Client Session One

On Thursday, Sept. 18, I had my first session as a client. I brought in a few ideas I had for a column I was writing, as well as the intro paragraph.

First, the consultant asked me what I wanted readers to get out of my piece. With every response I had, the consultant had another question about my answer, how it related to the piece, and what new territory that answer opened up.

I didn't feel odd or awkward at all in being tutored. Maybe it's because I've already led two sessions and have observed the interaction several times; maybe it's because I know we're learning from each other. Either way, it didn't feel like a teacher-student relationship; I felt as an equal, someone who had ideas and thoughts to exchange and share, as well as strategies to implement in my writing. It felt pretty fantastic, actually.

The consultant often digressed in her suggestions, making me feel like she was giving me as much feedback as possible while acknowledging that she may not know precisely how the piece should be written or structured. I found the constant stream of questions to be most helpful, because I myself don't always ask enough questions about what I'm writing. What's the point of this paragraph? Don't people already know this? Isn't this common knowledge? Once you have an idea in place and think it's a great one, you don't continually second-guess yourself; this session made it that much clearer that a second set of eyes, regardless of how much experience lay behind them, is critical to the writing.

To tackle the last bullet point in the Bedford guide, the tutor made me feel comfortable the entire time. The session was productive, relaxed, and appropriately engaging. I look forward to my next one.