As Madeline Moore I teach erotica (to one student.) But under my real name,
Laurie Clayton, I teach a whole bunch of people how to improve their writing skills. I've been doing this for just over one year.
I love my job. I'm paid by the unit so I'm not making as much per hour as I could be if I weren't so painstakingly particular about each assignment. I do hope to speed it up a little as time passes, but I want these people to get the best I can possibly offer.
The first time a student of mine sold a story I think I was just as excited as she was. We did it!
One woman with a big time business resume of her own challenged my credentials to teach her. I sent her my complete resume and a letter. She decided to stick with me as her tutor.
Recently a new student, a man, submitted a piece of work that took me 5 hours to critique. He also showed an awful lot of attitude in his comments.
A few emails (sent back and forth via the school) tested my ability to tame the beast. Tame him I did.
He always expresses his gratitude, now, in every single assignment I receive.
Recently he asked if I'd like a copy of his first published non-fiction book.
What? That's right. He's been published, not self-published, and the book has been receiving great reviews.
People are strange, aren't they? Wouldn't you think an egocentric fellow who is testing the fortitude of his tutor might've mentioned he's already a published author?
The hard part of being a tutor is dealing with students whose first language is not English and think that studying creative writing will help them learn the language. It really doesn't work.
There are also students who will never write well enough to be published. I help them as best I can but, sooner rather than later, they disappear. Perhaps it's just as well to give it a try and find out the truth, but as we all know, the truth hurts.
I teach every genre offered by the school except "business writing." I was hired when two tutors retired in rapid succession, so I inherited a number of students who had already completed most of the course they were taking.
One such student was a woman who was writing her memoirs. After a couple of units she confessed that, unlike me, her previous tutor hadn't offered much guidance, mainly commenting, "Good work. I look forward to your next unit." Well, I suppose when one is ready to retire one isn't labouring over each student's story. I was happy that my student was happy. After all, it's not like I ever studied "how to write memoirs." It was new to me, too.
Obviously I'm not going to tell you her life story, but there was a particularly poignant episode in her youth that I felt she'd glossed over. Perhaps because it was painful to write about. I made a few suggestions that she followed and the result really was a dynamic piece of work.
For the final two units I offered to do a proofread/edit of the entire piece.
She sent it to me in one unit and I returned it, ready for (self) publication. We'd agreed that she'd post once more, even though the work was finished, so that I would be paid in full.
Time passed. I didn't hear from her. I wondered if she'd forgotten our arrangement, but since she wouldn't receive her certificate of graduation from the school until all units were completed, it seemed odd that she'd neglected to upload that final post.
Then it arrived. She'd waited until the book was printed and distributed to her family members before writing to tell me how well-received it had been. The gratitude she expressed at the way I'd helped her shape her story into something meaningful was so sweet, so sincere, so passionately heartfelt that I almost cried.
I love being a writer. My own writing has improved since I've become a teacher. At first, I feared I hadn't the knowledge necessary to instruct people on how to write. But I do. I love being a tutor.
My gratitude to the college for accepting me as a tutor is passionately heartfelt, too.
Thank you, Winghill
You have changed the way I see myself.
You have changed my life.
Love, Madeline
