Coaching & Ghostwriting

Work With Me

You've been working on something, maybe for a long time. It's not coming together the way you thought it would, and you've started wondering whether the problem is you.

It's not. Writing is a mess. The real breakthroughs come from showing up regularly and bringing your full self to a process that can't be controlled. You can't know the ending before you've lived through the middle.

But you probably already sense that. And you aren't looking for advice. You want to work with someone who can see what you can't — because that's how this works for everyone, including me.

"I was really impressed because one day I came to him again and again for advice on this story. He was able to draw out of me what I wanted from the story without setting any terms for me. He would listen, ask questions and reiterate until it became clear."

"If you come with an open mind about what to work on and what you will learn, a productive, enjoyable experience is all but guaranteed. You will learn to let other people teach you. You will learn to let everything teach you. You will learn how to work with the current instead of being swept up in it or fighting against it."

Gina C.
Stephen Lloyd Webber

What working together looks like

In the first session, we figure out what the project actually is, which is not always what you thought it needed to be when you reached out. I ask questions and listen for the things underneath what you're describing. Usually, within the first conversation, something shifts.

In the weeks between calls, you write. I read what you send to notice where the energy is, where the writing is reaching for something it hasn't found yet, and where you're playing it safe.

By the second or third session, something usually clicks. You stop wrestling with the work and the project begins to teach you what it wants to be.

That's what I mean by coaching. I don't keep a set of rules about story structure or push writers to achieve some marker of outer success. Success comes through you thoroughly inhabiting your process without any added effort or strain. You love the work you create, it feels aligned, and you have learned to trust the writing.

What this isn't

I'm not the coach who projects an idealized version of success and makes you feel like you need to catch up. The messy middle is where I live. It's where all the life is, not on the other side of some achievement you're supposed to be chasing.

The guiding philosophy that came from the retreats is to always be either completely productive or completely relaxed. Both are important. When we're working, we're fully in it. When we're not, we're open for inspiration, recharging and out in the world fully alive.

"Stephen has a unique capacity for listening that allows him to understand the feeling that I'm struggling to communicate, and sometimes blindly seeking, in my writing. On many occasions, with a few insightful words he's helped me clarify and amplify my connection to my true and powerful voice."

Shawn N.

"The instruction was as hands-on or as hands-off as I needed it to be, from one day to the next. Organic feedback — feedback that is productive without being critical, that enables the writer to evacuate their vacuum in a safe space."

Rosemary

Three ways we can work together

Coaching

Done With You

I'm fighting for you while you create your own work. You bring your vision and rough drafts, I bring honest feedback, the right questions at the right time, and the kind of attention that helps you hear what your work is trying to become. We meet twice a month by phone, with manuscript review and ongoing conversation between sessions.

$500/month · Biweekly sessions

Collaboration

Co-Written

We build together. We're both in the document, both shaping the work, both discovering what wants to emerge. Your expertise meets mine. This is for when the process itself matters as much as the outcome.

Bring your idea and let's discuss

Ghostwriting

Done For You

You have the ideas and vision. I write in your voice and structure your thoughts into polished pieces. I've ghostwritten for tech executives and founders who trust me to find their voice and match it to the right audience.

Book an intro call

"I cannot even begin to express how deeply moved I was. My novel took a different shape and thanks to a creative writing exercise that Stephen gave us, I wrote a new prologue that helped me understand my character so much better. My novel was literally transformed in a day. I expected the block I had been feeling to go away, but I didn't expect the floodgates of creativity to open as they did."

Jennifer Sage

"Stephen was so gifted at bringing us in to focus on the larger purpose of our choice to write and our practice of writing. The writing advice he gave me was the extra nudge I needed to really feel confident in my ideas, to hone in on them and trust their interplay and organic development as a valuable and interesting process. He offered ongoing support after the retreat, recommended reading, suggestions and other guidance in addition to the focus and encouragement."

Amick

Book a call

The first conversation is free, and there's no obligation. Tell me a little about what you're working on. I'll write back within 24 hours. If we're not the right fit, I'll point you toward someone who is.

Ghostwriting

Engagements are scoped to what you need. Book an intro call and tell me what you're working on.

All ghostwriting engagements are confidential by default.

Stay close to the work

A weekly letter on writing, attention, and the creative life.

TMMW

To Map, Must Walk.

The map is the finished work that emerges after you've walked the territory. A GPS route demands specific turns. A compass heading lets you wander while still knowing north. To make the map, you have to walk first.