst into tears as I read your feedback. I’ve felt very unsure about the work, but I feel so fortunate that you appeared as an editorial possibility for this piece and could connect to the history and topic so well. Your edits are genius. It's all so much better but the line breaks, in particular, you added and edited are remarkable. They bring so much resonance to the poetry. It makes the rhythm of the lines and the meaning of my words so much richer. Thank you because it feels like you get me and there is no better feeling than the feeling of being seen."
-Client from editorial consultation
"MJ introduces participants to a wide range of writers and writing styles. They create a safe space for participants to engage not only with the development of their writing but invite participants in reflections of their personal writing journeys. Workshops have included manuscript consultations, editing, prompts and thematic discussions."
–Troy Rockett, participant of Litany!
"I wanted to tell you that your letter gave me back some of the initial excitement I had about [my manuscript] when I started working on these poems. I haven't felt this type of energy around my project in a long time, and I can't wait to start working on it again. [...] Thank you for giving me back that warmth and joy around this again. It's been a minute since I felt that way."
– Rachel Nelson, from editorial consultation
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Editorial statement:
Poetry represents an opportunity to constantly reinvent; to find new words, arrangements, landscapes, and forms with which to express the age-old. I am drawn in by poems that take and then refill my body’s breath. With softness or boldness, a poem must say something beyond beauty and lyric. It must enact. It must make a declaration. It must lead to revolution. It must shock the reader with its aliveness of witness. When is a poem done, then? We’re rarely blessed with the final poem in our first draft. Our early versions are often akin to channeling, to birthing; revision, then, is the tender care we take to shape and raise the best of our language to fullness. As an editor and consultant, it is my task to understand why you must write, to understand how important your work is to you, to identify your unique writing cadence. I will treat it with care and grace.
I am looking for where you are strongest as a writer and/or poet and will work with you to ensure that strength is felt through & through. After our time together discussing your work, you will leave with a better understanding of your own personal toolkit and vocal cadence as a writer. I currently serve as Editor-in-Chief for the award-winning LGBTQ magazine Foglifter Press, am the creator of the Black queer poetry workshop Litany!, and I have served on Individual Artist Grant committees in both San Francisco and Berkeley. I have supported youth in completing manuscripts in partnership with Chapter 510, and have served as an editorial consultant for Black Lawrence Press. My knowledge from each of these artistic experiences, as well as from my own writing, is ready to be put to good use. Sound good? Contact me!
back the visitor’s skin, exposing shimmering bone and
raw sinew until, finally, there is nothing else."
-Kiva Rose Hardin
Our writing is deeply personal and often sensitive to us – if you are looking for a compassionate but highly attentive and experienced editor, consider working with me. Do you have a single poem or essay that you’ve submitted over and over again, but you can’t seem to get it picked up? Are you working on a manuscript and needing support to think through its themes and structure? Are you caught midway through your novel and are not sure where to go next? Through a blend of detailed editorial notes and individual meetings, I am ready to support you in raising the heat on your current project.
Editorial services include:
-Poetry folios of up to 5 pages (minimum rate: $25)
-Individual essays (minimum rate: $50)
-Chapbook projects up to 32 pages (minimum rate: $150)
-Full-length poetry manuscripts over 48 pages (minimum rate: $300)
-Full-length prose, fiction, & hybrid manuscripts (minimum rate: $500)
Each of the chapbook and full-length options come with a minimum of one hour-long consultations with me to discuss the work in depth.
TESTIMONIALS
"I burst into tears as I read your feedback. I’ve felt very unsure about the work, but I feel so fortunate that you appeared as an editorial possibility for this piece and could connect to the history and topic so well. Your edits are genius. It's all so much better but the line breaks, in particular, you added and edited are remarkable. They bring so much resonance to the poetry. It makes the rhythm of the lines and the meaning of my words so much richer. Thank you because it feels like you get me and there is no better feeling than the feeling of being seen."
-Client from editorial consultation
"MJ introduces participants to a wide range of writers and writing styles. They create a safe space for participants to engage not only with the development of their writing but invite participants in reflections of their personal writing journeys. Workshops have included manuscript consultations, editing, prompts and thematic discussions."
–Troy Rockett, participant of Litany!
"I wanted to tell you that your letter gave me back some of the initial excitement I had about [my manuscript] when I started working on these poems. I haven't felt this type of energy around my project in a long time, and I can't wait to start working on it again. [...] Thank you for giving me back that warmth and joy around this again. It's been a minute since I felt that way."
– Rachel Nelson, from editorial consultation
----
Editorial statement:
Poetry represents an opportunity to constantly reinvent; to find new words, arrangements, landscapes, and forms with which to express the age-old. I am drawn in by poems that take and then refill my body’s breath. With softness or boldness, a poem must say something beyond beauty and lyric. It must enact. It must make a declaration. It must lead to revolution. It must shock the reader with its aliveness of witness. When is a poem done, then? We’re rarely blessed with the final poem in our first draft. Our early versions are often akin to channeling, to birthing; revision, then, is the tender care we take to shape and raise the best of our language to fullness. As an editor and consultant, it is my task to understand why you must write, to understand how important your work is to you, to identify your unique writing cadence. I will treat it with care and grace.
I am looking for where you are strongest as a writer and/or poet and will work with you to ensure that strength is felt through & through. After our time together discussing your work, you will leave with a better understanding of your own personal toolkit and vocal cadence as a writer. I currently serve as Editor-in-Chief for the award-winning LGBTQ magazine Foglifter Press, am the creator of the Black queer poetry workshop Litany!, and I have served on Individual Artist Grant committees in both San Francisco and Berkeley. I have supported youth in completing manuscripts in partnership with Chapter 510, and have served as an editorial consultant for Black Lawrence Press. My knowledge from each of these artistic experiences, as well as from my own writing, is ready to be put to good use. Sound good? Contact me!