You’re feeling excited. Perhaps you’ve been writing for a while, and finally, a publisher has seen your potential and wants to take you on as a creative writing tutor. You’ll be collaborating with students, honing your skills, and hopefully, impressing your audience with your innovative brainwaves. You’ve waited a long time for this moment. You’re finally going to get to express yourself through words, and you’re going to do it beautifully.
But here’s the rub: your creative writing teacher is also your boss. And if you want to keep your job, you’d better keep your act cool.
Let’s explore how to make the most of this situation. You’ll need to learn to navigate the different roles and dynamics that come with being a writer’s assistant. Plus, you’ll need to learn to be assertive and confident while still keeping a healthy workplace relationship. Believe it or not, this is a skill that many writers’ assistants – and even some authors – struggle with.
The Differences In Roles
When you’re first placed in the role of a writer’s assistant, you’ll discover that there are several differences in responsibilities. To start with, your primary duty is to support the author and his or her efforts. This involves transcribing interviews, proofreading drafts, formatting manuscripts, and attending to any other tasks that the author may delegate to you. Generally, you’ll be expected to follow any directions that the author gives you, and you won’t be compensated for your efforts.
Once the manuscript is complete, the publisher will send it to an editor for review. During this stage, you’ll continue to work with the author as needed, but your main duty is to wait for the editor’s feedback. This is when the real workload begins. You’ll be assigned tasks such as compiling the raw notes from the interview sessions into a cohesive report, formatting the report for the website’s sake, and proofreading the final draft. If you’re lucky, the author will provide some coaching on how to improve the report’s structure and content. But again, this is probably not going to be your reward for all this effort. Your compensation will generally come in the form of a small payment, perhaps even nothing. Ultimately, you’re there to do the job, and you’ll have to learn to accept that this is the case.
The Importance Of Good Manners
While you’re there to support the author, it’s also important that you act with good manners. This means that you’ll need to learn to set appropriate boundaries, say “no thank you,” and ensure that you always follow proper procedures. It’s easy for a writer to get distracted by all the little things that go into a project and neglect good manners, but as the author’s assistant, you should always remember what is expected of you.
Even when you’re not directly working with the author, you’ll still need to behave professionally. When an author decides to take on a new collaborator, for example, he or she will typically announce the new position online. This is going to be posted in a variety of places, so you’ll need to make sure that you’re representing the author and his or her company in the right light.
Be Confident, But Professional
As a writer’s assistant, you’ll be called upon to interact with both clients and employers. Clients will be your source of income, so it’s essential that you develop a good working relationship with them. In this situation, you can’t afford to act in a manner that is less than confident. But at the same time, you also don’t want to come off as too aggressive, either. Finding that perfect balance is key to being effective in the role.
There is an art to giving effective feedback, and one of the best ways to learn is by doing. When you’re first starting out, you’ll be provided with a number of training materials that will help you improve your skills. Additionally, there will be deadlines to meet, so you’ll have to find ways to work efficiently while still delivering high-quality work. You’ll need to develop the skills that will make you successful in this role. Be confident – you’re going to do good work, and you’ll be able to prove it to anyone who doubts you.
Managing Your Time
Time management is essential when you’re working as a writer’s assistant. Even with quality control checks and editorial feedback, you’ll still have a lot of work to do per day, and it’s important to manage your time effectively so that you can get as much done as possible. This is why you should develop a task list of exactly what needs to be done, and then prioritize it. If you think that you can get a certain amount of work done in a day and be effective, why not try for it? But be careful not to promise yourself that you’ll be able to work nonstop, as this often leads to exhaustion and poor quality work. When you get too much stress, you’re more likely to make mistakes. So, take time off when you need it. This could mean taking a little break after each set of edits, getting a coffee with a friend, or even calling in sick for a day.
There are many perks to being a writer’s assistant. You get to work with some of the best and most famous authors in the world, and you’ll get to travel the world with them while you’re doing it. But, ultimately, it’s still a job that you’ve got to do if you want to keep your job. And that’s what makes it worth it.