Mentoring at BPA: Behind-the-Scenes

Last week, Sara Sarre, BPA founder, had a fabulous time with her mentee, Jeffrey Lee from Texas. They’ve been working together for a couple of years, and despite the distance, they’ve managed to meet up twice. Last week it was Sara’s turn to play host and show her American mentee some London sights, followed by a rooftop supper at the OXO Tower restaurant. They discussed the latest plot challenges over a glass or two of bourbon and had a major breakthrough!

That breakthrough didn't happen by chance however – it was the result of months of mentoring, of back-and-forth, conversations and rewrites.

If you lead a busy life, then mentoring is a great way to develop a novel. Not only does it create a reassuring structure, nudging you gently to work on a number of words per month of your choice, but it means an experienced editor is there with you every step of the way to guide you in the right direction while helping you learn and strengthen craft technique as you go.

At BPA we’ve always believed in the importance of a personal service, but when it comes to mentoring we take this aspect of our ethos one step further.

Thank you so much to Jeffrey for his parting gift: a cowboy boot filled with blue pencils!

This thoughtful gesture is a wonderful symbol of the creative partnership that grows through mentoring – mentor and mentee hand-in-hand.

Moments like these are exactly what make us proud of what we do.

If you're interested in learning more about mentoring, then you can find more details here, or you can email us directly for more information.