Ivy League Writing Coach, Proofreader, College Essay Whisperer

Ailish H.

After 20 years teaching writing, I’m convinced that things like grammar, sentence-work, and citations are just different dances --- anyone can learn them. Writing really begins when we find our groove.

I've taught undergraduates at Johns Hopkins University and at Goucher College, worked with graduate students on dissertations, and professors on their books and articles. I enjoy learning from each new topic, and my own education has been interdisciplinary: my BA from Princeton University is in Religion and African American Studies; later I received a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Bennington College.

I teach writing partly because I was fortunate to have professors who were passionate about their subjects and who taught way beyond just the classroom. Their notes and questions all over my writing assignments felt like we were talking to each other, but in ink. There were corrections and questions, but more importantly they showed where my ideas were most interesting or persuasive, and modeled ways of restructuring sentences. Something I take from that is to really listen, because real teaching is a dialogue.

I'm passionate about helping people find that sweet spot where they're excited to write, and can now see a clear path toward constructing what they want to say. I try distilling complicated ideas into clear stories, offering different versions until a student's face lights up in recognition. I’m also there as writing proceeds and obstacles arise. Some of these will be repeated issues and so an opportunity to learn a new writing habit, which will make future writing easier, too.

In my off-hours I love music, comedy, time in nature, movies, hanging out with friends or my family. Students describe me as kind, patient, and funny. I genuinely enjoy getting to know people and problem-solving together. I want you to feel accomplished at the end of a session, clear about what's next, and empowered with new skills and experiences.