Asking for help with your writing is NOT ADMITTING FAILURE, it's part of doing everything you can to succeed, a way of getting perspective on yourself and your work so you can see more clearly.

Every single writer I know (and I know a lot of them) gets advice, notes, feedback and perspective from someone - usually from several people - on every draft, or in mid-draft if they hit a snag, lose momentum, lose heart or lose perspective. It's a natural part of the process because you inevitably get lost in the trees in the course of any long-form writing project and need an outside eye to help you see the forest.

Of course you don't want to pay for someone else's perspective or advice, you want it for free! And you've probably gotten a lot of free advice already, but if you're reading this, you're at least considering hiring a professional.

And that is tricky because a writing coach is some combination of producer, editor, therapist, cheerleader, strategist, market watcher and psychic advisor each with their own style and bag of tricks.

Let's start with how you know when you really need a writing coach or consultant?

The 5th Hurdle is... Letting go.

When you're deep into a project most writers experience a kind of Stockholm Syndrome. You want to be free of the project but now there's all the internal pressure to make it perfect before you release it into the world.

Of course It will never be perfect and what's really happening is you're protecting yourself against criticism, rejection, ridicule and failure by holding the project back and keeping it safely tucked away in your computer.

Solution #1: Have at least 3 trusted readers (ideally ones who haven't read earlier drafts) read your work and give you their opinion on if it's ready to go to agents/producers/publishers/etc. And that should be your question to them (i.e., the specific kind of notes you're asking for): is this ready to go out professionally or does it still need more work? And if it needs more work, what area(s)?