I've heard from a few people who are interested in the mentorships I'm offering to five people this fall, but for whom the price is too steep. (People generally acknowledge that the cost is a reasonable one, but the fact is, times are tough all over.)

Then yesterday, this cool thing happened. First I learned of it was when I received an email from a couple of colleagues. They said that they'd read on Boingboing about the mentorships I'm offering, and that they wanted to donate some money to the enterprise. That came entirely out of the blue, so I had a read of the post that my friend and fellow writer/cool shit geek Cory Doctorow had made on the Boingboing site. (Thanks, Cory!) Cory, bless him, says:

It's basically an audience-funded writer-in-residency; I benefited immensely from writers in residence, especially Judith Merril. This model looks good, but it'd be even better if some charitable foundation would give Nalo and a few other writers rotating grants to do this. I'd certainly kick in $500 towards a scholarship fund for a budding writer to get the kind of instruction I got, as part of paying it forward.

Nalo is a wonderful writer: accomplished, smart, wildly imaginative. This is a hell of an opportunity.

While I was still doing the happy dance, the first scholarship money arrived. And this even though I can't give charitable receipts! I still have to figure out how exactly I'm going to implement scholarships, but it does mean that at least one of the five people with whom I choose to work this fall will be able to have a reduction of the fee for the mentorship. I'm so stoked!

If you happen to be similarly placed to help offset the cost of a mentorship for an emerging writer, by all means, contact me. And my profound thanks and gratitude to the two initial donors who've so tangibly expressed their faith in what I do. I feel pretty blessed today.

SCHOLARSHIP DONORS

My profound thanks to the following people whose donations enabled writers who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford it to take part in the mentorships:

Cory Doctorow

Jed Hartman

Diane Martin

David Shaw