Consulting, counseling, and editing

Hello! I am a consultant at Boise State’s writing center. I am still kind of new there, but I’ve done enough consultations to start to get the hang of things. I absolutely love it, too, for the record.
    I have started wondering about certain connections that the consulting I do in the Center have to work I might do after I graduate. I have always been interested in becoming a high school counselor, and it didn’t take me too long to notice that I have a natural inclination to approach a writing consultation in similar ways that I might approach a counseling session. I am interested in how a student feels that day, because things like that directly affect a session. I am often curious why a student wrote something in a certain way; I’m curious what might be going on in that student’s life that would influence their writing. All of these things strengthen my belief that someday, I might want to go to graduate school for counseling. Does anyone know of any good articles about this subject that I could read? Or does anyone have any relevant experience or know of anyone who has taken the consulting- counselor route?
    There’s another thing I have been curious about lately, though. I am wondering about the connections between the consultation we do in our writing centers and the jobs that editors do. It seems that the editor/writer relationship would be less interactive, but I suppose that depends on the editor. I am thinking that I would like a job as a magazine editor (or something) someday. But I wonder if I would be let down because it isn’t as interactive. Again, anything on this topic would be helpful, too.
    Thanks everyone!

Comments

  1. I just watched the movie "Proposal" last week. If being an editor is anything like that, I don't want anything to do with it.

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  2. The new chick flick movie with Sandra Bullock? Haven't seen that one. Is that the one you're talking about?

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  3. Yep. It's the one. My wife and mother forced me to watch it while I was in Colorado. It actually wasn't all that bad. Sandra Bullock doesn't look all that bad for being sixty something either. Hollywood is amazing.

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  4. April-
    I had to chuckle a bit as I read your post. Frequently in the past I have been told I should be a counselor or psychiatrist. Oddly enough over the last few weeks, I have found myself doing less "editing" and more guidance and psycho-tutoring to teach students ways of improving their writing. This makes me wonder, how much of our work is psycho-analytical rather than just peer tutoring.

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