Special Projects Help Needed

The Grace Notes Foundation is ambitious. 

And we have more projects and programs in place and ready for action than we have people to execute them.

So there are many positions open and in dire need of dedicated, organized, and passionate partners. Below you'll find a list of such projects and our needs.

GraceWorks Projects 

• Online Workshop Overview: The Grace Notes Foundation already supports Notes & Grace Notes which is a free, informal writing workshop. This site is geared toward building a social support group for aspiring and accomplished writers alike- a place where they can post their work and receive valuable peer feedback. Our editors also periodically read at this forum and make comments on works as well.

However, the GraceWorks Online Workshop is a separate concept geared less toward social support and more in the style of a traditional workshop. This will be a members-only website and members will be charged a small yearly fee. A portion of these fees will be put in a fund for a fellowship program which will also be the result of the workshop and mentoring programs placed under the GraceWorks Project. One writer per year will be chosen from members of the workshop and mentoring program as the recipient of the GraceWorks Fellowship. This writer will receive a cash grant (the amount will be dependent on the size of the fund) and Grace Notes Editors will work with this writer throughout the year on a book-length manuscript (be it poetry, a collection of short stories/essays, a novel or memoir) and at the end of the fellowship year the writer will have the option of accepting or rejecting a publishing offer from Grace Notes Books. All editors and mentors working on the GraceWorks Project will be asked to submit the name(s) of authors they feel may make good candidates for this fellowship and our editors will determine the winner.

The rest of the fees collected for the GraceWorks Workshop will be divided among those involved- administrator, editors, and mentors working on this project.

Being a non-profit, all associates who donate their time to The Grace Notes Foundation will be paid in this manner. We cannot, at this time, guarantee a salary for anyone working on our various projects. We do, however, offer a percentage of the revenue as payment. This means that the success of these projects equals the success of those volunteering time and talent. Though many of our projects are in infancy and are not currently generating much revenue (after costs are covered), we are growing and fully expect that all our associates will be filling paid positions within 12 months. 

Membership will include access to a wealth or writing-related articles; a directory of publishers, their needs, and specific information about the types/styles of works they publish; and, most importantly, members will be able to post to the site once a month (a single short story, a chapter of a novel, or a group of poems) and receive critique and revision suggestions from accomplished writers, editors, and poets.

HELP NEEDED

• ADMINISTRATOR: For The Foundation to get this project off the ground, we need an administrator to build a team of accomplished writers, editors, and poets to provide members with appropriate feedback. Once these are in place and the workshop is open to the public, the administrator will: 

1. Keep track of memberships.
2. Create a database of posts and assign them to appropriate associates (based on genre preference, etc.).
3. Participate in marketing the workshop to the public.
4. Seek out and/or write articles on writing to be posted weekly and added to our library.

This position, while it carries many responsibilities, should only require 15 hours per week maximum once the project is off the ground and moving smoothly. We will expect the administrator to spend an hour a day checking for new memberships and posts, sending notifications to the proper readers, etc. Some days- days when the administrator needs to post new articles etc- may require more time. However, all GN associates work remotely and are therefore able to set their own scedules and work at their own pace.

• EDITORS/AUTHORS/POETS: The GraceWorks Workshop will require a dedicated team (of accomplished authors, editors, and poets) to read members posts and to provide the author with useful feedback to help them improve the piece, utilize their strengths, and spot and then overcome the weaknesses in a posted work. Though these critiques need not be long, they do need to be specific and useful to the author. The authors may take this feedback and revise based on it- in which case the revision can be posted and the team members who gave the original feedback will be asked to review the changes made and make further commentary.

Team members will also be asked to make author recommendations for the GraceWorks Fellowship, given once a year to an outstanding creative writer.  

Our team will be built to accomadate the number of members we have. We would like to start out with no less than 5 team members: 3 in prose who will cover any fiction and nonfiction posts and 2 more to read and review poetry. As our membership grows we will seek further team members appropriately. Each team member should notify our administrator as to how many posts they will be able to read and review each week. Because we cannot yet guage the number of members we may or may not have in the early stages of the workshop, we ask that anyone applying let us know how much free time they can commit to this project. Should the project turn out immediately successful and the number of posts unmanageable for the initial team, Grace Notes Editors will cover the additional positions until they can be filled.

If you are interested in either position, please email   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

MENTORING PROGRAM

•   Overview: Our mentoring program is fairly straightforward. This is a free program enabling young aspiring writers (teens through college students) to find a more experienced writer to mentor them on several levels: 1st to help them to improve their craft, teaching them the basic principles of characterization, plot and story development, language ecomony, and flow. Mentoring young poets would involve teaching rhythm, the use of original language, incorporating imagery, etc. A mentor would also guide their protogee through the submission process; teaching them to research their markets, write a compelling cover letter, and (as we all know) to deal with rejection when it comes. 

MENTORS: The mentoring program will be set up as a database of Mentors and Protogees. Each will have a profile including a bio and sample works posted. A mentor looking for a protogee could then peruse these profiles and seek out a young writer with whom they feel they may be compatible and protogees will also be able to browse available mentors. The system will allow either to request consideration from the other and if both parties agree to begin a mentoring relationship then our work is done. 

We do ask that, once a mentor and protogee have begin their work together, the protogee send periodic reports of their progress to GN administrators. Protogee accomplishments will be posted on our website to celebrate and share their good news.

We will also periodically provide mentors with supporting materials such as: publisher listings that consider works from new writers, creative writing or poetic excercises one might share with their protogee to help strengthen their natural talents, special offers, etc.

If you are interested in registering as a mentor, please email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . When our Mentoring Program Pages are completed, we will notify you and ask you to set up your mentor profile.