I am so thrilled to be involved in Kerry Hudson's amazing initiative,
The WoMentoring Project which launches today! Women writers offering free mentoring to other women writers - nothing brings me more joy than helping others with their writing in any way I can. What's it all about? Here's more...
About?
The WoMentoring Project exists to offer free mentoring by professional
literary women to up and coming female writers who would otherwise find
it difficult to access similar opportunities.
The
mission of The WoMentoring Project is simply to introduce successful
literary women to other women writers at the beginning of their careers
who would benefit from some insight, knowledge and support. The hope is
that we’ll see new, talented and diverse female voices emerging as a
result of time and guidance received from our mentors.
Each
mentor selects their own mentee and it is at their discretion how
little or much time they donate. We have no budget, it’s a completely
free initiative and every aspect of the project - from the project
management to the website design to the PR support - is being
volunteered by a collective of female literary professionals. Quite
simply this is about exceptional women supporting exceptional women.
Welcome to The WoMentoring Project.
Why do we need it?
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| © Sally Jane Thompson |
Like
many great ideas the WoMentoring Project came about via a conversation
on Twitter. While discussing the current lack of peer mentoring and the
prohibitive expense for many of professional mentoring we asked our
followers - largely writers, editors and agents - who would be willing
to donate a few hours of their time to another woman just starting out.
The response was overwhelming – within two hours we had over sixty
volunteer mentors.
The
WoMentoring Project is run on an entirely voluntary basis and all of
our mentors are professional writers, editors or literary agents. Many
of us received unofficial or official mentoring ourselves which helped
us get ahead and the emphasis is on ‘paying forward’ some of the support
we’ve been given.
In
an industry where male writers are still reviewed and paid more than
their female counterparts in the UK, we wanted to balance the playing
field. Likewise, we want to give female voices that would otherwise find
it hard to be heard, a greater opportunity of reaching their true
potential.
Applications
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| © Sally Jane Thompson |
In
an ideal world we would offer a mentor to every writer who needed and
wanted one. Of course this isn't possible so instead we've tried to
ensure the application process is accessible while also ensuring that
out mentors have enough information with which to make their selection.
Applicant
mentees will submit a 1000 word writing sample and a 500 word statement
about how they would benefit from free mentoring. All applications will
be for a specific mentor and mentees can only apply for one mentor at a
time. Selections will be at the mentor's discretion.
and follow the project on twitter www.twitter.com/WoMentoringP
