Mentoring

I work with writers one-to-one, offering guidance one short story at a time. In the capacity as an editor and a mentor, I have been proud to work on stories and books by authors including Colin Barrett, Nicole Flattery, Rebecca Ivory, Michael Magee, and Chetna Maroo – and many more brilliant writers, too. More info here.

How a session goes

In short: you send me a story; I read it loads of times; I make notes and annotations; then a week to ten days later, we have a phone call (90-120 minutes) and talk the hell out of the work, using the story as a springboard for a frank, exploratory conversation about what you’re seeking to do, what you’re actually doing, what you’re afraid of doing, what’s holding you back, and where you might go next. After the session, I send you my notes and any relevant reading recommendations. Along the way, I’ll invoice you or whatever funding body is supporting the session, and get paid.

If the process works for us both, we go again, when you’re ready, with another story.

Before all this, we’ll likely have had an intro session where we discussed what you're working on, what you might like to work on, and what our sessions might involve. Sometimes the author is still feeling these things out, and that's all good and natural and all part of the conversation. 

Is mentoring for you?

Whether you’ve been published before or not is mostly irrelevant to me, but if you feel you’re at an earlier stage in your writing (published or otherwise), I wouldn’t necessarily advise seeking this kind of mentorship. I really believe in the value of those early years of discovering one’s own way, and I’m conscious of getting in the way. At the same time, I also know that encouragement or a just a little guidance at the right moment can be utterly crucial. So, by all means, get in touch if it feels right – but I might just tell you to come back in a year’s time.

In my experience, the writers who benefit most from mentoring are:

i) those who have already shared their work with others in the past and are familiar with receiving feedback and critique

ii) those who haven’t done the above, but who have worked independently for a couple of years at least, have a small pile of stories, and maybe feel they’ve gone as far as they can go on their own

If you sense there’s too big a gap between what you know you're capable of achieving and what you're actually achieving on the page; or if it feels like you’re writing with one hand tied behind your back – that there are places in your writing you’re not getting to – I believe these sessions will help.

If I don’t think your work is quite yet ready to benefit from the process, or if I don’t think I’m the right reader for it, I will be honest (and hopefully tactful) with you from the start.

Costs

Over the years I’ve worked with writers directly (e.g. they pay me); and I have worked with writers through mentoring programmes sponsored by state-funded initiatives, such as the National Mentoring Programme in Ireland. In some countries, writers can apply for bursaries to cover the costs of mentoring, such as the Arts Council England DYCP programme.

In general, my fees are roughly aligned with Irish organisations such as The Stinging Fly (see their pay policy here) and the Irish Writers Centre’s National Mentoring Programme.

Next steps

If you’re interested in receiving mentoring and would like to know more about the process, including my rates etc, you can drop me a short message below: