When It is Time to Bring on a Writing Coach

A know-it-all eats humble pie

For a very long time, most of my acquaintance sang the “Barbara is a great writer” praises. “Of course”, I thought, “writing is something I like to do, and apparently I am good at it.”

The list of my writing achievements fill my resume: just out of college I was hired to edit continuing legal education program materials and creating program brochures, which lasted three years; I had to abandon this choice career because of a little thing called “marriage” and moving out of state.

…..followed a decade and three children later when I completed a Master's program in teaching. I secured a position as a Writing and Grammar teacher, working with middle schoolers. If I could not create content, I thought, at least I could pass on strong writing skills to future generations of writers.

…..ironically this career lasted three years as I chose to stay home with my newborn daughter, gifted with Down syndrome. I kept in touch with teaching by homeschooling two of my children at the middle school level, and as they moved on to high school, I offered my skills as a tutor.

…..things really took off when my spouse decided he had enough of corporate medicine and returned to a solo internal medicine practice, tapping me as office manager. Anyone starting a business that hires employees knows there are more manuals to write than one could conceive. Employee manual, OSHA manual, HIPPA manual…..ugh. Tedious work, yes, but it…