We Hunted The Mammoth
Are you suffering from writer’s block or any other writing malady? Looking for help structuring an article or book?
I’m giving away FREE hour-long, no-strings-attached WRITING COACH sessions via phone or Zoom. See here for more information about what I offer. And then contact me at [email protected].
Usually, I only do nonfiction, but for this promotional offer, I will also do fiction.
Hurry up and email before all the slots are taken!
Hey! As you may recall, several months ago, I hung out my shingle as an editor and writing coach. Now, I’d like to replace that shingle with a slightly different one: I’m dropping the line editing to focus on coaching and developmental editing for anyone at work on (or contemplating) a nonfiction writing project.
Before, I was aiming my services at academics; now, instead of focusing on a demographic, I’ve decided to focus on a problem: writer’s block.
Are you frozen halfway through a draft of your latest article, staring at a blinking cursor on the screen? Or dodging calls from your agent because you’re making no progress on the book you promised would be completed by now? Or scrambling to meet your work and family responsibilities and unable to find time to write?
As a writing coach focusing on writer’s block and other forms of writing resistance, I can help to get you productive again—and teach you techniques that will enable you to unblock yourself in the future. If you’re struggling to figure out what you want to say, I can be your sounding board and brainstorming partner. I can help you to develop a regular writing habit and serve as an accountability partner to keep you on track.
And, as a developmental editor, I can help you tame an unruly draft, bringing structure to your writing and finding the throughlines to your narrative.
I’m still very much interested in working with academics, whether students, instructors, or professors. Are you eager to reach an audience outside your profession, or struggling to turn your dissertation into a book? As a longtime book reviewer, often of academic books, I know how to make complex ideas accessible to a broad audience—and I can help you translate academic insights into engaging, readable prose. As an escaped grad student (ABD at Northwestern in history), I know something about the demands and pressures of academia and what it takes to succeed.
If you’re interested, contact me at [email protected] to arrange a free, no-obligation 20-minute phone or Zoom call to discuss what I can do for you.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! For a limited time, I will be offering a 20 percent discount on my already reasonable rates for anyone mentioning We Hunted the Mammoth in their email.
And if you’re not looking for writing coaching yourself, please mention this offer to anyone you know who might be.
You can check out my website at David-Futrelle.com for a little more on my background.
So, yeah, as the headline says, We Hunted the Mammoth is going on an indefinite hiatus. For the last few months, I have been trying to make this work, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it won’t. As you know, I have been struggling to raise enough money to keep the blog financially stable, and that has been weighing on me.
But there’s a bigger factor: I’m simply burned out. I’ve spent the last thirteen years writing about some of the worst people in the world, and, well, it’s wearing me down. I’m deeply tired of these people and their endless hateful nonsense; it’s time to move on. (I am putting My AI Obsession on hold for now as well.)
I’m deeply grateful for all of the support you all have given me over the years. Some of you have been so generous with your donations that I don’t know what to say. I want to thank everyone who has donated to or otherwise offered assistance to the blog over the years.
I’m not shutting the blog down entirely. One of the things I have enjoyed the most about this blog over the years has been reading the comment section, and I don’t want to leave the regular commenters in the lurch. I’ll continue to post Open Threads and possibly even a few real posts from time to time, and I hope some of you decide to stick around.
I may return at some point to launch We Hunted the Mammoth 2.0, likely with a somewhat different focus, but right now, I don’t know for sure if or when that will be.
As many of you know, I have started up a new venture, hanging out my shingle as a writing coach; you can read more about this here. If you’re feeling stuck with your writing, I can help to unstick you. I am focusing most on academics but all nonfiction writers are welcome!
If you have thoughts you’d like to share, please post them in the comments below, or send them to me directly at dfutrelle at gmail.com.
It’s a sad day in Trumpland as our former grifter-in-chief has been hit with another barrage of indictments, these dealing with Jan. 6.
Anyway, I thought you all would appreciate a thread to talk about the indictments and whatever else catches your fancy.
As this extended Pledge Drive draws to a close, I’d like to offer my profound thanks to all of you who donated, including several kind souls who really went above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you so much!
I’ll be bringing this extended Pledge Drive to a close in a couple of days, but I wanted to let you know how things are going. Or not going, because we’re still a long way off from my goal. To those who have donated, some quite generously, I want to express my profound thanks. But I need more of you to donate if we’re going to get to the finish line.
So if you haven’t donated yet, please consider clicking the button below.
You can also give by Venmo at David-Futrelle-1.
Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to the blog–by donating, sending along tips, providing technical help, spreading the word.
It’s official: I’m hanging out my shingle as an editor and writing coach. I focus on academics, especially those facing writer’s block or trying to reach a broader audience. (Or both.) No matter where you are in the writing process—whether you’ve got a rough manuscript or just some ideas floating around in your head—I can make your life easier.
So, a little announcement. I’ve started a new Substack newsletter/blog called My AI Obsession, which is about, well, you know. I’ll be posting there several times a week (while continuing to post here, of course), and I encourage you all to subscribe or, at the very least, check it out. Subscriptions are free; later, there will be paid options. My first post is here. (If you get any weird glitches trying to access it, please power through them; they’ll get fixed.)
A little announcement: Soon, probably next week, I will be officially hanging out my shingle as a freelance editor and writing coach. As a way of introducing my services to the world, and offering some thanks for the support you all have given me over the years, I’d like to offer three of you a free coaching session. We can talk about a particular project, work through ways to get past writer’s block, or deal with any other writing issue that’s affecting you.
Twitter seems close to utter collapse, so if you follow me there and want to make sure you get notified when a new post goes up, consider subscribing to We Hunted the Mammoth via email.