News: The Gift of Mentorship

In early August, I received the exciting news that my manuscript was selected by author Sylvia Liu (Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation, Manatee’s Best Friend) for the newly launched Inked Voices Fall 2023 MG Mentorship. Sylvia shared that she was really excited to work together on my manuscript: “I fell in love with your main character, story, and environmental themes.”

Over the course of about two months, Sylvia provided developmental edit level notes and we met several times to discuss the direction of a revision plan. Almost all of her notes really resonated with me, and I think my ability to be open to changes was in part thanks to the time away from the manuscript over the preceding months. Some distance is so helpful!

After revision, I had combined a few chapters to tighten up the first third of the manuscript, which trimmed the word count nicely. I also boosted conflict where there had been a great opportunity to do so — something I might have missed without another pair of experienced eyes.

I am eternally grateful to Sylvia for taking the time out of her busy schedule to read my manuscript and provide wonderful insight on the story, themes, character arc and how it all works together. I am also super grateful to the wonderful people at Inked Voices (shout out to Emily and Brooke especially!) for making this mentorship experience available to emerging writers. Mentorship is a wonderful gift of time and insight, and I hope to pay it forward someday.