Helping Your Writing Shine

Gentle editorial guidance, craft courses, and weekly love letters for creative writers.

The Draft Diagnostic

Redrafting your writing means discovering what’s already there and what else is possible. Not sure what your draft needs next? My FREE guide will help you find a place to begin.

And join 1,000+ writers receiving weekly Writerly Love Letters.

Rachel Thompson Writing Courses | Rachel wears a white shirt, large glasses, and has grey-yellow, shoulder-length hair.

Start with one draft

Self-Edit Reset

Redraft with clarity & purpose

Find what’s alive in your draft and lay it out so you can see its shape, then choose your next three editing moves and return to self-editing with confidence.

Explore Self-Edit Reset

Courses & Coaching for Your Writing

An open notebook with pages flipping. A pen on a table. A coffee cup in the background.

Whether you’re looking to generate new writing, revise and deepen your work, or get published, I offer a variety of courses designed to support your creative journey. Check out my upcoming course sessions.

View Courses

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1-1 Coaching

Personalized support & feedback

Transform your writing project with personalized coaching: get weekly deadlines, tailored feedback, and resources to support your unique goals. Apply now to build a dedicated writing practice.

Apply Now

What writers say about my courses…

My writing life has exploded since taking the Lit Mag Love course! I’ve had five short stories accepted in the space of a few months (along with some inevitable rejections) and I feel I’m really on the right track.

Julia Molloy

Rachel deeply cares about helping emerging and established writers. She believes in building and cultivating writing communities—spaces for writers to meet, share work, get feedback, and grow.

Marlena Chertock

Rachel’s kind and wise instruction, learning format, and the beautiful group of writers she attracts will keep you going through the darkest nights of the soul.

Lacey Yong

Working with Rachel Thompson transformed my writing by opening avenues to publications, developing community, and furthering my commitment to craft.

Rachel is a fantastic mentor!

Rowan McCandless

Author, Persephone’s Children

Rachel is a luminous guide offering equal parts gentle prompts and discerning truths.

Deborah Johnstone

Practical help for those writers who are ready to leap and just don’t know how. Doing this with a group made it “fun” in a way and it didn’t feel as if I were drudging along in my “room of one’s own.”

Rhonda Mitchell

For the Love of Your Writing

Letters, articles, and podcast conversations to support you along the way.

I send Writerly Love Letters to support your writing with care and knowledge.

Articles

In-depth answers to how to write, publish, and create a writing life.

Write, Publish, and Shine with Rachel Thompson

Podcast

Listen to Write, Publish, and Shine to learn how to do just that!

Listen

Rachel Thompson has light straight shoulder-length hair and wears a black and white shirt with stylized hearts on them, and clear big-framed glasses as she slightly smiles in this photo.

MEET RACHEL

If you’ve ever felt your writing was “too much”—you belong here.

When I was a child, I drew a self-portrait as a bottle brimming with swirling ink. I’ve always experienced the world intensely, and I know how vulnerable it feels to bring your rawest lyric and narrative words to the page.

As an author, editor, and member of the Room magazine collective, my work isn’t about scrubbing away your voice—it’s about helping you see your draft clearly and discover what else is possible.