Mentorship

In 20+ years of teaching and editing (and many years as a student), I’ve come to see mentorship as the essential component in an artist’s growth. The connections I’ve formed from both sides of the desk have been invaluable, and I count myself very lucky, though it’s been a long road, which would have been far harder without the many professors and writers who’ve shown me endless generosity over the years.

At 22 years old, I was in an unhealthy relationship and had two sons–an infant and a toddler–and suddenly found myself staying up nights writing terrible rhyming couplets by a single light while everyone else in my house slept. I had never read a poetry collection and had no idea what I was doing–only that I couldn’t stop. I see now, from this distance, that my body was smarter than I was, doing what it needed to do to survive. Writing saved my life.

I was working then at the Department of Public Instruction for a woman whose job it was to secure scholarship funding for first generation, underprivileged college students, such as I was (my parents didn’t attend the university, and I was raised working class in domestic violence with no aspirations toward higher education), and I went to my boss and told her that I’d been staying up nights writing–that I might want to go to school. She looked at me, without hesitation, and said, “you’ll never get in.”

So that was exactly what I did. I moved my sons and I to our own place, found a new job, enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay on a probationary status, and with the help of various programs and professors, made my way through four advanced degrees as a single mother. It was in no way easy, but without my ties to academia, I’m not sure how I would have arrived where I am.

That said, college is neither a desirable nor a viable path for everyone, especially now as times grow more difficult, but art is for everyone. And the irony and tragedy in this, of course, is that it’s during tumult that we need art for our own wellness–as practitioners, stewards, appreciators, and humans in need of catharsis–more than ever. Now is the time to create as many opportunities for empathy as we can and share them as widely as we’re able, though not everyone has access to the necessary mentorship about how to navigate the writing, editing, and publishing landscape.

No matter your current situation (maybe you don’t want to/cannot attend college; maybe you’re a student in a program that isn’t quite providing what you hope for; maybe you’re a writer discovering your craft during retirement), I am here–via email and/or zoom meetings–to answer your questions at a rate that you can afford, which we can tailor to your current needs.

I can help you navigate publishing (preparing manuscripts, finding the right home for your work, submitting creative pieces of varying length, etc), graduate school applications (preparing necessary materials–statements, CVs), and much more.

You can review my CV, BIO, and publications in these pages, learn more about my UWGB story here, and reach out to me at LFCediting@gmail.com (subject: mentorship) with questions/requests to see if this opportunity is the right fit for you.

Best of luck in your writing journey,
LF