Brittainy Rainsdon was an aspiring writer with no prior sales before she joined my Super Secrets of Writing Workshop that I conduct for free in the Writers of the Future Forum. After reading her writing sample, I could see she was a good writer, and I took her under my wing and worked with her for the next couple of years on virtually every story she wrote. When I found out she was only sending her stories to the Writers of the Future Contest–the largest talent search for new speculative fiction writers in the world–I gave her some straight talk and said she also needed to send stories to other markets. Brittany listened.
The first place she sent one to was Deep Magic magazine. It sold! Her first respectable sale! What’s more, it was also reprinted in Best of Deep Magic Anthology Two. Brittany topped that by becoming a published finalist in Writers of the Future Volume 37, and followed that the next quarter by becoming a winner in Writers of the Future Volume 38! Brittany had always been a good writer, she simply needed guidance to reach that next level. That’s what mentors do–they help their mentees level up by guiding them with knowledge and experience that they learned through years of study and training.
How does one find a good mentor? This podcast reveals how Brittany found hers. And then we share various methods to help others find a mentor that can help them level up. Mentoring is a time-honored system of sharing knowledge and training with those less experienced, yet it’s rarely discussed in writing books and workshops.
This podcast will change that. And I’ve just been commissioned to write a Super Secrets of Writing article on mentoring for DreamForge Anvil magazine. In the meantime, why not give our interview in Hollywood a listen?