On the My Approach/About Me page, I discuss how nearly a decade of writing and editing experience in both journalistic and literary sectors informs my editorial approach.
I've been able to examine all aspects of the writing vocation from direct, hands-on writing and editing experience in multiple mediums with works of varying lengths, to daily editing and evaluation of writers for the literary journal I founded in 2008, to associations with numerous writing organizations and indie booksellers, to insight obtained from interviews with diverse best-selling authors of fiction and non-fiction, instructors, agents and publishing industry insiders. The combination of my collective professional experiences has proved to be an asset I can draw upon in my freelance manuscript editing to give a unique, in-depth evaluation to clients.
As such, I have assembled an assortment of testimonials from the different kinds of work I've done to give a well-rounded view into my editing style and the relationships I've fostered with writers.
Testimonials
Anita Oswald, memoir writer (This client letter first describes how we met through the literary magazine and goes on to describe how she hired me to edit her collection of memoirs):
Since my first submission to The Write Place at the Write Time, I've grown as a writer and contributor. This is, in no small measure, due to the guidance and support I received from Nicole Bouchard.
New to the world of creative writing and publishing, I first approached Nicole with a short memoir/essay. Her enthusiasm for my writing was a thrill. Not only did she enjoy my story, she seemed to immediately understand me and my experiences. With a gentle but firm hand, she helped guide me through that oh-so-difficult process of editing my work.
Now, many essays later, we are engaged in a much larger project—the consolidation of the essays into a cohesive collection. Having already known her brand of editing through the literary magazine, when I learned that Nicole was taking on additional clients for her separate freelance manuscript editing services, I immediately reached out to her. Since the beginning, Nicole has made this process painless.
She created a project chart as well as the working master draft. Nicole also reordered the stories, re-editing them, researching references.
Additionally, she re-formatted the manuscript, created a working table of contents and suggested very apt sections and titles, well-suited to the comic and quirky nature of some of my reminiscences. Reviewing the entire manuscript to reinforce the flow and eliminate redundancy, she made suggestions for strengthening the collection. This support was critical as I am employed full-time in a demanding job and I simply could not have accomplished this much on my own in such a short time.
Throughout our engagement, Nicole has been both professional and caring, driving the project plan and providing regular status reports while nurturing my book and tenderly editing material that is both intimate and very close to my heart.
Should you choose to move forward with your project, I believe your experience will be both personally and professionally rewarding.
Cheryl Sommese, poet (I worked with this client on a children's book and a poetry collection)
Nicole Bouchard's editing skills embody a striking command of the English language, coupled with remarkable literary talent. Without a doubt, this combination is most impressive. In fact, my stories transformed from interesting to fantastic just by implementing her insightful suggestions. I highly recommend Ms. Bouchard's editing services to anyone hoping to polish a children's story, poetry collection, memoir, or novel.
Mark Barkawitz, novelist and award-winning short fiction writer (The informal testimonial is for a novel evaluation, the formal a general reflection on my editing style)
Informal: Good call, Nicole. Feels like Giant Killers [novel] grew up a bit or 'put on its big boy pants.' Thanks again for the great notes. You're good at your job.
Formal: I love a good editor. A good editor makes my work better. And Nicole Bouchard is a good editor. I first became acquainted with Nicole through her website about four years ago. Her editing style is to gently but pointedly suggest changes where she feels the text needs attention, rather than making those changes herself, as many editors do (often distressing to writers). I've found her a joy to work with and hope to continue to do so.
The following statements pertain to my role as a literary journal editor (from contributing writers, interview subjects, etc...):
Vince Corvaia, poet and reviewer
Nicole is a superlative editor who really connects with her writers. Her suggestions about my poems are always to improve the poem as it is, not as she would like it to become. It's a pleasure to work with her.
Terin Tashi Miller, novelist and news writer at Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal
Nicole M. Bouchard is an excellent and inspiring editor. Having edited—and published—several of my fiction short stories in her magazine, Nicole has impressed me not only as a writer, but as a professional editor. She is able to retain the writers' voice—a key to good editing—and yet also inspire or direct changes the writer instantly understands and, in my case, is often eager to make as they ALWAYS improve upon the original. She understands writers, writing, and literature, and is passionately dedicated to the twin goals of art as well as editing: expression and communication.
Since first publishing the first of my short stories to be published since a long forgotten one published in 1977 by the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Sciences magazine, I have found Nicole's insightful reading and brilliant editing has become invaluable to me as a writer as well as a friend.
