Hi there, I'm George 😊. I'm a book coach and developmental editor specialising in fiction and memoir. I'm also a mother of two imaginative, hilarious boys and a lover of deep work, creativity and story.
7 years ago, I was 38 weeks pregnant. I had just returned the final proofs of my book manuscript to my editor at Oxford University Press. As an emerging literary scholar, this book would put me on course for a career as a lecturer and researcher—a life of deep work.
By the time the author's complimentary copies arrived, my baby was crawling and my universe had shifted.
By now, my future in the Ivory Tower seemed both too much and not enough. Ever since then, I've been navigating the tension between being a mother and being a writer and thinker.
I know I'm not alone in walking that line, although sometimes it has felt that way.
But things are changing. And that's why I'm bringing together mothers who write. In Calliope's Writers we can learn from and support each other as we collectively rewrite the cultural narrative by making time, space and energy to write because we are mothers, rather than despite it.
Because a mother who writes should not be considered a paradox.
Calliope's Writers is facilitated by me but shaped by you. It has and will continue to evolve with the members. But here is what it looks like recently:
Inside Calliope's Writers, you will find: