Exploratory Coaching
I offer one-to-one exploratory coaching that opens up time to think through how to structure your day, workspace, and priorities to help you make satisfying progress on your projects.
I’m particularly interested in exploring no-or low-cost ways to support executive function under stress. This can mean working on sustaining energy and a sense of flow, or taking account of focus, memory, time awareness, task initiation, sensory preferences, or your own organisational style. I’m also excited by how changes in our physical environment —do you need a little more light? more human noise? — can support our brains too.
I also offer open coaching for PhD candidates, early- and mid-career academics, and other knowledge workers who would value a thoughtful, non-judgmental space to explore their aspirations, work–life balance, writing, and research.
My approach to support is grounded in my academic training, leadership training, and my twenty-plus years university teaching. It is extended through years of reading about creativity, the psychology of work and of thriving, and through personal experience as a writer, researcher and painter. I’m not ICF coaching certified but I am deeply coaching-informed.
Do get in touch if you’d like an open, no commitment conversation about whether my background makes me the right person for your needs.
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This is a day to think — school-run friendly — to work through a defined piece of work or single challenge in congenial company.
We meet at 10am over coffee in Norwich, and spend the morning working through whatever is stuck — a piece of writing, a decision, a project that needs an injection of energy. At lunch you take a walk, sit with it, let it settle. Then we reconvene and see what's moved for you.
You'll leave with something shifted and a grounded sense of what to work on next.
Available in person, or as an online retreat if you're not local.
£265, reduced rate of £195 for student, early-career, or between jobs,
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Packages
5-session packages are designed as an arc—discovery, experimentation, refinement—rather than isolated sessions. This structure lets us work through building new habits and ways of working.
Standard rate: £350 for 5 fifty-minute sessions
Reduced rate: £250 for 5 fifty-minute sessions (if you're a student, early-career, or between jobs, just choose this one)
Sharing a two-person package: £125–200 each for 5 fifty-minute sessions if you want to work through this with a friend or colleague
All packages include an email check-in between sessions.
Book a discovery call (£25, 20 minutes) to talk through where you are at the moment and whether working with me might be useful for you. If you go ahead with a package, the cost of the discovery call will be deducted from your first payment.
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Book a discovery call (£25, 20 minutes) to talk through where you are at the moment and whether working with First Draft Studios might be useful for you. If you go ahead with a package, the cost of the discovery call will be deducted from your first payment.
Developmental Mentoring
Exploratory coaching focuses on how you work. Developmental mentoring focuses on what you're making—in this case with detailed discussion of documents, ideas and arguments.
I work with academics and ex-academics, solo practitioners developing substantial projects, and artists or non-fiction writers who would like an experienced and supportive reader to help them see what's working and what wants more attention. Get in touch if this sounds helpful.
I give editorial support: we will think together about structure, argument, voice, flow, asking the questions about what your work is trying to do and how to help it get there. (This isn’t a line editing service, although I am happy and pleased to take editorial commissions separately to mentoring.)
I provide feedback as annotated documents plus recorded audio walkthroughs rather than formal written reports. Many writers find audio easier to absorb and revisit, especially if you process information better by listening than reading.
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Best for: Writers with a complete draft or substantial section who need focused feedback before moving forward.
What you get:
Submit up to 5,000 words
Annotated manuscript with margin comments
15-20 minute recorded audio feedback walking through key developmental issues
55-minute Zoom call to discuss the feedback and your questions
2-week turnaround from submission
£275 standard / £200 reduced
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Best for: Writers who work best at a reflective pace, process feedback better asynchronously, or find live calls draining. Particularly suited to thinkers —neurodivergent or neurotypical — who need time to sit with notes before revising.
We exchange feedback every four weeks at the gentle pace of considered writing. You send me your work and questions; I send you developmental feedback and next steps. No live calls, no need to be "on"—just thoughtful, substantive exchange.
What you get:
Monthly submission of up to 3,000 words
Annotated manuscript with margin comments
Written developmental feedback (typically 2-3 pages)
Ongoing written conversation via email (one exchange per round)
Minimum 3-month commitment; continue month-to-month thereafter
£220/month standard / £160/month reduced
(3-month minimum: £660 standard / £480 reduced) -
Best for: Time-sensitive documents that need rapid iteration—grant applications, funding bids, fellowship proposals, conference papers with tight deadlines.
What you get:
One month of responsive support on a single project/document
Up to 3 rounds of rapid feedback as you revise
Annotated documents with margin comments each round
10-15 minute recorded audio feedback per round
2 × 30-minute Zoom calls (initial + mid-point check-in)
Email responsiveness within 48 working hours (Monday-Friday, 9:30am-2pm term time)
Total word count across all rounds: up to 10,000 words
£475 (no reduced rate)
This is for when you have a deadline and need someone alongside you, supporting you to get a crucial document right. I’ll help you strengthen your case, clarify your argument, and spot the gaps before you click ‘submit’.
