Mentoring Writing Challenge
What you need to do is go through this series on retreats and mentoring and see what you think. This way you’ll know what I’ll be setting us all up for. ( You can also look at the editing and publishing series as well.)
Here’s the rules:
1) read through the retreats and mentoring series
2) in about 500 words or less comment on how you would want to show that being a mentor and a support will help you and your writing.
3) commit to writing and emailing work on a regular basis between the group
The idea is that in five months, we will all have (AT LEAST) a novel and four short stories that we are submitting for publication. This group assumes that we work as a unit and put our writing first. It also means that our blogs will be a place where we, in our own ways, reach out and give people the same opportunity we have. It doesn’t matter what type of fiction you do, just that you do fiction. The group will consist of five people (myself included.)
There will be another group formed as well of people who are just starting out and it will have five as well, in this group, we will commit to (AT LEAST) one written novel by the end of the year, and start submitting in to publishers. I’ll be in this group as well, but mostly to encourage these brave souls.
The end date for this contest will be July 1st, this gives everyone an opportunity to look this over and write back on this blog. You can also email, but I’d like to get people’s voices out here.
Feel free to link this post to your blog, provided you have a link back to this blog as well.
4 Comments
PrettySiren
I think being a mentor would help me a lot with my own writing. I was an English major during my time at college, so I have a critical eye and know what to look for on a technical level without being mean or pushy.
Also, I think the community aspect of mentorship would help me churn out chapter after chapter if I knew there was definitely someone on my side, rooting for me to succeed. I've been working on this series for half a decade, so it's really time I took it to a professional level now that I'm writing full-time.
cosmic creepers
I'm a professional and technical writing student, so my creative training is limited, but I love to come up with ideas and explore them as far and wide as they can be expressed. If I could be a mentor, I know that I could help guide people toward the story they really want to write, the story that they want to spend time on each day even though it might be a struggle to finish it. But that's what writing is: struggling for what you want.
But I would definitely need the support of a community, because as much as I play with ideas, and as much as I begin stories, I never finish them. I'm always jumping from one idea to the next. I figure that if a community expected me to finish just one idea, then I could pick one idea to really stick it out with. I really want to finish one of my stories. They want to be told, and I want to tell them. If other people have the same problem as me, then I'd love to help them overcome this as well. It's fun to figure things out together.
AmberInGlass
As soon as I read about this contest I knew that it was something I really wanted to be a part of. Something I could commit to 100%. I come from a background of creative writing education, and although it has been a few years I have been involved with a few different writers’ groups and know firsthand how beneficial they can be to those involved.
As writers it is hard to find a good support group. Writing by nature is a solitary experience. We spend so much time inside our own heads; we get caught up in ourselves and it can be very discouraging. Writing is hard. Plain and simple, no one understands that but other writers. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been told by well-meaning, but misunderstanding, friends to give up my dream in lieu of a “real” job.
Being in a support group is an experience I have long missed, and would really like to become a part of again. As a team, we can all help each other reach our goals through constructive means. Proper, constructive critiquing, brainstorming, and moral support are just a few of the things we will have to benefit from one another.
Being part of this group would be a very positive experience—a group of authors who all want to succeed and genuinely help others succeed at the same time! How could I not commit to that wholeheartedly? Helping someone else to achieve their goals, in an uplifting environment, will be inspiring and push us all to help ourselves at the same time.
Rebecca
Greta work for those who are now part of teh mentor gorup teh inkers.