Frequently Asked Questions

Why will you not work on my novel, short story, poetry, or screenplay? 

When I do creative writing, it is personal to me and I need to maintain control over it. I would not be comfortable giving so much of my creativity to someone else’s novel, screenplay, poetry, or short story, and then not be able to put my own name on the work, and not have copyright over it. One ought not to underestimate the value of her intellectual property. Ghostwriting for someone’s creative writing project is not something I can offer, and neither would I jointly collaborate on a creative writing project that would share our authorship. If I am writing a novel, it is my own novel. 

Why will you not work on academic assignments?

Assisting a student with his/her assignment requires a careful approach so not to step into the realm of plagiarism. Plagiarism is not an activity in which I would ever partake; it is dishonorable of the plagiarizer and appallingly unfair to all of the other students who did their own work and earned their grades. There are many skilled tutors who can assist students in a way that avoids plagiarism and supports students’ learning. I don’t offer to do such work because it requires such a hands-off approach: the tutor identifies problematic areas of the work, and then guides and prompts the student towards ideas on how to correct those problems. I want the freedom to dive into a document and make the changes that it needs, without the possibility of breaking any academic rules.  

Are you a registered business? 

Yes. Varia Writing Service is a registered business – a sole proprietorship – with the Province of British Columbia, Canada. 

Are you willing to collaborate on a document with a client? Can a client hire you to start forming a document, and then the client will flesh out the document and have you review it later? 

Absolutely. I welcome clients to do as much of the work on the document as they are able to do so that they can save money. Whether a client needs a little help or a lot of help, I can meet them as far along as their ability can take them. 

It is a common scenario that I will have an initial appointment with a new client and we will start their document, then we will agree on ’homework’ for the client to attempt (such as more information for the client to gather for me, or the client elaborating certain paragraphs that they say they are comfortable to write), and then we will have another appointment later where I will review where the document is at and will continue to work on it. 

Do you offer in-person appointments?

No. I don’t allow clients to come to my home. I am quite a private person and security conscious. 

I also no longer meet clients in their home or at a public location. I require an ergonomically correct workspace, which I have at my home. Typing on a laptop in a café would not be comfortable or sustainable for me. 

Can I talk to you on the phone? 

I prefer to keep my phone number private. Please email me, and I will respond as quickly as I can. 

There are documents I will need to share with you in order for you to read them and then work with me. How do we do that? 

Once I have agreed to be hired by you, email to me electronic scans of whatever documents you need me to see. If you do not have a scanner, visit a print shop to get help with this step. Alternatively, you can send the documents via regular mail to my PO Box, and you should include a self-addressed and stamped envelope for me to use to send the documents back to you once our task is completed. 

I need help writing just one short document, like a response to an email. Do you take on jobs that will be very short? 

Yes. Appointments are charged in increments of 15 minutes. If you only require 15 minutes of my time, that is fine. 

I am facing a dispute that might take years to resolve. I am probably going to need help on a recurring basis, writing out an account of what happened, drafting emails and proposals, and writing out whatever else my lawyer wants me to prepare. Is a situation like mine, which could very well stretch long into the future and require different types of documents to be written, something that you can help with? 

Yes, it can be. Although I reserve the right to discontinue service, and therefore would not be willing to sign a contract that obliges me to remain in the employment of a client for any duration, there is no obvious reason why a client cannot use me on a recurring basis. 

I have worked on several cases that have lasted years, documenting a person’s account of what happened, arranging supporting documents as evidence, writing indexes for supporting documents, writing proposals for settlement, reviewing counter-proposals and crafting responses, writing emails, and writing other documents for the client to take to their lawyer to use in their case. 

It is important to note that I do not advise clients on what they should do, I am not responsible for the truth of the written work that we produce, and I have no liability in connection to the written work we produce. The client is responsible for the truthfulness of the written work and for any effect or liability that stems from the written work. I am simply hired by the client to help him/her create whatever document it is that they want to create, and I am to be un-credited. My responsibility extends no further than to do whatever work I agree to do and accept payment for.  

I want to write something delicate or very personal and I don’t know how to go about it. Can you help me express myself? 

Yes! And there’s no need to be shy about it. I am very good at listening to a person, getting inside their head, and writing what it is they are trying to communicate. 

Whether you have an up-coming anniversary and want help writing a personal card or letter to your partner, or you want help writing your online dating profile, or you want help initiating or responding to a letter/email in a sensitive or careful way, I can take the information you give me and transform it into the prose that will serve your purpose well.  

I want help writing my profile for a dating website, vetting responses from people, writing short messages to people, and having someone help me with writing/proofreading my texts to him/her for the beginning of the relationship. I wish I had a friend with the skills to help me with this kind of thing, but I don’t. I’m worried that this is a weird request, but is there any chance that you can help me with this?  