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Best for: Writers working on a book-length project, sequence of essays, or major work who want structured support over time.
What you get:
Three rounds over three months
Submit up to 5,000 words per round (15,000 words total)
For each round:
Annotated manuscript with comments directly on the doc
20-minute recorded audio feedback on key developmental issues
45-minute Zoom call to discuss and answer your questions
Email check-ins between rounds (one exchange per round—question and response)
Final wrap-up session to discuss overall trajectory
£650 standard / £475 reduced
Group facilitation and workshops
Group workshops draw on and amplify shared intellect, intuition and energy. Get in contact if this sounds like it’s what you might need.
I hold lively group sessions that help people find their own way through.
Sessions might explore:
Time management, task initiation, and sustained focus in academic/creative work
Creating work environments and routines that support executive function under stress
Navigating procrastination, perfectionism, and competing demands
Attention, memory, focus—and what helps when you're overwhelmed
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I facilitate rather than prescribe, drawing on the group's own distinctive direction, interests, expertise and experience to create new ideas.
These sessions work particularly well for:
University departments (staff development, graduate school support, research team facilitation)
Cohorts of PhD candidates or early-career academics seeking external space to think together
Writing groups or research teams that would benefit from structured, expert-led sessions
Any group wanting to explore low-cost ways to build sustainable working practices and creative flow
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4–6 week facilitated group programmes for 6–12 participants: 1.5-hour sessions, including planning, facilitation, and follow-up.
Community and unfunded groups: £895–£1,200, depending on program length and number of attendees
Funded bodies (FEC equivalent): £1,200–£1,500, depending on program length and number of attendees
Smaller/larger groups can be accommodated; contact for a tailored quote
Fees include preparation, facilitation, and reporting. Online and in-person delivery are available; in-person programmes may incur additional travel costs, agreed in advance.
Alternatively, if you're an informal group of 4–8 people interested in exploring sustainable creative practice together, perhaps as part of a retreat, study or studio day, you could also think about sharing coaching package time. Let's talk about what would work best.
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If there is something you need in your department, grad school, research team, or group: get in touch for a conversation about what might work. We can discuss format, timing, topics, and group size—and I can give you a custom quote.
Research, Writing and Consultancy
Do you have an idea that needs detail to bring it to life?
Perhaps you have used AI to dive into an area and now you need a human to verify what you have found and make sure the tone is fit for purpose? Perhaps you’d like a human to write with and for you?
Or perhaps you have too many ideas and you would like a thinking partner to cut through the noise and find the books that might help you, the people you might reach out to, and the richest to explore?
Get in contact if you'd like to discuss working together on a research or writing project. I'd be pleased to hear from you.
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I am drawn to work that asks how words, images, and material things make meaning together.
I spent over twenty years doing research as faculty at UEA, reading words and images carefully to ask what things mean and how they work.
I now work with AI as part of my research practice too — where it’s appropriate. I have the critical eye that comes from having done it the old way and the skills to do it the new way, joining up ideas, asking the right questions, and making sure that the ethics, the tone and the details are right for you. We will set the parameters for AI use (or not) in your project in our first meeting.
I work on day-rates. If you have a project that needs that kind of thinking, I'd be glad to hear from you.
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I'm available to contribute to research projects as a named researcher, collaborator, or consultant. If you're writing a grant or tender and need someone with expertise in visual culture,word-image studies, American literature, dress studies, or interdisciplinary methodology, I'd welcome a conversation about what I can bring to your team. You can see my peer-reviewed work here.
I'm particularly interested in projects that cross disciplinary boundaries, that ask questions about everyday aesthetics and material culture, or that explore how creative practice and critical thinking intersect.
I have a working knowledge of the grant landscape in arts and humanities, and I understand what makes applications persuasive — I spent five years as an academic Research Director mentoring colleagues and early career fellows through RCUK applications, reviewing bids, and helping teams find the centre of gravity in their work. I have also held grants from the British Academy and British Council, and was the named researcher on a British Academy-funded project — which is exactly the kind of role I'm now available for.
If you're building a team and think I might fit, I'd be pleased to talk.
Other possibilities
If you've got something in mind that sits outside the current structure — perhaps editing, indexing, bibliographic or original artwork — I'd like to hear about it.
Get in contact, and I’ll listen for what could work for you.
Contact me
I'd love to hear from you, whether you have a specific project in mind or you're still thinking things through. Tell me a little about what you're working on, or what you're looking for.
Your enquiry comes directly to me, Sarah. (No team, no bot-responses!) I aim to respond within two working days.