The 2017 Girls Write Now April CHAPTERS Reading, hosted by Pen+Brush was a completely sold out event! With an audience of 150, keynote speaker Emma Cline shared her experiences of writing the New York Times Bestseller The Girls and mentees and mentors performed a variety of amazing pieces. Mentee-mentor emcee pair, Laura Rose and Kathleen write about the…
Speechwriting: You Can’t Be in It for the Glory
This blog post was written by Bec Susan Gill, Girls Write Now Mentor, on the Writing & Mentoring Program April workshop on speechwriting. Our pairs heard from Jamie Serlin, a speechwriter at the firm West Wing Writers and Kate Blumm, Chief Speechwriter for Mayor de Blasio. Getting to work with inspiring leaders and craft their thoughts into…
Challenges & Rewards in Persona Poetry: A Mentee-Mentor Perspective
This post was co-written by a mentee-mentor pair in the Writing & Mentoring Program, Cindy Chu and Iris Cushing. It covers the persona poetry genre workshop on Saturday, March 7th 2015. A Mentee’s Perspective: Cindy Chu On Saturday March 7, 2015, Girls Write Now welcomed PM Craft Talk speaker Vanessa Jimenez Gabb, who discussed the…
The Multi-Faceted, Slightly Amorphous Nature of Mentorship
This post was written by Shara Zaval, a mentor in the Writing and Mentoring Program. My friends and I often joke about Americans’ obsession with labeling ourselves…there’s a new Buzzfeed quiz every day that tells you which breed of dog you are and which era of clothes best fits your personality, and I personally view…
My Voice Matters: Headed to Columbia on a Full Ride!
This post was written by Corrine Civil, mentee and Robin Marantz Henig, her mentor. Each time I attend a workshop at Girls Write Now, I am greeted with a bagel and an amazing experience, like finding out I can write slam poetry or a memoir about pranks my uncle played on me in 2006. Being…
“Citizen Media”: Tackling the Personal Statement (with a little help from Lauryn Hill)
This post was written by Megan Turner, a mentor in our Digital Media Mentoring Program. The changing leaves and darkening skies not only mark the beginning of fall but also the start of the college application process—and with that, the dreaded personal statement. This October at the New School, college bound juniors and seniors, as…
From a Mentor’s Perspective: On Gratitude, Partnerships, and Finding the Right Path
This blog post was written by Annie Reuter, a mentor in our Digital Media Mentoring Program, who attended our 2014 mentor training. Girls Write Now is a program I’ve been searching for all my life and finally found in my mid-20s. I never had a mentor growing up that paved the way for me and…
May CHAPTERS Recap: Mentee Briana Marini reflects on the Girls Write Now experience
This post was written by Mentee Briana Marini It’s hard to say that everything in a year long program comes down to one moment, but it kind of does: CHAPTERS. From the beginning at Girls Write Now, we’re told about the reading when we’ll get to stand on stage at Scholastic in Manhattan and share…
Adapting for the Screen
This post was written by Tana Tymesen, a mentor in the Digital Media Mentoring Program, who participated in the Visual Narratives Screenwriting Dorkshop. Writing dialogue is a tricky endeavor. It follows, then, that adapting a narrative scene into one that is mostly dialogue can be overwhelming. The Visual Narratives Screenwriting Dorkshop served as both a…
Mentoring in the Digital Age
This post was written by Alice Pencavel, a mentor in our Digital Media Mentoring Program, who attended our Mentor Training II Workshop on Saturday, January 25. One of the most difficult aspects of writing (certainly for me) is patience. Bombarded with digital distractions, the youth of today are often criticized for their lack of focus,…