WriteMentor Community Learning Hub is a community-based learning membership, focussed upon two important principles: developing writing craft and fostering close writing relationships to help with both technical aspects of being a writer, as well as the sometimes very straining mental aspects of it, too.

Please note that the hub will be based on Slack – if you are unsure how to use Slack, more information is here: WriteMentor guide to using Slack

The Slack community will open on the 4th January, although you’ll be sent the link to access it on, or before, the 1st January, 2021.

The learning hub has two membership levels:

Level 1 – £10 a month:

– online modules on every aspect of craft and each stage of the writing journey, from idea to post-publication – all the modules are on this website and are accessible when logged in and with a Level 1 or 2 membership.

From that very first spark of an idea, to building up a career and a living as a published writer, we have modules on almost everything imaginable – and will continue to add to this clear, continuous pathway for your writing development. 

We are committed to being with you the whole way, to publication and beyond. 

We are a community for life.

With contributions from top published authors including: Alex Sheppard, Aisha Bushby, Catherine Emmett, Clare Helen Welsh, Emma Read, Lauren James, Lindsay Galvin, Liz Flanagan, Marisa Noelle, Maz Evans, Melinda Salisbury, Simon James Green and agent/author Chloe Seager.

– monthly online critique groups (from PB to YA)

These will follow the WriteMentor guidelines, which will be distributed and applied at all critique group meetings. You will be split into a critique group channel on Slack where you can post extracts, return feedback and arrange meeting times to host the Zoom feedback session (once a month).

– monthly book club

This will be conducted on an evening late in the month, having announced our book of the month at the start. We’ll discuss the book, what we liked and didn’t, and discuss it as writers as well as readers. This will take place on Slack.

Level 2 – £20 a month:

– as above plus: 

– kid beta readers

We will give members the opportunity to have an age-matched kid reading either 3 x full PB text or first 3 chapters (up to a max of 10,000 words) of your novel. The kids will be given a framework to deliver feedback to try to make it meaningful for you, as well as being allowed to give their undiluted child thoughts.

Due to increased interest, we will, understandably, limit this to one submission package a year, and don’t worry, all the kid readers will be getting rewarded with book tokens for doing this! They get to read great stories for free and get tokens to buy even more books, and read even more – what a result! 

Florianne will arrange this for you, so simply send her an email or message when you would like to do it.

– monthly webinars/workshops from our resident authors, plus guests throughout the year

For Picture Books, Clare Helen Welsh will deliver a monthly webinar on PB craft or other related aspects, and do a live analysis workshop, dissecting willingly submitted PB texts.

For Novelists, Vashti Hardy will deliver a monthly webinar on novel writing craft or other related aspects, and do a live analysis workshop, dissecting willingly submitted novel extracts, with specific craft focusses.

The Webinars will be a monthly, recorded video on a specific craft topic, with 3 exercises from Clare or Vashti for you to try while you watch.

The Workshops will be live, either on Slack or Zoom (depending on which suits the workshop best) and will involve Clare or Vashti looking at YOUR work (if you want to volunteer it) and highlighting key strengths and areas for development, to give you an insight into the minds of top authors as they edit work.

You will have access to both Clare and Vashti’s Webinars/Workshops, regardless of whether you are a PB or novel writer, so for those of you who crossover, this really is a double win! 

We will also have irregular chats with industry experts and authors, but this will be on an ad-hoc basis.

Become a Member of our Community Hub below:

*There is no fixed term for the membership – you can stay for 1 month or 12 (or longer, hopefully!)

Scholarships for underrepresented writers:

We are offering 5 x 12 month scholarships for level 2 for underrepresented writers. (We consider any minority group, which is underrepresented, to be eligible for this).

Places have now been allocated for 2021.

To find out more about our Writers in Residence, check out the announcement post below:

WriteMentor Community Learning Hub: Meet our new (Virtual) Writers-In-Residence for 2021