LJ Mentoring Sale

[dancinghorse]

Feel free to link.

As my (outdated, arrgh, will fix realsoonnow) web page* says, I do writing mentoring with a specialty in R&D--help with plots and all the getting-started stuff--as well as the usual editing and critiquing services. I will unfortunately have to raise rates beginning January 1st, from $35 to $40 an hour, plus a 5% surcharge if you use PayPal. Similar services run $50 an hour and up, so it's still a bargain.

BUT, I have a few openings on the roster, and it's not 2009 yet. So, just for the holidays, for those who mention this post, I'm offering a sale: Four hours of mentoring for the old rate of $35/hour, for a total of $140, to be applied to mentoring after January 1st. Offer expires December 31st. Hours may be used at any time thereafter. This is a great gift for the writer in your family--and a great way for you to finally get that novel started.

Ping me in comments or send email (address is on the website).

*Lipizzan Weekend and Horse Camp are no longer being offered, however I still am offering, for known quantities (i.e. lj friends and writing pros) who ask ever so nicely, a combination of the two concepts: a one- or two-person up to week-long intensive workshop at DHF, combining writing and horses. Basically you live on the farm, participate in farm life, and writelikecrazy. Rates under review, but calculate $50/night for the room, with food and expenses additional. A three-day weekend would come to around $350. We've changed trainers and do not at this point have an assured weekend lesson option, but weekday lessons, including Friday afternoons, may be arranged.

Happy holidays! :)

Comments

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

I vouch for the efficacy of both the mentoring and the writelikecrazy long weekend. Worth its weight, it is.

Oz

[sea-pony.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...

[idiomagic.livejournal.com]

I know it's not your usual bailiwick...but would you consider critiquing poetry? I'm putting together my third volume, and would love your advice simply on which ones to include and which to set on fire. ;)
The working title is Lament for Byzantium...the title poem was directly inspired by reading The Golden Horn, if you'd like to see it.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Wow...spending a week at DHF, writing and doing farm stuff...that's really tempting. I'll have to keep an eye on my finances next year.

It's been far too long since I've been around horses. Far too long.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Having never been around horses-- ("It's all right, Mommy," pipes up my son, "They're just faster than you and strong, that's all.")-- I confess myself tempted by option #2.

Instead, I will resign myself to pinging re: #1.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

OK, email capriole at gmail dot com let's see what we can arrange. (That also works for PayPal.)

Maybe #2 will become an option as #1 progresses. You Need A Vacation!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

They do a body good, don't they?

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Actually I've done a fair bit of poetry for the test-passage gig. It would be fun, and different. Always a good thing. :)

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Thenkyewkindly.

(Oz is why January is a Booked Month for Camp Lipizzan.)

[idiomagic.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it may be months before I have any disposable income, but I will definitely be in touch in the future at whatever prices you have set at that time.

Off topic, and if you'll forgive me for gushing, I want you to know that your work truly changed my life...you gave me a love for history and a love for reading that helped me through a terrible childhood, and consoled me after I lost everything in Katrina in New Orleans.

At the height of the hurricane, as my house collapsed around me, I grabbed my copy of Alamut and ran out into the storm...Through nine days of pure hell trapped, homeless, in the city trying to help people survive, rescuing cats and dogs where I could, well,whenever it got too overwhelming I would dive into the book. The things poor Baldwin had to suffer with and the things he accomplished gave me perspective and hope, and when the situation was truly dire, I would ask myself "What would Morgiana do?" ;) It helped, truly.

I'm living in Austin TX now, trying to rebuild an entire life, and the very first thing I did here was to purchase as many of your books as I could get my hands on.

Thank you, so very much, for all that you have unknowingly done for me and, I'm certain, for many many others.

Lament For Byzantium

[idiomagic.livejournal.com]

Not for critique or anything, but here's the poem your book The Golden Horn obliquely inspired.

Lament for Byzantium

Some names
draw us like beacons:
Marrakesh Araby Egypt.
The greatest was Byzantium,
a jewel in the darkness,
crown of civilization
brought low
by three words in a prayer,
the rivalry of princes.
A waystation
on the road to Jerusalem
became the goal.
Jerusalem was merely holy;
that marvel of cities
on the Golden Horn
was temptation itself,
riches beyond imagining.
But the true wealth was intangible,
slipped through the fingers of the Frankish knights.
Beauty and wisdom and magic
had no place in the hearts of the west,
so they died
in three days of greed.
By vanishing into the dreams
of poets and mystics
they were freed
to live forever.

[vincam.livejournal.com]

Holy moley. If I had the cash, I'd be there. Writing AND horses! I hope you'll do this again sometime. Please, please, please.

[melinda-goodin.livejournal.com]

I can vouch for the mentoring being worth every cent! And will be re-upping. I'll send the email shortly :}

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this and for the beautiful poem. You definitely have talent. I'm glad if anything I did helped you along (though ultimately the strength to survive came from you). It makes this crazy business worthwhile.

Wishing you the best of luck, and a much better new year.