Yep. I’ve done it before. It’s not so weird. I am good at being the (invisible) training wheels for the less-than-steady ride that is a new connection. 

Also, in this situation, I am probably going to offer more of my personal opinion, for whatever it’s worth, than I might if I were hired for a different type of job. When a client shows me what is on their phone or in their inbox and asks, “What do they mean? What do I write back?”, I will give my frank interpretation. 

I understand that people who are funny and vibrant might have a hard time making those qualities come across to a stranger in writing. I can help. Whatever the qualities of the client, I can present him/her in their best lighting and keep to a realistic presentation so that it is not jarring when I exit the situation.   

I draw the line at sexting, but I am totally game to help someone flirt. 

I want to hire you to write a document for me but I want it to sound like I wrote it by myself. Can we do this? 

If it is important that the work sound like you wrote it unassisted, we can make it so. That being said, I do not work on academic assignments. See the answer to the question “Why will you not work on academic assignments?” 

Can you be funny?

Can I ever! Here is a joke I invented. Question: What are the tadpoles like in Warsaw? Answer: Almost the same as the ones around here, but just a tad Polish. 

What is your preferred timeline for working on a document?

As I have a tendency to fixate on a project (and have it roll around in my brain even when I am falling asleep or waking up), I prefer to complete a document for a client in a relatively continuous block of time rather than to repeatedly work on the same document sporadically over a lengthy amount of time. The only caveat is that when I am doing a final proofreading of anything other than a fairly short document, it is best if there is at least one day between when I last work on the document and when I do the final proofreading. This is so that I am doing the final proofreading with fresh eyes. 

There is a benefit to the client to book me for a relatively continuous block of time: the contents of the document will still be in my mind, and I may not need to spend my time (and your money) re-reading what I have already written so as to know what we have already covered and what we have left to do. 

Notwithstanding the above, I do appreciate that sometimes a client will be involved in a process that by nature is very start-and-stop, such as a lengthy legal battle or other complaint process, and may require my help multiple times over a lengthy amount of time. My suggestion is simply that whatever is the current step requiring my help, we get that step done in a timely way if at all possible. If that current step will require two hours of work, it will be most efficient if I am allowed to complete that work in one appointment or two appointments in the same week, rather than to complete it over several appointments stretching over a number of weeks.

What is your policy regarding confidentiality?

Clients’ identities are kept confidential: I don’t mention them to any other person in my professional life or my personal life. If I am relaying a client’s story, or part of a client’s story, I obscure any details that might inadvertently lead to the listener figuring out their identity. For example, if I say to one client, “I had another client in a situation like yours, and the approach we took to writing his/her document was […]”, I would not say the other client’s name, and would also not say the names of their children/partner/employer or any other details that could lead the listener to piece together who it is I am speaking about. Privacy has value, and I respect the trust that people extend to me as a vault for their secrets and private information.  

The caveat to the paragraph above is that if a client tells me that they or anyone else has committed an act that could be deemed to be child abuse, animal abuse, violent crime, fraud or other white collar crime, or any other crime that I deem to show significant turpitude, then I will report that information to the police. I would probably maintain confidentiality for a client whose behavior has been less than exemplary but does not meet the threshold described above. 

What are your requirements of a client? 

Besides the technology for the client and I to communicate so that I can hear the details of their situation, I mostly just need the client to open up to me and tell me all of the information they have about their situation and tell me what their objective is. Once I know the story and the purpose, I hit the ground running, working quickly to write from the standpoint of the client. I am always happy to hear constructive criticism and feedback of any kind, and will use it to further shape the document into what the client wants it to be. 

Also, I should note that it is best for the client to be viewing the GoogleDoc with me while they are at a computer rather than looking at it through their phone, which is cumbersome.   

I pride myself on my honesty and integrity, and I expect a client to show those same qualities to me. A client should not tell me any falsehood.  As a very honorable person, I don’t want to be involved in crafting any document that is – or that I suspect might be - untruthful. Please do not get me involved in any such undertaking. 

What are some of the circumstances in which you would decline a job?  

I reserve the right to decline to be hired by a new client, to decline to be hired again by a past client for additional work, or to cease working for an existing client, for any reason (excepting any reason that would contravene Section 8 of the British Columbia Human Rights Code; I do not deny service to any adult person based on race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or age of that person or class of persons). 

