Sampel "writer paper" for English 711 
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Here is a previous 711 student's paper on working with her writer, along with some of the notes I wrote on it. The only guideline for your paper is to be specific -- about what you saw in your writer's writing, what the writer seemed to think s/he needed (vs., perhaps, what you thought), what strategies you tried, what worked and what didn't, what you learned about editing or coaching real people vs. theoretical discussion. The paper is supposed to be non-fiction, not a fairy tale. If something went badly, that's fine as long as you're honest about it and try to figure out what you can learn from the experience. If other experiences you've had as a writer or editor connect to this project and add perspective, by all means refer to them as well. The point is to show not just that you did the project but that you thought about it and tried to figure out what you've learned.
Your assignment is a short paper, just four or five pages double-spaced, so don't waste words or do a lot of throat-clearing. The student who wrote the paper below spent almost two pages waiting to meet her writer; I've spared you by reducing that to one paragraph. Figure out the main points you want to cover before you start writing. You don't have to start at the beginning, when you're waiting to meet your writer. Think of this as a feature that needs a good lead, maybe a scene or anecdote that highlights a key moment or illustrates what this experience has been like. Allow yourself enough writing time so that if an important new point pops up on page four, you can revise to highlight it. You're welcome to write informally; liveliness is always good. Finally, submitting for Editing class a paper that needs editing (copy editing or content editing) is right up there among the seven deadly sins, don't you think?
Your paper is due by Thursday, April 27. Don't forget that it's supposed to include a log of your contacts (phone, e-mail, meetings) with your writer. And don't forget that you're supposed to be handing in a signed paper each time you meet with your writer.
As I scanned the faces of the hordes of students crawling all over the MUB like ants with a purpose, I cursed myself for not choosing a better spot to meet my writer for the first time. Out of all the people moving past or hanging out near the Coffee Office, how the heck was I supposed to know which one was Don? This worry only made me more nervous. I had already been worrying that because I'm not a journalism major, my writer would feel less inclined to listen to me and respect my ideas. While I waited apprehensively for our first meeting with all my doubts and fears assailing me, I remembered what my parents always say: The purpose of mistakes is to learn from them.
As it turned out, finding Don was easy; we were the only two people standing around looking lost. Though our first meeting went well, I couldn't figure Don out. He said that he had signed up for the project because he wanted to take an active role in improving his writing and learning more about journalism, yet he did not seem very enthused about anything. We talked for a while about his 621 class and how he felt everything was going, but some of the things he said made it seem as if the idea of journalism was more appealing to him than the actual work involved in being a journalist. (Jane's note: Good insight. What things did he say to give you that idea? How did you respond?)
Once we'd gotten acquainted, I steered the conversation into talking about writing, and Don brought up the subject of leads. I breathed a sigh of relief because we were just talking about leads in editing class, so I had ideas I could use to answer his questions, and I felt I was being helpful. (Jane's note: What kinds of questions did he ask? Did they relate to anything you'd seen in his writing? Did something make you think he thought your answers were helpful?) Then he voluntarily got out some of his stories and asked me to look at them. Perfect.
Unlike me, Don is not a shy person, and his stories did not have "shy writer" written all over them. In fact, if they were to have anything written on them, it would be "I just wrote this an hour before class, and there's not enough information in it." I wondered if his stories gave this impression because he just didn't care, or whether he didn't realize that writing a good story required more material and more effort than he was putting in. The stories he gave me were very short and had two or fewer sources. I wondered how he was getting away with that; we had to use three sources in my 621 class. After I'd read his stories, I realized I had many suggestions on how to improve them, and I walked away from that first meeting with a heady feeling knowing I had the potential to work with Don and watch him change and grow as a writer. I was excited by the prospect and felt a rush of something that might even have been POWER. Is that a bad thing?
Before our next meeting, I read over each story he'd given me and wrote notes so that I'd be prepared to discuss the stories with Don. Focus seemed to be something he was struggling with. In several stories he led with some recent event, but the real point was buried farther down, often in the last few paragraphs. (Jane's note: An example, maybe?) I asked him some questions about why he wrote the stories and what he thought was most important about them, hoping to start him noticing that his stories emphasized minute details instead of highlighting focus. He caught onto what I was saying so quickly that he must already have been aware of the issue, but maybe he just hadn't known what to do about it.
We discussed organization and focus and ways he could have applied those ideas to specific stories. Don was a quick learner, and I was impressed by his ability to recognize what he needed to do to become a better writer. He also came up with suggestions for himself. He understood in theory how a story should be constructed, but when he went to write, he didn't apply any of the things he knew. We talked about how he could do that. (Jane's note: Again, examples would help. These ideas sound interesting, but so far I don't know a single subject that he wrote about, or what you mean when you say a focus was buried.)
Because we had talked about leads at our previous meeting, I had photocopied a few pages on leads from various books, listed some useful stuff he might want to read online, and stapled everything together so he'd have a packet of tips, suggestions and information. (Wow! Good for you!) I could tell he was still having trouble with leads. He had that common misconception that 621 students have, that a news lead has to be not just dead straight but boring and stuffed full of who, what, when, where, why, and how without any attempt to sort out which of those was most important for each story. When we met, I brought the "lead tips" and a Boston Globe in which I'd highlighted a couple of leads that contained news yet were interesting and well-written. Then, together we went through the paper and picked out some more news leads we thought were good and figured out what was good about them, and some we didn't like. We also looked at some feature leads and tried to explain why we thought certain ones were good or bad. (Jane's note: What did the leads he chose suggest about his thought process?)
I think the exercise reinforced what we had discussed at our previous meeting and demonstrated that he didn't have to be afraid that writing interesting news leads would keep him from covering the facts. He seemed pleased and surprised that I had taken the extra step to help him. (Jane's note: Yeah, he's lucky to have you.) Of course, I don't know whether Don just tossed the packet into the trash as soon as I'd left, or if he ever read it at all. But I think my actions demonstrated to him that I was serious about this project and would do whatever I could to help. (Exactly. Message is important.)
I called Don a couple weeks later, and we set up a meeting for the following day. But he never showed up. I'd been so excited about working with him, and now I didn't know whether to feel disappointed or angry. When I called Don to find out what had happened, he said he'd overslept and missed not just our meeting but his 621 class -- which didn't seem to bother him much. We set up another meeting, and he agreed to bring a draft of his next story so that we could talk about it before his teacher saw it. However, he arrived at our meeting having done nothing. I asked some questions, trying to figure out what was going on with him and the class, but he said so little that I could only assume he'd stopped caring for some reason.
As Don left, he promised to call me over the weekend to talk about his story after he'd put some work into it. I guess I wasn't really surprised when he didn't call. I sent him a couple e-mails and left a phone message saying, basically, "Don't forget you have my number and I'm happy to help you anytime," but I've never heard from him again.
My coaching experience started out on a high note and ended on a low one. Don and I worked together well for two sessions, and I was excited about the way everything was going, but I have to admit my enthusiasm faded when his did. I don't think it was my job to try to make him care about journalism or his class. That probably wouldn't have been possible anyway. But I do wonder whether there was anything I could have done to help him more. (Jane's note: You did what you could: offered help a million times, asked him lots of questions to try to figure out what had happened to end his interest in the class. If he just plain won't tell you, or doesn't know, you're pretty much stuck.) I'm ending this project thinking it was beneficial, but I'm still trying to figure out why. (Jane's note: Use this paper to figure out why. This experience showed you what about the effort that good editing takes on both sides? What might have been different in a "realer" world in which you, the editor, had some authority over the writer? And lots more questions.)