Meet Rachel Tindall - Writer & Writing Coach on How You Can Teach Someone to Become a Better Writer
- Oct 14, 2020
- 4 min read
Rachel Tindall is a Writer and Writing Coach at Capturing Your Confidence. Her lifelong love of learning inspired her to pursue education in writing, as well as teaching. Throughout her years of teaching at the university and community college levels, she has developed a strong desire to continue to be the best learner and educator she can be – a coach. Rachel uses intentional motivation and empowerment to facilitate growth for driven writers and creatives on their journey to becoming unstoppable dream-getters. Building confidence in her colleagues and students is at the heart of all she does.
Who is Rachel?
Well, I’m a writer – that’s both personal and professional. My current work in progress is a Young Adult (YA) fiction novel that I’ve been working on for a little more than a year. I love it and I continue to be excited to see where it goes! I also like to read. Because I do what I love for a living, I’ve also been trying to find some unrelated hobbies. So far, I’m enjoying sewing & paint by number.
Other than that, I’m married to a pretty great guy & we have two dogs, Charlie and Maxwell. They definitely keep us on our toes & make quite the pair! There’s never a “boring” day around here. We love to walk in the local parks, and pretty soon, Max will be old enough (and listen well enough) to go hiking in some of the local trails.
We live in central Indiana, so we’re just starting to see the fall foliage. Fall is my absolute favorite – I wait all year for it! You can definitely catch me looking longingly at my baggy sweaters in the middle of summer.
Tell us a little bit about your business Capturing Your Confidence.
My mission at Capturing Your Confidence is to facilitate measurable growth, through intentional motivation & empowerment, for writers and creatives on their journey to becoming unstoppable dream-getters.
That being “officially” said, I work with writers and professionals who are bored and/or unhappy at work to create a work-life balance with creativity and “the day job.” Because everyone is different, this could look like setting up a writing schedule, or it could mean figuring out a plan to quit their job and pursue their creative passion full time.
I also do freelance writing & editing. I’ve done blogs, articles, and landing pages so far. I’m currently learning how to write more effective sales copy & email marketing strategy. I specialize in taking clients’ thoughts and general brand feel and putting them onto the page in a way that meaningfully connects with their audience.
I’m beginning to dabble in course development for clients as well. Having been a university instructor for years and growing a career in education outside of academia, it feels like a natural (and exciting!) extension of writing.
Who should hire/work with you?
In terms of writing coaching, if you’re someone who:
Loves to write
Wants to write but is stuck
Is interested in writing but someone told you you’re not good enough
Is terribly bored at work and knows you have more creative potential
Is ready to get serious about your writing
Wants some encouragement & accountability for your creative projects
Needs help on the “skills” pieces of writing: Grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc.
Wants to plan ahead but doesn’t know how
“Doesn’t have time” to write but wants to
Doesn’t think that writers can make good money, but the idea appeals if you could just figure out that one piece
I can help, and I would love to chat!
In terms of writing & editing, if you need:
Well-written content
Precision editing
Open & forward communication
Consistency & professionality with a warm touch
Someone who can take what you’re thinking and feeling and put it onto paper in a way that your audience will fall in love with
I’m your girl! The advantage of having multiple degrees and teaching experience in writing is that I’ve seen almost anything you could possibly throw my way (especially in terms of editing).
How exactly can you coach someone to be a better writer?
I always start new coaching clients out with a 1:1 goal-setting session. It’s one thing to have goals, but it’s something else to actually write them out and plan how to get there. We typically set about 1-3 goals to work toward in the short term.
Once we have the goal(s) in place, I work with each individual during our sessions and give tasks in between sessions to practice new skills and take small steps toward their goal. Recently I’ve worked with clients on outlining presentations to stay on topic & setting up a manageable writing schedule with multiple looming deadlines.
I think, perhaps, writing coaching is a little different from other types of coaching. For instance, a business coach might be able to say, “I can help you scale to $10k income per month in X number of months working together.” As a writing coach, I can’t do that as precisely because there isn’t one set outcome. I could say, “I can help you outline your next big writing project,” but it’s equally likely that someone needs encouragement and accountability, which might sound something like, “I can help you set up a writing schedule and be an accountability partner for you so that you can land that next big opportunity when you complete this project.”
The first step will always be to identify the goals and then figure out how to get there. Sometimes this looks like more traditional skills building, but other times it’s being a fountain of positivity and encouragement because the skills are already there, but the confidence is not. For the coaching I offer, everything is based on the individual needs and 1:1 time.
What kind of content can our readers expect from you?
As you might expect, I write a lot about writing!
In the context of leadership, coaching, and entrepreneurship, I think it’s also going to be important to discuss the skills and steps it takes to be a professional writer and writing coach. It’s definitely not something I think everyone could or should pursue, so I want to make sure all of my content is grounded firmly in reality, while still leaving room to dream of what could be.
One of the biggest things I feel is critical for any leadership role is mindset. I work most often with creative confidence & growth mindset, so those will be high in my priorities to discuss in a professional setting, as well.
