Recently I was asked to speak at a professional development seminar for writers in Sydney, organised by the Australian Writers Network. On a panel called The Midwives of Your Manuscript (the other speakers were Jean Bedford, Carl Harrison Ford, Alison Green of Pantera Press with moderator Irina Dunn), I spoke about the benefits of mutual mentoring as a first step in getting feedback for your work. At my workshops and retreats we do this at all stages of the writing, breaking into small groups to give and receive detailed critiquing on all aspects of the work. We do it also in Draft Swap where writers take away others manuscripts for a thorough going over. For several drafts WE become the script assessors and editors of each others work, honing it, reworking and offering the kind of advice only fellow writers can give. By the third or fourth draft when we have the manuscript as tight as we can get it, only then will we think of sending it off to a manuscript assessor or publisher. The benefits of working this way are numerous and you save yourself the money and pain of receiving an assessment on work that hasn’t yet shown it’s full potential. The same results can be acheived of course by one on one mentoring and I have had the privilege of working closely with a number of writers on a long term basis. I have also added some new services to my mentoring page including  Weekly Wake Up Call – a phone call monday mornings and friday afternoons to keep you on track with your writing goals; Desperate Debrief – a once off session to unload or discuss ANY creative problem, Six Week Stint -weekly creative development sessions towards a six week deadline and MORE.

If you are looking for an immediate injection of ideas and energy into your work there are still some spaces left on Breakthrough Writing In Fiji , March 10 – 17. It’s not too late to join!