A village for
writers, built on
a chance encounter.
Linda Tucker didn’t plan to start a business. In 2018, a former student asked her to edit a romance novel. She said yes — and discovered she loved it.
Word spread. More manuscripts arrived. She hired a team. That’s how Cup & Quill was born. Today, Linda leads a team of editors, coaches, and ghostwriters who have helped hundreds of writers bring their stories to life.
More than a word count
Each client has unique dreams, goals, deadlines, and budgets. Every relationship begins with a free consultation, never a canned quote.
A professor’s standard
Most of our editors hold PhDs and bring decades of experience as writers, teachers, and scholars — academic rigor with a human touch.
Honesty & integrity
Everything we do reflects our allegiance to honesty, integrity, and authenticity. We serve writers of all genres — faith‑based projects welcome.
Fellow travelers on your journey
When you partner with Cup & Quill, you’ll work with one of our highly credentialed and deeply committed editors, coaches, or ghostwriters. Most of our editors hold PhDs and MFAs from universities across North America and are academic and creative writers themselves — decades of experience as professors, scholars, writers, and editors, brought to give your work a professor’s touch. Credentials are only part of the story: what sets our team apart is our love for working with writers and our commitment to helping them do the hard, beautiful work of shaping words into meaningful stories and arguments.
Dr. Linda Tucker
Linda holds a PhD and an MA in English from the University of Alberta and a BA in English from York University. She is an English professor with more than twenty‑five years of experience, an author (Lockstep and Dance: Images of Black Men in Popular Culture), and is currently working on her memoir. She is passionate about all things equestrian and resides in Arkansas with her husband, two horses, three dogs, and a goat.
Linda is your first point of contact with Cup & Quill. She’ll listen and ask the right questions with deep respect for you and your story. Together, you’ll determine the next best step for your work.
Dr. Heather Smyth
Heather holds a PhD from the University of Alberta and is an associate professor of English at the University of Waterloo. Her expertise includes Caribbean women’s literature, Black diaspora literatures, oral histories, and memoirs. An award‑winning teacher, she helps writers craft narratives that are detailed, engaging, and built to reach a wide audience. She resides with her family in Toronto.
Dr. Sara Day
Sara holds a PhD from Texas A&M University and is a specialist in Young Adult literature. She is the author of Reading Like a Girl. With two decades as an educator and extensive experience as a project manager, she brings precision, clarity, and warmth to every project she takes on. She lives with her family in Colorado.
Andy Malinski
Andy has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lindenwood University. He has been writing since grade school, earning his first praise — a Young Author’s Award from the state of New Hampshire — in just second grade. His writing has been featured in the blogs of many birth‑workers (doulas and midwives) across the country, giving insight into life as a dad. In a family of violinists, Andy plays trumpet — the odd one out. He loves to cook, catch a good movie, listen to all kinds of music, and be with his cat and dog.
Dr. Thomas Cook
Thomas is a writer, editor, and teacher who lives in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife and two children. He holds a PhD in English from the State University of New York at Albany and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. He currently teaches at The Academy at St. Joan of Arc in Skokie, after seven years on the faculty at Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles. Thomas is the author of the poetry collections Search History (Kelsay Books, 2024) and Light Through a Pane of Glass (Big Table, 2020), and his work has appeared in journals including Denver Quarterly, Bennington Review, and Cincinnati Review. He brings precision, generosity, and a deep love of language to every project he takes on.
Dr. Joseph Dornich
Joe has a PhD in English from Texas Tech University. He is the author of the short story collection The Ways We Get By. His writing has won contests and fellowships with The Master’s Review, Carve Magazine, South Central MLA, Key West Literary Seminars, and The South Carolina Academy of Authors, among others. Joe lives in California and teaches creative writing at California State University, San Bernardino.
Rebecca Whilldin
Rebecca holds a BA in English, an MA in Teaching, and is working toward an MFA in Creative Non‑Fiction. She brings a critical eye to a book’s structure, plot, characterization, and theme, and enthusiastically supports authors on their writing journey — believing that everyone has a story that someone needs to hear. Rebecca is passionate about mental health awareness and post‑traumatic growth, and believes in the power of therapy, yoga, and writing as tools for healing. She lives with the love of her life and two tiny dogs tucked away in a North Carolina cabin.
Kirsten Taylor
Kirsten holds a BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a post‑baccalaureate degree in Art History from Portland State University. She spent ten years in research science before turning to art history, then completed two years of focused study in proofreading, grammar, and punctuation before beginning her work as a freelance proofreader. That double grounding in science and art history shows in her work — meticulous, detail‑driven, exacting — while a lifelong love of reading keeps her attentive to each writer’s voice.
Kirsten joined Cup & Quill in November 2023. Now based in Raleigh, North Carolina, she spent twenty‑four years living in Europe, including Amsterdam, Prague, and the island of Crete. Outside of proofreading she enjoys travel, art museums, photography, skiing, trivia nights, and settling into a cozy corner filled with books.
Mike Cameron
Mike is a writer, speaker, entrepreneur, and executive coach who joined Cup & Quill as a partner in 2022. He brings years of business experience, a talent for storytelling, and an unshakeable belief in the power of stories to change the world.
Mike has co‑led Cup & Quill group writing programs and brings a particular gift for helping writers unlock stories they didn’t know they had in them. He is also a passionate advocate for men’s mental health, an ultra‑marathoner, a paraglider, and a father of two.
Cup & Quill also operates a publishing arm, Inicio Press — but we keep a clear line between our editorial services and publishing. Working with us is never a guarantee of publication. Integrity and quality remain at the core of every decision we make.
Ready to work with us?
Tell us about your project, and we’ll help you determine the next best step.
Schedule a free consultation