Ava Shaffer joined the Howe Writing Center in her freshman year at Miami while double-majoring in creative writing and English education. While at Miami she worked at the writing center for three years, and after graduation in 2024 has pursued a career in the publishing industry in New York. Ava remembers the HWC with great fondness, saying “I loved my time at the Writing Center, it was one of my highlights of Miami. I met some of my closest friends and people I admire there. So I can't recommend the Writing Center enough!” 

Ava was interviewed by current writing center consultant Eleanor Prytherch.

Eleanor: Can you tell us something about your current life and career? 

Ava: I graduated from Miami in 2024 and I currently live in New York City working in book publishing as an editorial assistant.  My current role involves primarily romance books and supporting authors, other editors and agents.

E: Looking back on your time as a Howe Writing Center consultant, what do you consider the most defining skills or values you’ve carried forward into your career?

A: Adaptability! Every single consultation was different and that's something I use daily in my work now. I have to read the first 10 to 20 pages of a book submission and then be able to tell the merit of it, where there can be improvements and what's working really well. So working at the Writing Center gave me the ability to read something that's completely fresh and still be able to give valuable feedback. 

I also really value the general people skills I gained in this role. Presenting your writing to another person is a very vulnerable experience and is something that people have put a lot of time and dedication into. The people who I work with now have spent years and years, sometimes even a decade, writing their book. So understanding how to talk to people with both honesty and kindness to help them make their writing even better is an incredibly valuable skill.

E: Are there any interesting experiences that come to mind from your time working at the writing center? 

A: Definitely! The one that sticks out to me was helping a graduate student who was writing his final thesis in creative writing, a full-length middle grade adventure novel sort of like Percy Jackson. So it was a full-length fantasy novel and we would have a recurring appointment every week where he would bring a couple chapters at a time. I really like thinking about that experience because it’s so similar to what I’m doing now, working with full stories that take a lot of time and dedication. It was nice that even within the hour window at the writing center, I was still able to get a taste of what my career is like now, working one-on-one building a relationship with a writer. 

E: How did your writing center consultant skills help you when you looked for new jobs or opportunities?

A: Oh that's a good question! A big part of it was probably the cover letters. Publishing is a very unique industry in that you write a lot of cover letters and every single one has to be unique. So finding different ways to communicate the same exact facts about myself and also tailoring them to specific applications was very valuable. The research skills I learned from the Writing Center also came into play in that process, researching publishers to see what kind of books they do, what authors are popular, and incorporate that information into my cover letters. 

E: Looking back, how did your work at the Writing Center shape your identity and life as a writer? 

A: Sometimes I feel the writing center shaped me more as an editor than a writer, especially since I now mostly write for myself. However, I think I grew the most as a writer within the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) rather than the hourly consultant job. For example the Creative Writing SIG grew my community of creative writers by knowing what alumni and what other students at Miami were writing, and reading other people's work makes you a better writer. 

E: Based on your experiences at the Writing Center, do you have any advice for current consultants as they begin to explore career opportunities and other pursuits? 

A: It's helpful to use the people skills you get from the writing center. I think sometimes we think being a writer or an editor or a consultant as a very introverted occupation, which it can be at times, but since every writing center consultant usually comes from a different background and is in a different work and study, it's kind of nice branching out and talking to people who are in a career or in a major that you've never really thought about before. Use your commonality of being a writing center consultant to learn about different careers and jobs where you might be able to fit in professionally with the skills you have at the writing center.

Interviewer Reflection

It was really interesting hearing Ava talk about what her responsibilities are at her job as an editorial assistant. She works directly with writers and has had to learn how to be very sensitive but still honest with her feedback, knowing that the writers have been working on their projects often for years before it comes to the editor. 

I was heartened to hear Ava talk about how consulting grew her confidence in adjusting to different situations, since I’m sure this will be very relevant to me in my future career as a teacher. I think working directly with writers has been one of my biggest areas of growth after working at the writing center and I imagine this applies to many of our consultants.