That’s a great idea. There is a similar project, I believe, where women mentor other women for free. I think the link is below in the comments or on the Women Writers Women’s Books website.

And good luck for the publishing too. Fantastic!

Thanks for your comments. I’ve just been accepted onto the UEA Intermediate Fiction Writing course and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m still very much learning the craft and every course I take, I learn more and another ‘penny drops’ as it were.
There was a whole Facebook thread on the advantages and disadvantages of using friends and family as BETA readers. I found that, in the main, I needed to go outside of these for honest book reviews, but as you also say, two friends have been really fantastic readers and given very honest feedback. I’m waiting to hear from a publisher who asked to see the whole MS after the initial submission. However, the friend who read it last (and is an English professor) has mentioned some things that I now need to think over and address. It’s always worth the editing and rewriting – if you want it to be the best it can.

Thanks for sharing that Kathleen. I think many new writers find it easy to lose confidence and get ‘lost’. Mentorship is one of the best supports around for writers at all levels.

Congratulations on your publishing success. Mentors are wonderful and I just wonder how many people they’ve taken from ‘terrified newbie’ to ‘confident writer’.
I should perhaps have stated in my article what I meant by ‘long haul’. As you say, it took me years to write. It wasn’t a quick thing but it was a quality thing. And I think the more you see the gleam of the polished story shining out, the less you want to rush it.

Thanks Suzanne – I will say ‘when, when, when’ – my new mantra! Glad you found HISSAC useful too. It’s open to membership for all and runs short story competitions too, so hopefully more writers will find them as useful as I did.