Two Mentor Spots Open
Been a Year Since I Opened This To Three Writers…
Since a number of the writers I was helping in this program from years ago are not writing me as often, I decided to open this back up again for two spots. I really enjoy working closely with writers over the years, but I don’t push myself on them. I am just there to help, answer questions, and point in a certain direction.
Often my weekly responses are fairly short if things are going well for the writer. Sometimes I give my kind of advice. (grin)
I want each writer to be the writer they want to be. And I am a pretty good cheerleader along the way. And this is to help fiction writers. I suck at helping nonfiction writers.
Also, if you are plotting ahead and rewriting, I am not of much help, sadly, unless you want to change that practice. Then I can help.
Basically I am the writer’s mentor. I will help the writer with anything they need help on. (I will not read novels or works in progress.) But craft, attitude, business, covers, sales, and everything else. I will even help you build your first Kickstarter.
The basics of the entire thing is that the writer needs to write me an update letter once a week. Other contact during the week is fine, but that once-a-week deadline helps me stay in touch with what the writer is doing and keeps the writer on track of what they have set to do for themselves. Or at least once per month.
The mentor stuff lasts as long as the writer wants it to last. A few are going on for years now and that is great!
The cost is $3,000 which is no small amount I know. But my time is valuable over the years. (grin)
So if you are interested in jumping into one of these two spots, write me directly. Any questions, write me directly as well.
For me, this is going to be a lot of fun. At least it has been for me so far in the past.
(And this adding on two new will not change anything I am doing with any other writer I am already working with.)
7 Comments
Robert J. McCarter
I’m one of the writers that Dean’s been working with and I can’t recommend it highly enough!
Checking in with Dean once a week has helped me be more strutured, helped me stick to goals, helped me measure my progress, not to mention all the other things I’ve learned from him over the years.
This is an amazing opportunity and Dean is serious when he says he’ll do this as long as you want. I started in 2019 and we’re still going strong. Thank so much, Dean!
dwsmith
Just here to help. Glad it has worked out. It’s been great fun watching your progress.
Kate Pavelle
Oh, oh! Dean, I hope you offer this again in a year or two. Normally I’d jump on it, but you know I’m in touch via the Challenge, plus I’m in several classes. I would be way overextended.
This being said, to those of you who are fence-sitting: Having the accountability to write to Dean (the insance challenge we’re doing now) made me a lot more accountable to myself as well. I may be laid up with my leg for another 4 weeks, but that doesn’t mean I’m idle. This is a time to write, and to learn, and I fully intend to contiue this patterns into the future. When I am doing something off-track, he lets me know. He reminds me to have fun. That’s an excellent reminder, btw. It reminds me to take a lot of pressure off myself and, hey, maybe watch a heist movie with my husband.
We self-employed have a challenge to, somehow, arrive a state of balanced tension between work ethic and work-life balance. As my karate sensei says: “Injury occurs at a point of imbalance. Make sure that point is outside of you.”
Christina York
I can attest to the value of Dean’s mentoring. I have been fortunate enough to have benefitted from his knowledge, support, and mentoring (not to mention friendship) for over 30 years now. I can honestly say that without his encouragement and his generous spirit I would not have the writing and publishing career I do.
This is an amazing opportunity, if yu’re serious about your writing.
dwsmith
Thank you, Chris, for those kind comments. Very nice of you, but I think I have been the winner over the years in this friendship. By a long ways. You have given me so, so much.
Barb
I’m also one of the lucky people… Dean, stay tuned for more requests of advice on covers and blurbs as I restart publishing with the Great Challenge!
Everybody else, you should really get him as a mentor as soon as you can! His advice is invaluable and he’ll soon see if I got better with blurbs (I put in some hype!) after he pounded some sense into me last year! Or he might pound me again because a passive voice slipped in… 😉
dwsmith
Thanks, Barb. Looking forward to seeing what you are doing with the new stuff.