Veterans Writing Project Relaunches Mentor Network

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Tyler Smith evaluates the shooting score of a German soldier
at Kunduz province in Afghanistan, July 12, 2013, while conducting operations
in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Photo by Army 1st Lt. Charles Morgan

The Washington, D.C.-based non-profit Veterans Writing Project has recently relaunched a mentorship program aimed at helping military service members, veterans, and family members take their larger writing projects to the next level.

Organizers say the program has previously assisted writers of novels, memoirs, plays, and poetry chapbooks—concrete projects with discrete timelines—using an informal network of fellow writers.

According to the VWP mentorship program webpage:

It works like this: Someone who needs help with a project approaches us with a proposal (simply an explanation of the project and the issues the writer wants to work through). We go through our list of volunteer mentors looking for someone with the correct skill and experience set to take the project on. We connect the two people. Between themselves, they create an informal contract (one full set of edits, two back-and-forths of a manuscript, whatever the two agree on). Once this is complete the two can walk away or continue as they wish.

Coordinator for the VWP mentorship program is Peter Molin, a retired Army officer and former instructor of English at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.. He regularly writes about military-themed literature and culture at his blog, Time Now.

In addition to the mentor program, Veterans Writing Project supports military veterans' and family members' creative expressions through writing through writing seminars, curriculum, and the literary journal "O-Dark-Thirty." The organization also actively participates in and advocates for research into writing practice as a therapeutic intervention.