Mentoring with Julia Bird
Explore Julia Bird’s mentoring offer, aimed at developing your creative practice and providing industry support.
Seek expert advice, tackle creative blockages and prepare your manuscript for publication
Looking for advice? Need feedback on your writing? Writers of all kinds often face challenges, from finding the time to write and tackling creative blockages to preparing manuscripts for publication. This is why NCW offers flexible mentoring packages through which writers can work one-to-one with an experienced mentor to overcome all kinds of obstacles.
Julia’s areas of expertise: developing your creative practice, industry support, poetry
Julia is excited to work with writers who are ready to find their audiences and their income. She is uniquely well placed to help you explore various routes to publication, develop individual performance skills and create events or shows to further your creative pursuits. With a background in live literature, Julia has primarily worked with poets, however she is happy to advise any writer seeking support for the next steps of their career. You can discuss the various avenues for income, including residencies, collaboration with other artists, teaching and workshopping skills. Julia will also work with you to demystify funding options and construct funding applications.
If you are looking for mentorship with a focus on improving your creative writing, please visit our other mentoring profiles.
Mentoring works best as a sustained relationship over a period of time. You can book a single session with Julia, or multiple sessions. Book three or more sessions in one transaction with the same mentor and receive a 10% discount. This discount will be automatically applied to your basket.
Can’t see a time that works for you?
Julia is happy to arrange sessions that slot into your schedule, whether that’s around office hours, the school run or day to day commitments. Get in touch and let us know when works for you. We recommend booking a few weeks in advance, so please include a couple of suggested days or times that fit into your diary.
How it works
For each session, at least one week before, you will email Julia an outline of the project you have in mind, whether that’s publishing a manuscript, developing a show or pursuing another poetry-related creative or career goal. The outline can be up to 1000 words. You may also send a sample of any creative writing that links to your project, up to 2000 words or 200 lines of poetry.
Even if you’re stuck and don’t know which way to go next, Julia can help you release and realise your goals. During your one-hour session, you will discuss your ideas and collaborate on a next-steps plan. If you would prefer some sustained mentoring across the life of a complex project or a DYCP (Develop Your Creative Practice) application, we would recommend two or more sessions.
Hear from Julia on her mentoring offer:
Ready to book?
Single or introductory mentoring session
£95 for one, one-hour session
Trying mentoring for the first time? Seeking help for a particular challenge? Book a single, hour-long session with one of our experienced mentors and receive in-depth advice on taking your writing forward.
Single mentoring sessions are great if:
- You are new to mentoring and would like a taster of what the relationship can offer;
- You would like an introduction to your chosen mentor before embarking on a sustained period of support;
- You have a particular challenge or area of advice you would like to address.
Book your one-off session from the available dates on this page.
If your one-off mentoring session is a success, we recommend booking our ‘Aspire: mentoring package’ of three sessions or more.
Aspire: mentoring package (three session minimum)
From £285 (save 10% when booking three sessions or more)
Dedicate time to improving your craft and overcoming obstacles in your writing life with a bespoke package of support from an experienced writer mentor.
Develop a long-term, professional relationship with your mentor and together you can refine your manuscript, work on a funding application or implement an action plan to improve your creative practice — whatever it is that will help you to achieve your writing goals.
A mentoring package of three sessions minimum or more is great for writers who:
- Have drafted a manuscript and would like feedback and suggestions for improvement;
- Are ready to publish their work and would like advice on how to pitch to agents or find a publisher;
- Are at the early stages of a piece of work, or perhaps aren’t working on a particular project, and would like regular guidance and feedback on how to improve elements of their craft;
- Want to apply for funding, development opportunities, or find ways to create new avenues for income as a writer.
Your mentoring sessions will be tailored to your individual needs, so you can bring any creative challenges to the table.
Book three or more sessions in one transaction with the same mentor and receive a 10% discount on your total purchase. This discount will be automatically applied to your basket.
What others have said
‘I booked a session with Julia to discuss a complex funding bid I was putting together for my literary magazine platform. I am from a working class background and to say that navigating funding bids doesn’t come easily to me would be a gross understatement. Despite having some small successes in the past, I was struggling with finding the correct terminology to use and how to explain, in so few characters, what the bid would achieve. Julia’s advice was crucial in helping me not only with this bid, but with future bids. She is patient (I had a lot of what I thought were embarrassingly obvious questions) and professional and I came away with the confidence to bid and bid again in the future. I cannot recommend her highly enough.’ – Wendy Pratt, author, founder and editor of Spelt magazine
Julia Bird
Julia Bird is a highly experienced poetry programmer who has worked for organisations including the Poetry School and The Poetry Society. As a freelancer, she’s worked for literary development agencies, festivals, publishers and magazines, and in arts, university and healthcare settings. Through her company Jaybird Live Literature she has produced eight Arts Council England-funded touring poetry shows; and she is the author or co-author of six poetry collections.
