MAYBE THERE’S AN ANSWER TO WHAT YOU’RE GOING CRAZY OVER IN YOUR WRITING
In addition to her classes, courses, and workshops, Crescent sometimes works individually with writers and those who want to write. Although she always suggests you take a workshop or class first, she offers one-on-one mentoring in two ways:
o The Clarity Call
o Three Month Mentoring Journey
What are these? How do they differ?
o The Clarity Call is a one-time stand-alone, one-time conversation, usually via Zoom, in which you, with Crescent, will get clear on what’s holding you back (it’s probably not what you think it is). You will also define and find clarity on where you want to go, and, in some cases, even develop the outlines of a specific plan to get there. For most people, however, the insight from a Clarity Call will be all you need to rev the accelerator and let ‘er rip. What you can expect: a call that is tender, tough, compassionate, practical and BS-free; a therapeutic exploration of how the universal creative issues are manifesting in your life, why, and what to do next.
A Clarity Call is always the first step of mentoring with Crescent.
After a Clarity Call, there are possibilities for longer mentoring, which are individualized and thus vary in price. For example, take a look at the example below:
Three Month Mentoring Journey: a call every other week, plus a weekly personalized email, and an optional, deeply attentive critique/line-edit of up to 20 pages of your work. If you’re having trouble getting started or are stuck in the middle (or can’t come to an end), first you and Crescent will take apart why: what’s unproductive and how can you alter it? CD is holistic; she’ll look not only at portions of your writing, but help you examine your thinking about writing, work time and environment, and planning. You and she will co-create a personal action plan that will leave you purringly productive, with real-time strategic solutions and immediate and long-term goals. You will leave empowered, able to weather the inevitable setbacks. And, in reading those 20 pages of yours? No one, but no one, does hardcore editorial mentoring better or in so many aspects than CD.
BUT WHY DO PEOPLE GO CRAZY OVER WRITING? HINT: IT’S RARELY PERSONAL
Every writer faces challenges. These challenges are both universal and unique.
Most of the difficulties a writer faces inhere in the process of writing (and later, editing, publishing, and promoting all bring their own sets of challenges).
Yet all writers make these common universal challenges one of a kind. Why? We each bring different resources, fears, aspirations, history, and experiences to how we understand and work with them.
Too, certain kinds of writing, particularly when it includes deeply personal material that is emotionally difficult (as is the case with most memoirs, for instance) may be more problematical than others. Many highly accomplished non-fiction, scholarly, or technical writers are utterly flummoxed by how to write such material.
Thus: the difficulties you face have never been faced by any other writer, ever, in history.
Thus: the difficulties you face are also those faced by every writer.
These contradictions, among many others, are steep and crazy-making. They provoke anxiety. And these contradictions are why (though most of a writer’s work is done in solitude), to get done what you want to get done and to do it now instead of someday, you may need to supplement your solitary and group work (anything from joining a critique group to attending a conference or workshop), with one-on-one mentoring.
At certain times, a trusted creative Sherpa can be of vast assistance. Someone who knows these mountains well. Is familiar with the chasms, views, deceptively dangerous spots, and resting places. Someone who carries good drinking water. Who knows the conditions under which an avalanche is likely, as well as what it will take for you to ascend the peak. Who can discern whether you need strategy, insight, or both.
Crescent Dragonwagon might be that someone for you.
Some terrains, after all, can’t be Map-Quested. And in some places, GPS doesn’t work
WHEN IS A GOOD TIME IN YOUR PROCESS TO WORK WITH CRESCENT?
- Perhaps you are at the contemplative phase on a given project, or already deep into it but stuck.
- Perhaps you “write in your mind,” and always have, but are finding that is no longer enough.
- Perhaps you’ve finished a draft you were happy with, sent it out, and gotten rejected more than once or twice. You don’t know why. Is it the writing? Would it have been accepted if you had an agent?
- Perhaps you’ve written a solid first draft, and a second, and a third, but you still feel your book isn’t ready for submission, and you want and need and long for the kind of deeply attentive thoughtfully editing that just isn’t done much anymore.
- Perhaps your first book has been accepted and you find yourself shockingly clueless about the process that’s unfolding, and you want desperately to talk to someone who has been there. (With 58 traditionally published books, all but three with “Big Five” publishers, CD has definitely been there. She feels your pain!)
- Perhaps you’ve self-published but… nothing is happening. You want to know how and why — what’s wrong and how to make it right. You want promotional and publicity strategies that lead to outright sales.
- Perhaps publishing isn’t your goal at all; you want to write a legacy-memoir for your family alone, answering, for your children and grandchildren, all the questions you wish you’d asked your mother when she was still alive…and you want guidance.
In all these instances and many more, Crescent could be willing and able to be your faithful Sherpa, and get you to the next level.
Please note: She only mentors two or three people individually, on an ongoing basis, at any given time. These spots tend to fill up well in advance. You might have to get on the waiting list kept by Sally, her assistant ( email her at office@dragonwagon.com; subject line “Clarity Call with Crescent.”)
However, she can usually squeeze in a Clarity Call pretty quickly. For many people, this is enough: one conversation is all it takes.
For others, a single Clarity Call plus being part of one her small-group workshops or courses, such as Tuesdays with Crerscent™ or Fearless Writing™ is what does the trick.
Still others want and need ongoing support. Fore them, the three-month mentoring journey is perfect.
how it works
CD works with individual writers (published and unpublished), and those who want to write, via phone or Zoom. If you and CD do move to ongoing mentoring, sometimes, depending on the project, the two of you exchange emails; and she might give you assignments .
Sometimes the two of you do all these things, and , iofg geographically feasible, meet together face-to-face occasionally or regularly. Very occasionally, one of you might fly to the other or a one-time day-or-two personal intensive.
The key word is “individual.”
We’ll figure out what works best for you, your project, your budget, and our respective schedules.
All requests for mentoring begin with your answering a few questions, on a simple questionnaire. Sometimes merely answering these gives you enough to continue on your own. But in any case, it gives Crescent an idea of the issues on your mind, the better for her to prepare and gather resources for you (even if she feels the fit with her would not be appropriate).
How can one person be able to work with craft, structure, pacing, and creating a compelling read, regardless of genre? When that person has published almost 60 books, done hundreds of magazine articles, essays, reviews and blog posts, had one produced play and a number of shorter performance pieces, working in all in eleven different genres … when that person herself has been mentored by half a dozen of America’s best-known editors, you can count ob excellence and experience.