I’m Rachel Jepsen, an editor and writing coach for non-fiction writers. I have a masters in creative writing and worked in magazines, at tech companies and publishing companies, in classrooms, and as a freelance editor for ten years before starting my business as a writing coach. I’ve talked and worked with writers—from ‘first book’ contenders to bestselling authors, emerging bloggers to successful founders building their brand on the page—for tens of thousands of hours. I’ve taken a lot of notes. I’ve listened to their struggles from outlining to identity, story concepts to self-conception, the ‘cold-start’ problem to ‘never finished’ agony, and guided them to identify and move toward their goals.

I hope to show you that it is worth it to look—to look farther for the perspectives that will make you a better writer, and to look deeper, to discover more about who you are and how you want to be. The writing problems you have can absolutely be addressed and worked through, and your process can get easier. I never say that writing doesn’t have to be hard—but it doesn’t have to be painful or that lonely.

A little bit about my receiving context:

• non-essentialism: I don’t believe people are defined by their problems or that their problems are an inherent part of their identity. I don’t believe that the self is unchanging.

• non-individualism: I believe that identity develops in a social context and cannot be separated from the influence of other people (family, community), society, and systems (capitalism and government, sexism and patriarchy, racism). A non-individualist perspective also includes the belief that healing, meaning, and growth happen with and through relationships.

• non-urgency: While deadlines and timelines matter, non-urgency is the belief that slowing down, expanding awareness of the present, and seeking silence are part of how we become more empathetic and compassionate to ourselves and others, and access and support our creative lives.

• core-creativity: What I call ‘core-creativity’ is the belief that creativity is part of what it means to be human, that all people are creative, and that creativity is a liberating force.