I write this as two of my novels—what I self-published as From Where the Rivers Come, and a Texas thriller that has never before seen print—are being published. And, as far as I'm concerned, Nicole and The Write Place is what launched my too-long-dormant literary career.
Bill Mesce, Jr., instructor and novelist
As a contributing author, I found her wonderfully supportive, insightful, astute in both her analysis as well as in her input. Like any good editor, she was a collaborator only interested in helping a contributor be the best writer he/she could be. It is never about her; it is about her enthusiasm for the appreciation, the craft, and the art of the written word.
(Interview subject; regarding interview) Tim Tomlinson, President and co-founder of The New York Writers Workshop, co-author of The Portable MFA in Creative Writing
Nicole Bouchard, editor-in-chief at The Write Place at the Write Time, interviewed me for the Summer 2012 issue of The Write Place at the Write Time. The experience was illuminating and elevating and I wonder if, by the end, I hadn't learned more about my work, my background, my process, than Nicole (and readers) learned about me. I credit the thoughtfulness of the questions, and the generosity of the spirit behind them, for eliciting the kinds of responses Nicole drew from me. She is a thorough professional, and I'll continue to value the experience she offered.
(Interview subject; regarding interview) Gwendolen Gross, Simon and Schuster author of The Orphan Sister as well as workshop instructor at UCLA and Sarah Lawrence
It was such a pleasure to work with Nicole—her insightful, unique questions revealed such intense thoughtfulness and joy in the written word. I'm not sure I've ever had the pleasure of working with someone who read my writing so deeply before an interview and then related the ideas to others, to readers, to the world of art. It was flattering, satisfying, and stimulating.
Leeanne Meredith Oschmanns, teacher and writer (This feedback pertains to the online course, Passion, Philosophy and Prose: The Power of the Pen, for which I was the instructor and creator. This student took the course from her home in Australia. As editing can be compared to coaching and can involve instruction, I include this as an indication of personal and professional style.)
Nicole is very respectful and encouraging, whilst still offering constructive support. Her enthusiasm and positivity are very engaging and motivating. I believe that the course delivered what it promised. For me, it was a timely motivating tool which served to re-ignite my enthusiasm after some very traumatic life events. I would not hesitate to do another course with TWPATWT again. The course was very concise and comprehensive within the scope of its description. As a trained teacher, I can comment that the teaching style was very upbeat and positive. This is a key to any successful course. I would not hesitate to recommend this course to others. Thanks for the great materials!
I've been able to examine all aspects of the writing vocation from direct, hands-on writing and editing experience in multiple mediums with works of varying lengths, to daily editing and evaluation of writers for the literary journal I founded in 2008, to associations with numerous writing organizations and indie booksellers, to insight obtained from interviews with diverse best-selling authors of fiction and non-fiction, instructors, agents and publishing industry insiders. The combination of my collective professional experiences has proved to be an asset I can draw upon in my freelance manuscript editing to give a unique, in-depth evaluation to clients.
As such, I have assembled an assortment of testimonials from the different kinds of work I've done to give a well-rounded view into my editing style and the relationships I've fostered with writers.
Testimonials
Anita Oswald, memoir writer (This client letter first describes how we met through the literary magazine and goes on to describe how she hired me to edit her collection of memoirs):
Since my first submission to The Write Place at the Write Time, I've grown as a writer and contributor. This is, in no small measure, due to the guidance and support I received from Nicole Bouchard.
New to the world of creative writing and publishing, I first approached Nicole with a short memoir/essay. Her enthusiasm for my writing was a thrill. Not only did she enjoy my story, she seemed to immediately understand me and my experiences. With a gentle but firm hand, she helped guide me through that oh-so-difficult process of editing my work.
Now, many essays later, we are engaged in a much larger project—the consolidation of the essays into a cohesive collection. Having already known her brand of editing through the literary magazine, when I learned that Nicole was taking on additional clients for her separate freelance manuscript editing services, I immediately reached out to her. Since the beginning, Nicole has made this process painless.
She created a project chart as well as the working master draft. Nicole also reordered the stories, re-editing them, researching references.
Additionally, she re-formatted the manuscript, created a working table of contents and suggested very apt sections and titles, well-suited to the comic and quirky nature of some of my reminiscences. Reviewing the entire manuscript to reinforce the flow and eliminate redundancy, she made suggestions for strengthening the collection. This support was critical as I am employed full-time in a demanding job and I simply could not have accomplished this much on my own in such a short time.
Throughout our engagement, Nicole has been both professional and caring, driving the project plan and providing regular status reports while nurturing my book and tenderly editing material that is both intimate and very close to my heart.
