Testimonials - Clovis Editorial

Substantive Edit

Scott Smith

"Working with Genevieve on a substantive edit has been a great and valuable experience. As a first-time amateur novelist, who writes after work and on weekends, the best use of my time is very important to me. Genevieve helped me identify reoccurring areas to focus on to strengthen the prose without losing elements of my writing style and tonal choices. She is knowledgeable, encouraging, and professional. All the traits I hoped for in an editor. Hiring an editor is a leap-of-faith and I can honestly say that Genevieve helped me improve my manuscript in a constructive way while providing tools to apply to future writing. If I ever get around to writing a second novel, I will definitely work with her again."

Group Coaching (Accountabiliaty Group)

Rachel McLean

"Genevieve’s writing groups are amazing! I joined my first prompt group in late Fall 2020, and I am so thankful I did. Genevieve’s prompts have allowed me to explore characters I didn’t even know were sitting in my head, waiting to be written, until a prompt brought the right words to kick-start their story. I joined the Accountability Group in Winter 2021, and it has been so wonderful and helpful to meet with Genevieve and the rest of the group every two weeks. We share progress reports, talk about issues we’re having, hear suggestions from the group, and share work. Genevieve always encourages a review of the major goal(s) of the session mid-way, to ensure that the goal still makes sense, or we can adjust it (because life happens and we roll with that). It’s because of the Accountability Group that I finished my first draft of my poetry manuscript, something I didn’t think I’d ever do, because I felt so burnt out after university. As we say in Accountability, “Not good, but done,” which is the most important thing in writing. After all, how can you edit anything if there’s nothing to edit?

Genevieve’s group provides the perfect amount of deadline and pressure to actually finish things without feeling incredibly stressed like in school.

Genevieve also creates a wonderful atmosphere in all of her groups that allows for creativity and silliness (and if so desired, creepiness), and a safe space to share our work, even though it is rough.

If you are looking to get into (or back into) creative writing, whether it be fiction or non‑fiction, prose or poetry, Genevieve’s groups provide a space to let your imagination soar!"

Group Coaching (Accountability Group)

Shilpa Sharma

"As a novice creative writer, the writing groups led by Genevieve have been invaluable to my writing journey. I’ve participated in her Accountability group as well as her Prompt writing group and both allowed my writing to flourish and boosted my confidence. Without the positive environment, helpful structure and supportive coaching style that Genevieve has fostered I could not have progressed from an idea to a first draft of a novel. She genuinely cares about the people she works with, listens intently and offers practical feedback to help you progress with your goals. I feel incredibly lucky that I chanced upon these local writing groups and am grateful for the community/friendships I have made because of them. If you have the opportunity to utilize Genevieve’s coaching and editorial services, your work will be all the richer for it."

Scrap of paper with never stop dreaming written on it

Substantive Edit

D.M. Lewry

"Genevieve’s thorough report has been invaluable. I was in love with my story before, but with Genevieve’s help, it is 100x better than it was. The in-depth notes and breakdown of my manuscript scene by scene, made it easy to see where the text was lacking and could be improved. They also went as far as adding encouraging notes throughout, letting me know how or where I’d hit the mark. Hiring Clovis Editorial for the substantive edit of my manuscript has been the best investment I’ve made so far."

Copy Edit

James Dick

"I'm writing this testimonial one hour after a short story Genevieve edited was accepted by a Toronto publication. As a short fiction writer, I know how difficult it is to get noticed, let alone published, by professional markets. I like to think I only ever send my best work out, but Genevieve has consistently shown me that my best work can always be made better by a copy edit and a proofread. These days, I'll rarely send a story out until Genevieve's had a crack at it first. Any acceptances I get are thanks to her keen and discriminating editorial eye."

Copy Edit

"Genevieve's edits are great and detail oriented in a way that I aspire to be."

-Trynne Delaney

Copy Edit

"Genevieve’s work helped strengthen my prose, and made stories I was already proud of even better. After spending years of work on a book, knowing that its prose was in her hands was a relief. She’s one of the best editors I’ve worked with, and on top of that comes into the job and with a friendly and professional demeanor, which makes the frantic work of publishing nicer, and also smoother. Her proofreading work is meticulous, and she caught mistakes in works that had already seen passes by other proofreaders. I’ll be coming back to Genevieve’s work in the future, you can count on that."

- James Wylder

Copy Edit

"Genevieve’s edits to several of my picture books have been invaluable. After the first batch I gave her, she advised me to not limit myself to only the stories I liked. I took her advice and had her edit a few that I had tucked away. One of those stories has now been requested by an agent! I will definitely work with Genevieve again in the future."

- Joanne Taylor

Copy Edit

"Genevieve’s edits on my short story were insightful and aimed at helping it to be as lucid and entertaining as possible."

- John Peel

Substantive Edit / Copy Edit

"I cannot speak highly enough of Genevieve, and will happily use her services for as long as I am writing and trying to publish. Given the attention to detail she put into my book, I will happily pay Genevieve’s rates. I am under the impression ‘you get what you pay for’. I went cheap and got burnt before and learned my lesson. "

- Timothy Hopewell

Copy Edit

"Genevieve’s comments on and edits to my story were very clear, focused, and precise."

- Steve Lyons

Stylistic Edit

"Genevieve was incredible! As a retail manager, I don’t have very much practice with my writing skills. When I was asked to write a reference letter for an employee attempting to get into a very prestigious programme, I didn’t want to let her down with my awkward writing. Genevieve took my choppy and scattered letter and helped create a smooth finished product. Genevieve was able to keep my voice while giving my letter a polished, comprehensible, glowing recommendation. The turnaround was amazing as well! Genevieve had the edited letter back to me with time to spare!"

- Rowan Williams

Proofread

"I am so glad for Genevieve’s painstaking attention to detail as she proofread the curriculum I had written. She addressed inconsistencies in format, errors caused by layout, and ensured all additional material (handouts, assignments, letters, etc.) were in the correct place. Knowing I had Genevieve to check over the final details allowed me the space to focus on the core content."

- Sukhab Peerzada, Founder & Director of Global to Local Health Consulting Corporation

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