About Heather
I’ve been editing under the “Writing is Thinking” banner since 2020. I’m a sentence specialist, and I consider how every change to your sentences can sharpen your ideas and help you reach your reader more effectively.
I work with scholars in the humanities and social sciences on articles, book manuscripts, conference papers, abstracts, job and fellowship applications. I especially enjoy working with scholarly authors on public writing like blogs and trade books. The Writing is Thinking approach starts with detailed attention to every sentence. Sentences are the building blocks of our ideas, and they are the most important connection between author and reader. My background and training in philosophy attunes me to minor details and gives me a keen eye for argument and structure.
Education and Background
I earned my PhD in philosophy from Duke University in 2020. I spent six years as Assistant, then Associate, Director of the Duke Center for Philosophy, Arts, and Literature (PAL). At PAL, I worked with scholars across disciplines. There we hosted intellectual conversations that brought experts from the arts together with academics. These events required scholars to relate their ideas to audiences with diverse backgrounds, and we enjoyed the fruitful, creative, challenging ideas that were generated in these multidisciplinary conversations. Through PAL and the innovative work of Director Toril Moi, I learned the signature “Writing is Thinking” approach to academic writing.
I also have six years of experience teaching college philosophy courses. I designed courses that translate intimidating abstract philosophical concepts into accessible terms for students who might only ever encounter philosophy in a single course.
In these positions, I gave detailed feedback on all levels of writing, from students’ first papers to articles headed for academic publication. I encountered (and wrote) all sorts of mangled sentences. I was the student generating fluff to meet a word count, and I was also the academic expert trying to pack too much of their own background knowledge into one complex sentence. I came to love the task of being a reader who holds up a mirror for writers. This mirror allows writers to see whether they are communicating exactly what they want to say to all their future readers. This feedback often helps writers discover for themselves just what they are trying to say.
In my editing services, I pave the way for your next readers, so that they encounter a polished, accessible text that leads them (and often you) to the heart of your most interesting ideas.
The History of “Writing is Thinking”
The unique philosophy of “Writing is Thinking” emerged from the Center for Philosophy, Arts, and Literature (PAL) at Duke University. It is inspired by the book Several Short Sentences about Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg, which celebrates the power of a strong sentence: a sentence that says and does exactly what you want it to say and do.
PAL Director Toril Moi gathered a community of scholars and writers to apply Klinkenborg’s wisdom to academic writing. Unfortunately, academic writing is too often plagued by sentences of impenetrable complexity. In graduate seminars, public events, and specialized workshops, Moi showed us how weak sentences are often the symptom of unclear ideas. She opened our eyes to just how many published sentences in esteemed scholars’ works suffer from these problems. These sentences reveal moments where a writer doesn’t know exactly what she’s trying to say. By doing surgery on others’ sentences and our own, a writer can see where she needs to do a bit more thinking–to clarify the connections between ideas and identify exactly what her own claims are.
Notable figures involved with Writing is Thinking events at PAL include: Verlyn Klinkenborg, Patricia Hampl, Jon Baskin, Sharon Marcus, Ane Farsethås, Sarah Beckwith, and Kristin Neuschel. Duke graduate students have benefited from Professor Moi’s seminar, “Writing is Thinking” since 2015.
My Specialties
Philosophy & Argument
I am formally trained in philosophy, the art of identifying, deconstructing, and rebuilding arguments. Writing in contemporary academic philosophy prizes getting to the heart of the matter: being crystal clear about your ultimate conclusion and how you got there. I have a keen eye to focus in on the evidence you present and to evaluate whether it supports your point. I specialize in tight organization and thesis-forward writing. These skills translate to strong writing in any academic discipline, whether you are conveying original findings and ideas, distilling and organizing existing literatures for your readers, or working to present data and evidence in a compelling, accessible way.
Translating Expertise
As an academic, you are an expert in a specific domain–a domain that is far narrower than the scope of your discipline. Writing for non-expert audiences can be about expressing your ideas in ways that engage non-scholarly audiences; it can also be about ensuring your colleague or a reviewer can follow your argument and recognize your contribution. Whatever your target audience, I can help you identify the places where you might lose your reader (or require them to do extra work to figure out your point). You can amplify the impact of your research by making it smooth and pleasant for your readers to dig in to your ideas.
Sentence Specialist
Every sentence counts, and I give each one my undivided attention. This in-depth, line-by-line feedback is not only a way to engage and strengthen your writing–it engages and clarifies your ideas.
Your job as a writer is making sentences…
Most of the sentences you make will need to be killed. The rest will need to be fixed…
Shape, form, structure, genre, the whole–these have a way of clarifying themselves when sentences become clear.
SEveral Short sentences about writing, Verlyn Klinkenborg