Should you choose to move forward with your project, I believe your experience will be both personally and professionally rewarding.
Cheryl Sommese, poet (I worked with this client on a children's book and a poetry collection)
Nicole Bouchard's editing skills embody a striking command of the English language, coupled with remarkable literary talent. Without a doubt, this combination is most impressive. In fact, my stories transformed from interesting to fantastic just by implementing her insightful suggestions. I highly recommend Ms. Bouchard's editing services to anyone hoping to polish a children's story, poetry collection, memoir, or novel.
Mark Barkawitz, novelist and award-winning short fiction writer (The informal testimonial is for a novel evaluation, the formal a general reflection on my editing style)
Informal: Good call, Nicole. Feels like Giant Killers [novel] grew up a bit or 'put on its big boy pants.' Thanks again for the great notes. You're good at your job.
Formal: I love a good editor. A good editor makes my work better. And Nicole Bouchard is a good editor. I first became acquainted with Nicole through her website about four years ago. Her editing style is to gently but pointedly suggest changes where she feels the text needs attention, rather than making those changes herself, as many editors do (often distressing to writers). I've found her a joy to work with and hope to continue to do so.
The following statements pertain to my role as a literary journal editor (from contributing writers, interview subjects, etc...):
Vince Corvaia, poet and reviewer
Nicole is a superlative editor who really connects with her writers. Her suggestions about my poems are always to improve the poem as it is, not as she would like it to become. It's a pleasure to work with her.
Terin Tashi Miller, novelist and news writer at Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal
Nicole M. Bouchard is an excellent and inspiring editor. Having edited—and published—several of my fiction short stories in her magazine, Nicole has impressed me not only as a writer, but as a professional editor. She is able to retain the writers' voice—a key to good editing—and yet also inspire or direct changes the writer instantly understands and, in my case, is often eager to make as they ALWAYS improve upon the original. She understands writers, writing, and literature, and is passionately dedicated to the twin goals of art as well as editing: expression and communication.
Since first publishing the first of my short stories to be published since a long forgotten one published in 1977 by the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Sciences magazine, I have found Nicole's insightful reading and brilliant editing has become invaluable to me as a writer as well as a friend.
I write this as two of my novels—what I self-published as From Where the Rivers Come, and a Texas thriller that has never before seen print—are being published. And, as far as I'm concerned, Nicole and The Write Place is what launched my too-long-dormant literary career.
Bill Mesce, Jr., instructor and novelist
As a contributing author, I found her wonderfully supportive, insightful, astute in both her analysis as well as in her input. Like any good editor, she was a collaborator only interested in helping a contributor be the best writer he/she could be. It is never about her; it is about her enthusiasm for the appreciation, the craft, and the art of the written word.
(Interview subject; regarding interview) Tim Tomlinson, President and co-founder of The New York Writers Workshop, co-author of The Portable MFA in Creative Writing
Nicole Bouchard, editor-in-chief at The Write Place at the Write Time, interviewed me for the Summer 2012 issue of The Write Place at the Write Time. The experience was illuminating and elevating and I wonder if, by the end, I hadn't learned more about my work, my background, my process, than Nicole (and readers) learned about me. I credit the thoughtfulness of the questions, and the generosity of the spirit behind them, for eliciting the kinds of responses Nicole drew from me. She is a thorough professional, and I'll continue to value the experience she offered.
(Interview subject; regarding interview) Gwendolen Gross, Simon and Schuster author of The Orphan Sister as well as workshop instructor at UCLA and Sarah Lawrence
It was such a pleasure to work with Nicole—her insightful, unique questions revealed such intense thoughtfulness and joy in the written word. I'm not sure I've ever had the pleasure of working with someone who read my writing so deeply before an interview and then related the ideas to others, to readers, to the world of art. It was flattering, satisfying, and stimulating.
Leeanne Meredith Oschmanns, teacher and writer (This feedback pertains to the online course, Passion, Philosophy and Prose: The Power of the Pen, for which I was the instructor and creator. This student took the course from her home in Australia. As editing can be compared to coaching and can involve instruction, I include this as an indication of personal and professional style.)
Nicole is very respectful and encouraging, whilst still offering constructive support. Her enthusiasm and positivity are very engaging and motivating. I believe that the course delivered what it promised. For me, it was a timely motivating tool which served to re-ignite my enthusiasm after some very traumatic life events. I would not hesitate to do another course with TWPATWT again. The course was very concise and comprehensive within the scope of its description. As a trained teacher, I can comment that the teaching style was very upbeat and positive. This is a key to any successful course. I would not hesitate to recommend this course to others. Thanks for the great materials!