Priscilla Long

Suitable for both beginning and advanced writers of fiction and nonfiction, The Writer's Portable Mentor: A Guide to Art, Craft, and the Writing Life distills 20 years of teaching and creative thought. The Writer's Portable Mentor helps writers comprehend and incorporate the everyday practices of virtuoso creators; provides a guide to structuring pieces or entire books whether creative nonfiction, journalism, or fiction; opens the door to the sentence strategies of the masters; provides tools for developing a poet's ear for use in prose; trains writers in the observation skills of visual artists; and guides writers toward more effective approaches to getting their work into the world.

A well-organized and immensely helpful guide for writers at all levels to jump-start their creativity, refine their work, and approach the realm of virtuosos." -- Shelf Awareness

"The Writer's Portable Mentor should be required reading for any working writer."
—Scott Driscoll, Teacher and award-winning Seattle journalist.

"I think The Writer's Portable Mentor is the best writing instruction I have used, and I have a bookcase full of how-to-write books." -- Suzan Huney, Writer

"I believe Priscilla Long’s clear and patient mentoring will encourage you in your writing, helping you figure out what already shines and how to make the rest shine brightly, too."
—Sheila Bender, author of Writing and Publishing Personal Essays and A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief

"Priscilla Long distills twenty years of teaching and creative thought into these pages. The Writer's Portable Mentor should be in every writer’s backpack to read, underline, and share with delight."
—Laura Kalpakian, novelist, memoirist.

"I especially like the author's emphasis on craft, on developing good work habits, and mastering the fundamentals of prose structure." —Ralph Keyes, author of The Courage to Write and The Writer's Book of Hope.

Priscilla Long is one of the most brilliant teachers of writing I've ever studied with (and I've been taking and teaching writing classes for over 25 years). Priscilla has developed a unique and powerful process that encourages her students to grow as writers. She explains complicated techniques in clear language, and illustrates her points with gems of great writing, collected over a lifetime of ardent reading. Finally, she sets an example, through her own work, of the dedication necessary to succeed as a writer. When I first read out loud the essay I wrote in her class, my audience gasped with amazement (yes, it was that good). —Waverly Fitzgerald, novelist (Saint John's Wood and Mayfair as Nancy Fitzgerald) and author of nonfictions (Slow Time: Recovering the Natural Rhythms of Life).