To put it plainly, I don’t want to be hired by an abusive or neglectful parent who is trying to retain/regain their child(ren). I don’t want to be hired by someone who has committed animal cruelty. I don’t want to be hired by someone who has committed serious violent crime. I don’t want to be hired by someone who has committed fraud or other white collar crime. I do understand that people make mistakes, but for people who make the mistakes I have described, their attempts at reparations need to come directly from themselves, and not from me. I could be willing to work for a client whose behavior has been less than exemplary but does not meet the threshold described above. 

It is best for a client to be completely honest with me. The sharpness of my memory makes it unlikely that I will fail to notice inconsistencies in narrative as I work with a client. I want to be told the plain truth so that I can work within the parameters of the truth to present the client’s account in the best light. If I sense that a client is trying to deceive me, I might conclude our working relationship. 

Do you work with persons under the age of 16? 

It depends on the circumstances. 

I do not help anyone with academic work – not any work that is to be graded by any instructor at any type of educational or vocational institution (e.g. secondary school, university, trade school). I do not offer tutoring service. 

I would decline to get involved with helping a child document their experience of being parented (with such a document to be used in a dispute about guardianship, parenting time, or parenting responsibilities). I believe it is best for children to write about such experience themselves, in their own words, or perhaps in conjunction with a qualified counselor who specializes in helping children.

Proofreading, polishing, and proper English 

I do not make any guarantee that a work I am hired to create will be free of copy errors; a client does not get a refund if I miss a comma or fail to detect a split infinitive. That being said, I make every effort to write in correct English, and I have a very careful eye for proofreading. I put in as much time and effort into proofreading and polishing a document as a client is willing to pay for. If a client wants to do that step himself/herself to save having to pay me for that expense, that is perfectly fine with me. 

How can a client have the most productive appointment possible? 

Don’t be in an environment with a noisy background. We need to be able to hear each other.
 

Ideally a client would have as many details related to their situation – such as dates, full names, and addresses – ready to go. Otherwise, these details need to be filled in later, with the client either slotting in the missing information or hiring me to do it. 

It is very helpful if a client has jotted down as many of their ideas or recollections or relevant examples ahead of our appointment. These notes need not be in full sentences - point form is fine. Written notes help a client avoid drawing a blank after thinking that they had their mental notes so easily accessible in their memory. 

Oftentimes a client is coming to me to get help with a highly stressful situation that he/she is in, and which is taking an emotion toll on him/her. I completely empathize with that. Sometimes it can be beneficial for a client to have a chat with a friend so as to be able to vent about their situation (for free), before having an appointment with me (where my time is your money). Although I am able to listen to a client’s entire story (and might even find it curious or fascinating), I understand how easily the urge to vent one’s frustrations or fears can take over a person who is suffering, and I wouldn’t want a client to later regret using our time together as an emotional purge rather than as a productive session that got down to the real business of solving their problem. 

Do you write affidavits?

I have read the following webpage offering advice to people who want to write their own affidavit
(< https://supremecourtbc.ca/sites/default/files/web/A-Guide-to-Preparing-Your-Affidavit.pdf >), and I have drafted several affidavits (and refined them with my witnesses) to be used in Court for my own lawsuit in which I self-represented (and won). 

The most I could offer a client regarding creation of an affidavit is to read with them online guidance from whatever is their jurisdiction about how to properly write an affidavit, listen to the client’s interpretation of that guidance, and write a rough draft of an affidavit based on the client’s instruction and understanding, and which, I would stress, ought to be taken to a lawyer to be refined into a proper affidavit that would best serve the client’s purpose. If I were to write such a rough draft, I assert that it would not be a proper affidavit but rather only a draft to expedite the process of having a lawyer create the finished affidavit. I am not sure that such an endeavor would save the client any money than if he/she had simply hired a lawyer to create the affidavit from start to finish. 

Are you a lawyer? 

No. I have a law degree in Scots law from a Scottish university, but I am not a lawyer. 

Do you give legal advice? 

No.

Can I hire you to act as my legal representation?

No, I do not represent anyone – not in Court, not at a British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, not against the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, not anywhere. 

Can I hire you to advise me on what I should do in my situation?

No. I don’t advise people on whether they should self-represent in Court or should hire a lawyer to represent them. I don’t advise people on how they should navigate a British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. I don’t advise people on how they should interact with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia following a car accident. I don’t advise people on what they should do during a divorce, a parenting dispute, a union or employment dispute, a personal injury claim, a challenge to a will, or during any formal dispute of any kind. 

I am also not a counselor, and I don’t offer counseling services. 

What I can do is help you prepare your written evidence and argument for whatever dispute in which you are involved, as you direct me to do (and which your lawyer directs you to do if you have a lawyer). Your case, or your dilemma, is only as strong as your evidence and argument, and I can see to it that those are as strongly presented as they can be.