Integrate writing into your life in sustainable, lasting ways 
Direct your passion into focused action & mastery of craft Become a better writer on your own terms, for life Know what to change, why to change it, & how Finish projects or explore new ones with confidence, gentle accountability, & a sense of accomplishment
Now accepting applications for the 2022-23 season!
Program runs September 2022 – March 2023. Contact me to set up a pro bono consult. Applications accepted on a rolling basis and program fills quickly.
Who is Monthly Mentorship For?
This program is for dedicated writers* and published authors, working toward completion of a manuscript or seeking a fresh approach for stalled projects. If you have an existing, strong relationship with writing but know that you learn best with accountability, professional support, and structure–you will thrive in Monthly Mentorship and shave years off the time it takes to publication.
*If you don’t have a current project or amassed pages, but can demonstrate passion, skill, and enthusiasm–there’s space for you, too. Contact me to talk about the unique group forming for the 2022-23 season.
Too many writers spend years in mid-level workshops or attending conferences that bring them close to literary stars, getting mixed results. These same writers often take copious notes, receive mountains of suggestions, and feel charged with new ideas…only to return to their desks confused by conflicting feedback, or at a loss for how to get “back into” their current project. Leap off the hamster wheel and join a community of disciplined, curious, kind, skilled writers determined to stop depending upon others for the rest of the writing lives.
There is so much more that a writer can do on their own, before paying for line-level feedback, seeking beta readers, or attending pitch workshops. If you’ve eddied for too long, this program will offer you a new lens on your individual writing process, helping you experience first-hand what confidence and discernment feels like as a literary author.
Whether you’re working on one story, a collection of stories or essays, a memoir, or a novel, Monthly Mentorship will take you through a customized process to become a better writer, deepening your engagement with the practice of writing and teaching you how to get “under the under” of what you drafts are really trying to say.
Fall in love with revision.
Learn how to name your blind spots and coach yourself through uncertainty.
Feel what it means to be a discerning writer.
Expand your confidence to blend craft, imaginative powers, and the structural components of prose to create your best writing to date.
Gain the endurance necessary to live the writing life with joy and accomplishment.
THE BREAKDOWN
Monthly Mentorship is a seven-month program (September 2022 – March 2023, with December “off” for optional consults, livewriting, and integration exercises). This celebrated program uses Zoom, Loom, Thinkific, email, phone, and PDF texts to provide the following experiences each month:
The first week of each month, you will receive a deeply pedagogical Integration Assignment that helps you apply thinking to language and bring shape and energy to your writing. Through these assignments, you will learn how to get more out of your drafts and reach your final version with more confidence, clarity, and skill. Benefit first-hand as you identify your own approach to your drafts using Katey’s unique methodology as a springboard. Integration Assignments will be the bulk of your work for this program, in addition to your own writing time. Plan on 3-5 hours a month devoted to these assignments, their application, and solidification.
Each Integration Assignment includes:
- Instruction sheet with reflective exercises, reading list (all texts provided), and prompts.
- Craft lecture video that directly addresses that month’s key concept (Curious about each month’s topics? Contact me).
- PDF versions of all required texts, plus occasional bonus links, handouts, or other resources.
Office Hours (45-90 minutes long) is an opportunity to gather with Katey and your cohort via Zoom. Ask a line-level editing question, a big picture publishing question, reflect on creative blocks or craft challenges, get clarification, dig deep into the Integration Assignment texts, and more. Office Hours include opportunities to share your screen or read from an excerpted work-in-progress to explain a specific problem, seek answers, and reference existing models.
Join Katey and your cohort for the Livewriting accountability sessions. There are (3) 75-minute sessions throughout the week. Once you enter via Zoom, the group will check-in very briefly, then write together in silent support. You’ll be blown away by the energy that Livewriting brings to your creative practice, not to mention how time flies. Show up, write together, debrief for a few minutes, sign off, and keep at it. This experience is both casual and profoundly effective, providing a truly humanizing, day-to-day picture of the ebbs and flows of the real writing life.
Gather for a two-hour Master Class with Katey and your cohort, via Zoom, to share key insights or quandaries related to that month’s Integration Assignment. Work through guided questions with your assigned partner, discuss sample texts or writing by your peers, go deeper into that month’s craft focus, and find out together how to tackle some of the biggest hurdles writers face today.
Literary Picnics:
These casual, surprisingly social gatherings on Zoom have proven to be a highlight of the program. You have to experience it, to “get it,” but each picnic typically includes an opening freewrite, meditation, or prompt, followed by breakout rooms that foster connection and lend a humanizing component to the invisible day-to-day realities of our writing (and working, parenting, teaching, family-ing, retired-ing) lives!
Email or quick-call access:
Email Katey at any time with a quick question, insight, concern, or request for more information. Prefer phone? Request a quick chat and talk, writer to writer, on the fly. While many writers have been taught to “go it alone” or “not bother” their teachers or peers, Monthly Mentorship engenders a spirit of sharing, communication, and authenticity that encourages checking in as needed. Leave guilt or head trips at the door, and text your teacher in real-time to get the support you need as you gain more and more endurance and discernment in your writing life.
How It Works
Mentorship begins with a chance to tell me more about yourself as a writer. Fill out this questionnaire* online, or email it as a Word attachment. Early inquiries are strongly encouraged as program fills quickly. I’ll send you a confirmation message, along with an approximate response time. The next season begins in September 2022.
