A Unique Group Coaching Experience
You’re at the hardest stage of the process: the draft is finished, the feedback is in, and you know the manuscript isn’t ready, but you’re not sure how to fix it without tearing it all apart.
Self-Editing Essentials provides a proven revision process, coaching, and a community of supportive writing peers, so you can strengthen your manuscript and avoid wasting months guessing all alone.
Cue the confetti! You're amazing! Research shows 97% of people who start a book won't finish it. You're in the 3%. Let's hit pause and celebrate!
But completing a draft isn’t the finish line. It’s the moment where the real shaping begins and most writers get stuck.
You've finished celebrating, (and I hope you lingered in that happy space for a while—you've earned it).
At this stage, it's tempting to hire an editor, find beta readers, or cross your fingers and send your manuscript to literary agents.
Those options sound productive, but for many writers, they lead to slow progress, scattered feedback, and expensive revisions that could have been avoided.
Beta readers usually read once, and their feedback often reflects personal taste more than craft strategy. They can tell you where they felt confused or disengaged, but they often cannot diagnose the structural reason why.
Literary agents are inundated. An unpolished manuscript rarely gets the attention it deserves, and in a crowded market, manuscripts that lack structural precision or narrative control are easy to pass over.
And while a developmental edit can be transformative—I know this firsthand as a developmental editor—you’ll get far more value from that investment when you’ve already addressed the issues you can fix yourself.
Inside Self-Editing Essentials, we make sure you don't fall into the isolation pit. Writers tell me all the time that editing in isolation feels overwhelming, lonely, and endlessly circular. That’s why you belong in Self-Editing Essentials: A Step-by-Step System to Finish Your Book.
This group coaching program gives fiction and memoir writers a structured revision process, professional guidance, and a community of serious writers so you’re never guessing, stalling, or doing this alone.
Revising doesn’t have to feel like drudgery. With the tools I'll share with you, this process can be focused, efficient, thought-provoking, and highly satisfying.
Self-Editing Essentials is for fiction and memoir writers who have finished or are close to finishing a manuscript and know it needs serious revision before submission or self-publishing.
You don’t need to be “done.” You do need to be ready to engage thoughtfully with your work and revise with intention.
Twice-monthly live group coaching calls
We meet on Zoom in a small group (approximately 6-10 writers) to work through real revision challenges. You’ll bring questions from your manuscript and receive direct coaching, while also learning from others’ work. Every participant has the opportunity for coaching. Attend live or watch the recording.
A committed writing community
You’ll have the option to join our private WhatsApp and Facebook groups where writers set goals, talk craft, share progress, and support one another through the most demanding phase of the process. This is accountability without pressure and encouragement without noise.
Recorded trainings
Practical, focused lessons in our online classroom that teach you how to revise strategically and efficiently. These trainings are designed to be implemented independently at the pace that makes sense for you.
Spots open up periodically. The first step is to schedule a call to see if this opportunity is a fit.
The program is designed to be completed in four months. That said, you’re encouraged to move at a pace that supports deep, sustainable work.
After four months, if (like most members) you decide you've found your people and want to linger, we'd love that!
What Will I Accomplish?
By the end of your time in Self-Editing Essentials, you will have worked through your manuscript in its entirety with a clear revision strategy.
You’ll understand how to:
Before you leave the program, we’ll meet one-on-one on Zoom to address remaining questions and, if useful, discuss next steps for your book.
Most importantly, you’ll leave with a repeatable revision process—skills you’ll use every time you write a new manuscript.
What's the investment?
$175 per month is an investment that will help you shorten the revision process, avoid unnecessary editorial expenses, and learning how to do this work well with a system you can use again and again.
Each month builds your momentum, confidence, and craft mastery.
Let's discuss if this group is right for you.
I believe that words matter and that stories change the world.
I help fiction and memoir writers take their drafts from “good enough” to submission-ready without the overwhelm, guesswork, or isolation that often slows the process.
With over fifteen years of experience teaching and editing, and writing my own fiction professionally, I've guided new writers, seasoned storytellers, and all the folks in between.
Whether you’ve got a new idea percolating, or you’re confronting writers’ block, cruising through revisions, or ready to pitch to agents, I have tools and techniques to help.
Join our community today
rebeccapickens.com
Rebecca's guidance helped me sharpen my story's focus and humor, and identify and address areas in my book in need of extra work. This feedback, coupled with her encouragement and enthusiasm, gave me the confidence I needed to complete my project!
—
Jean Williams-Bergen
Author/Illustrator of "Hog in a Hatchback"
Rebecca gave me the compass to navigate my goal of becoming a published author. She made the process fun and was so encouraging while really keeping me on task. Being a total novice to the publishing world, I would not have had the courage or confidence to submit my work without her professional guidance and smart, thorough, and collaborative input.
—
Michelle Mozelsio
Fiction writer
Register now for a free conversation with Rebecca. Learn more about the ways the Self-Editing Essentials Group can help you.
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