Let me help you with your writing!

I’m Hayley. I’m a writer, editor, and instructor of English and creative writing with master’s degrees in fiction, prose, and English (science & medical writing concentration). I specialize in up-market commercial, young adult, and literary fiction as well as short fiction and creative nonfiction, travel writing, and flash fiction. I provide strong, actionable critiques that simultaneously identify the problem areas of your writing while also offering a clear direction forward. I am encouraging rather than disparaging, and I work hard to understand and bring forth your voice and skills rather than impose my own.

Let me help you level up your prose: Set up a free consultation now.


What I Offer


Coaching

Developmental Editing

Critiques


Testimonials


Responsive and professional.

Hayley highlighted portions of the manuscript she especially liked in addition to offering edits where needed that tightened and clarified my story. Through the editing process and final proofread, her responsiveness and professionalism assured me PURGATORY: A PROGENY'S QUEST would undoubtedly be the best of the three books in my Shiloh Mystery Series.

Mike Brown
author of PURGATORY: A PROGENY'S QUEST

Consistent, thorough, and honest.

Hayley was consistent, thorough, and honest in all her comments, telling me the things I needed to consider and address before the book went out into the world. I found her easy to work with, and I quickly came to trust her opinions. She made my novel SUNFLOWER DOG immensely better; as an editor, her input was invaluable!

Kevin Winchester
author of SUNFLOWER DOG

Amazingly kind in her criticisms.

Hayley Swinson-White took my novel that I had just drastically rewritten, and she turned it into a stunner. Her attention to detail and the congruity of the story were invaluable in pulling multiple story threads together into a cohesive whole. She caught things that I and my experienced beta readers hadn’t noticed, she had excellent suggestions for enhancing character development, and she made my book shine. She was also amazingly kind in her criticisms and helped me develop my own ideas for improvements. I can’t wait to have another book ready for an edit so that I can hire Hayley again.

Brenda Marie Smith
author of IF THE LIGHT ESCAPES

Working with Hayley has been a joy.

Working with Hayley over the last two years has been a joy—she really intrinsically seems to understand both what a piece needs to be stronger, as well as what works best for the reader. I never felt like she was trying to exert her own influence or writerly-self into my work; every piece we collaborated on was, in the end, my work. Hayley just polished it until it shone.

A. Poythress

A brilliant reader with an eagle eye.

Working with an editor is kind of like that group trust-building exercise where you are asked to let yourself fall backward off of a stool and expect someone to catch you before you crack your skull on the floor. Hayley Swinson is an editor who does catch you . . . every time. For several years when she was Editor-in-Chief of the zine, The New Southern Fugitives, she edited a series of book reviews I contributed, and I could always trust her to catch what I could not see—from conceptual problems to grammatical or logical errors, to stylistic infelicities. She is a brilliant reader with an eagle eye. Any writer lucky enough to work with her is blessed indeed.

George Hovis
author of THE SKIN ARTIST

Nuanced critiques.

Hayley was the perfect editor to help encourage and nurture my writing. Her nuanced critiques helped improve the sharpness of my storytelling, and she was adept at providing me with literary references that better informed and supported my ideas.

D.W. McKinney

Books & Blogs

When It Is Time to Take a Break from Writing

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For the last few years, I have been writing and revising a contemporary young adult novel, so, naturally, I've been reading a lot of contemporary…

6 Writing Podcasts You Should Listen To

6 Writing Podcasts You Should Listen To

A list of six excellent writing-related podcasts that will help you take your writing to the next level, whether you're a beginner or a pro.