*Returning MM writers: message me for a customized questionnaire directed specifically to our continued work together.
If we’re a good fit, mentorship begins with an intro to the other writers and a technology training session with my project manager. She will make sure you understand how to use the free programs that support Monthly Mentorship: Zoom (video streaming), Loom (video learning and conversing), and Thinkific (our learning platform and private community).
Over the course of any given month, we will interact in various ways. Like writing, this experience is fluid.
- Every Master Class and Office Hours session will be recorded, in case you have a schedule conflict. These recordings are yours to access forever. Dates/times for Master Class and Office Hours are shared 3-4 months in advance of your program start date. If you have specific concerns about timing, I can explain this in further detail before you apply; simply email me to set up a pro bono consultation.
- The Livewriting sessions will not be recorded, but you are free to share about your accountability and progress in other ways, should you be unable to make a session.
- No matter what, you will always be able to contact me by email or phone, for the entirety of the program. You will also have the support of the tight-knit, skilled group, as you progress toward your goals and the completion of this enriching program.
And here’s the most important part of “how it works”:
It works through your devotion to your writing and your project, through your trust in the methodology that I have tried and tested for a decade, and through your openness to learning from others. It works through the expertise you bring to the group, too, and through your belief that by articulating your own growth and challenges to a small audience of other writers, you are, in fact, becoming a better writer in real time. Show up to this program with your full heart, and I’ll offer you the same kind of heart and precision right back.
Monthly Mentorship Payment Options:
$3,850.00
$300 deposit due upon acceptance. Balance due October 1.
The first step to Monthly Mentorship is setting up a pro bono conversation with me where I can answer any questions you might have. Fill out the application form, here (LINK), and then take the leap and set up a pro bono conversation (LINK TO CONTACT PAGE).
Why do I need to complete a questionnaire & submit a writing sample?
Who is this program right for?
When does Monthly Mentorship begin?
What if I have to miss a videostreaming aspect of the program?
I’m not working on a full manuscript. I often write in a number of genres. Can your program still help me reach my goals?
What if I want you to critique my manuscript when our program ends?
What if I’m not a big fan of tech or streaming?
I’m nervous about not submitting my pages for line-level critique. Will I still grow as a writer if you’re only seeing snippets during office hours, and applying the rest of what you have to offer on my own?
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Why do I need to complete a questionnaire & submit a writing sample?
The number of writers interested in mentorship regularly exceeds the number of spaces available. The questionnaire and writing submission help me assess readiness and fit, so that I can confidently guarantee you a transformative experience should we go on to work with one another. The questionnaire and submission process ensure that you are in the right place and that your work gets the attention it deserves.
Who is this program right for?
Mentorship is designed for the advanced writer, whether or not you have been previously published.
If you’re a novice, or yet to establish a consistent writing practice, or in need of a little more skill development, I encourage you to check out my course Into the Flash HERE.
If you’re not sure which offering might be the best fit, CONTACT me.
When does Monthly Mentorship begin?
The next session of Monthly Mentorship will begin in September 2021 and run through March 2022, with one month off during the holiday season between December and January.
What if I have to miss a videostreaming aspect of the program?
No worries. Each Master Class and Office Hours session will be recorded and sent to you the following day.
I’m not working on a full manuscript. I often write in a number of genres. Can your program still help me reach my goals?
Absolutely. The craft concepts I teach, and the Integration Assignments, will be curated to meet your needs. I’d love to talk more about the variety of writings you are exploring–email me for a phone date!
What if I want you to critique my manuscript when our program ends?
I do provide Manuscript Reviews by appointment and request, but it is separate from this program. Let’s talk.
What if I’m not a big fan of tech or streaming?
Myself and my project manager will be with you every step of the way. I was skeptical at first, too–but I’ve been using video streaming as an educator for over three years and have successfully delivered programs with effective, game-changing content across 5 different time zones and 3 continents. With Zoom and Loom, the “distance” fades away and it feels as though we’re in the same room together–without the hassle and expense of travel.
I’m nervous about not submitting my pages for line-level critique. Will I still grow as a writer if you’re only seeing snippets during office hours, and applying the rest of what you have to offer on my own?
Yes, because my goal is to empower you to become a more discerning reader and editor of your own work. You will get clear about the strengths, as well as the pernicious ticks, in your writing. Over the course of the program, you will be given deep lessons specific to the skills in need of development in your work. Mentorship is designed to improve your craft and to make you a better reader and editor of your own writing, not more dependent on me.
Ready to Leap? Take the First Step!
Set up your pro bono consult with me here. Let’s get started! Monthly Mentorship begins September 2022.
Monthly Mentorship Payment Options:
$3,850.00
$300 deposit paid upon acceptance. Balance due by October 1.
Final Considerations
I enjoy mentoring writers and find a great deal of personal and professional fulfillment in our work together. While I understand my role as teacher and guide is to draw as much as possible out of you, I also feel that mentoring via distance has the most powerful impact when it is met with a deep desire to commit to the practice of writing–which includes so much more than putting words on the page, or revising what’s already drafted. Not everyone can give themselves over to the writing life full time, but everyone can create the conditions for the writing life within the space of a few focused minutes or hours. I view our work together as a brave, exciting experiment. I look forward to your focused dedication throughout our work together.
