MENTORING
SUSAN GILLIS
Taking the step of
sharing our work or deepening our engagement with it can feel risky, wherever we are in our practice. An effective mentor, as I see it, fosters exploration and creative risk-taking in a supportive and safe space. As
your guide and mentor, I am committed to supporting you in a collaborative and dynamic process of creative discovery.
My Approach
You will be heard, encouraged, challenged and supported as you develop your writing your way, moving toward your goals.
You may want to work towards a specific goal such as developing a manuscript, or something much more general, like establishing a consistent writing practice, generating new work, or practicing elements of craft. Or you might simply want a regular check-in and feedback on whatever has sparked for you between consultations.
My work as we go on is to attend openly and fully to yours: to ask questions that sharpen your focus, offer suggestions for revision, open paths when you feel stuck – to be the responding voice that encourages you forward in your creativity and supports you along the way.
Our conversation may include generative writing prompts and discussion of work we admire and/or find challenging. We’ll consider the creative energy and expression in your work and in work by others you’re interested in. We’ll go up close with individual poems and elements of craft, and consider bigger-picture elements of structure and nuance.
Writers are often surprised at what readers note in their work. In a dynamic and productive mentorship, these surprises are occasions for learning for both of us, in our dual capacities as writer and reader.
Our conversation may include generative writing prompts and discussion of work we admire and/or find challenging. We’ll consider the creative energy and expression in your work and in work by others you’re interested in. We’ll go up close with individual poems and elements of craft, and consider bigger-picture elements of structure and nuance.
Writers are often surprised at what readers note in their work. In a dynamic and productive mentorship, these surprises are occasions for learning for both of us, in our dual capacities as writer and reader.
For me, the end—in
the senses of both purpose and fulfilment—of mentorship is seeing you flourish
creatively.
See what others have said about working with me.
My Experience
I bring more than two decades of writing,
editing, and mentoring experience, with
writers of all ages and at all stages, to our work together.
My experience
includes
·
workshops and discussion groups at Concordia
University
·
mentoring and workshop facilitation with the Quebec
Writers’ Federation and others
·
creative writing workshops and advising at John
Abbott College
·
short workshops with Festival Blue Met Bleu
·
residency workshops at Los Parronales in Santiago, Chile
·
individual mentorships with emerging and re-emerging writers across Canada
I’m a poet with four
books (Yellow Crane, The Rapids, Volta and Swimming Among the Ruins), several
chapbooks (Obelisk, Twenty Views of the
Lachine Rapids), a solid collection of award nominations and reviews, and a
side gig as a collaborator with three other poets in the group Yoko’s Dogs (Whisk, Rhinoceros). I talk with
poets and write about poetry and the writing life at Concrete & River, and I co-curated with Mary diMichele the
online micro-poetry journal HALIBUT. I also give talks, host workshops, and guide reading for poets and non-poets alike. Most recently, I’ve worked with the
performance group Bon Echo on poems for multiple voices.
My Fee
Structure
Mentorships may take
place over a few weeks or several months or more, depending on the aims and
work preferences of the writer. Typically they include one-on-one meetings
(in person or by videochat, depending on circumstances) and time dedicated to
writing and responding. Fees can be arranged on an hourly basis ($65/hour) or
as a fixed fee.
For more information, contact me at <susan[at]susangillis[dot]ca>