This is my 3rd year of being a mentor for BCM and I absolutely love it. My amazing mentees have previously gone on to self publish, be in the query trenches and edit and enter for the Wattys. All of them have continued writing, and I'm so proud to know every single one of them and see them shine in their journeys. 

Outside of BCM, I've done A LOT of mixing before with other writers. My experience includes a lot of book clubs, critique swapping and goal setting with other writers here. I also did a lot of workshopping with other writers during my degree, so I'm well versed in bouncing ideas and writing around, giving pointers and learning from others. 

For me, mentoring works best if we get on and build a trust with each other - writing is so personal and can sometimes tap into our very soul and personalities - so for me, trust is vital. I'm looking for someone who is very open and honest with not just what they're looking for with any mentorship, but also their writing and themselves. (btw, I'm not looking for you to tell me your deepest darkest secret, just be yourself!)

I'm also looking for someone who is open to just chatting: I've found even just chit-chatting about your day or venting can help with writing. Feeling writer's block? For me, if I'm stressed or had a rough day, it's usually what's blocking me, so someone to vent to is sometimes subconsciously going to help with writer's block or even finding ideas. (I've found some of my best ideas from just talking to people or watching news or whatever) 

... yeah, all right, this sounds like an advert for a friend. You caught me out ;) 

Either way, my mentorship: 

Depending on the focus, sometimes it might look a little different. But, in general, what I'm looking for is someone with clear ideas (even if they're a jumble right now, thats okay, we can work with that!) who isn't afraid to lay it all out and ask for help.

Anyone who I mentor needs to be able and okay to take constructive criticism. Don't be afraid also to challenge me: my words are just an opinion. I'm not a know-it-all (pfft sometimes I wish I was! Writing would be so much easier!) so if you think I'm wrong, go ahead and tell me so we can carry on working on your idea and come up with the best version of it. That's what workshopping is all about - one idea, bounces around, changes, challenge each other and eventually, gold comes out (this is where the trust comes in!) 

Along with that, I like to chat through ideas. So if you're looking for a mentorship with just an idea right now and nothing written, amazing! Tell me your idea, what you have and why you're wanting this idea. I can help you discuss those, lay out more of a plot. Sometimes having that second opinion can help. Heck, sometimes I've found someone giving me anecdotes or scenes they think about with that idea can help inspire something.

I also find mentorships work best when you just ask 'how do you approach doing this' - like are you stuck with how to write a kissing scene (example)? I can tell you how I approach it, I can tell you how readers I've had react best, we can look at other examples. You can try and write it, and then we can edit and work from there. Asking questions and looking for guidance is what it's all about. USE ME! I'm here to help in any way I can. If I don't know something, we can look together for the answers, too. 

If you're looking for a mentorship with a book already written: mentorship with me will look at editing, polishing, developmental editing, looking at characters, plot lines - whatever you need help with. But it'll mainly be looking at editing and seeing what we can do to polish that story up. It'll look at if you want to change things or develop things, how best to go from where you're at. If you're looking to query, I can help look at your query letter, first few pages/chapters - your query package basically. If you're looking into Ambys/Wattys etc, we can look at editing for that, what Wattpad look for etc. 

We can also look into reading that draft and seeing if we can help work on the next draft. We can look at changing POVs, or developing a rewriting plan and working through that. We may not get through the whole story together, but I can give you tips, pointers, do some light editing for you and see where we go! Sometimes developing a plan can help you see where you need to go! 

If you're looking for a mentorship at the beginning of an idea (whether that be an idea with no book or looking at the start of a book): mentorship with me will look more into developing your idea, seeing where we can plot your ideas, streamline them and make a story out of it. It'll look at characters, plot, scenes, polishing that beginning and seeing what the middle and end will look like and how to get there. Throw me those ideas and I can help you see where to go and help develop. As you write, I can look over the chapter and help you out! For ONC specifically, we can look at keeping to word counts etc. 

I CAN help with: logline, blurbs, summaries, prepping, query letters, brainstorming and helping to get those ideas down on paper. I am also happy to work on books in general that you may not be entering into the contests listed. 

With this, if you have an idea or start or finished book you don't think will fit into one of these contests BCM is focusing on, please don't be afraid to reach out to me. While BCM sessions focus on these contests, there is no specific REQUIREMENT for them to be entered. Just reach out to me to discuss if this is you and you can still apply to be mentored! 

My mentorship style is very flexible, and not ALL about critiquing. I absolutely LOVE to shower your work/ideas with love and squeal about them. When I look at submissions, I want to FALL IN LOVE (I am a romance writer after all lol). Give me characters to squeal about, give me a plot with juicy drama and/or mysteries I need to find out more about. I'm all in. I want to cheer you on and lift you up as a writer as well as ironing out those issues and giving advice.

Basic notes: I do have a busy life outside WP; I'm a mother, I have things going on, and of course I am writing too. So what I'm looking for is to converse with the mentor about how these 6 weeks will look, how time structures look in terms of our availability. As long as we can carve out time and work together, let's do it! If you just need once a week check ins, cool - let's schedule them! If you want to converse more often, I'm down with that. I want to give my mentee the best mentorship I can provide, so I need someone open, honest and willing to work with me along the way. Communication is *so important*. 

With any of my mentees, it doesn't matter what timezone you're in. We're likely to be in different ones. But my discord inbox (or however we communicate, discord is best for me, but I can work with other things) is *always* open to mentees, so never be afraid to just shoot me a message even if it's 2am for me. I'll look at it when I wake up and message back ASAP when I'm awake. And hey, you may also catch me in a bout of insomnia, so take the chance lmao. But seriously, I'm open to just being messaged if you just want to go: "I just need somewhere to vent, or get through these ideas" and then a minute later seeing "ITS ALL GOOD I WORKED IT OUT!" Whatever you need, I'm here! 

Questions about the mentoring process with me? Tag me here or DM me on Discord (and mention it's about BCM so I know to answer ASAP) ->