My inaugural blog, here goes … Jay and I met up just before Christmas to say a first proper hello and discuss the mentoring process. As a book editor, I often don’t meet authors before editing their work, which means that knowing how much editing is expected or will be welcome can be tricky. So this was a great way to kick things off. My brief from Jay is the more critique the better, so I’ll be wielding the red pen with enthusiasm!

As it happened, I had just come back from Yorkshire where I’d been planting strawberries and raspberries in my dad’s allotment. Jay and I talked about plants, and nature, and writing about nature and the natural environment. I read recently, for example, a brilliant book called The Morville Hours by Catherine Swift, which might be described as a diary of a garden, as well as personal memoir, history, and lots more besides.

After Jay and I have talked about her freewrite I’ll post another blog about what we’re discussing. So more soon …

Katherine