this new setting? And how did my background affect my work with undergraduate students? Let's look at the first question first, as any good tutor would suggest! After working for three decades with professional writers, as well as being one myself, I understand how hard writing is. For anyone. For everyone. After working for three decades with professional writers, as well as being one myself, I understand how hard writing is. For anyone. For everyone. It is hard to come up with ideas. It is

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... d to craft cogent sentences. It is hard to wrestle just the right vocabulary word to the page from one's internal (or external!) thesaurus. And writing takes time --lots of time. I share this with students. I encourage them with anecdotes and stories from the working lives of authors they may have grown up with. I tell them about my own writing challenges. And while I entertain and cajole, I remind them that feeling stuck or lost or fedup or frustrated is something they will not only work through but come to embrace. It is, after all, part of the process.