MENTORSHIP RECIPIENT

Mentorship Recipient: "On the Corner,
​Tucked Away"

Mentor Commentary:
Laura Walter

On the Revision Process for "On the Corner, Tucked Away"

by ​​Ariél Martinez

Working with Laura on “On the Corner, Tucked Away” was an extremely positive experience, and one that I would enthusiastically recommend. After receiving word that Laura was interested in publishing my essay and that I had been chosen to be the recipient of the editorial mentorship, I was thrilled. This is my first piece of published work, and I entered this process unsure of what to expect. In our initial correspondence, Laura described some of the changes that she wanted to make, which was mostly cutting out an out of place section and some smaller line edits. I appreciated her candor and that she took the time to sketch out what she was envisioning for the piece in that first email. I hadn’t worked with an editor in this context before, and found all of her suggestions to be extremely helpful and clear. I felt very supported and heard during our back and forth, which is what I hoped would be the dynamic would be!

It really is invaluable to have someone making clear, precise comments and being enthusiastic about your work. It was equally fascinating for me to see what areas of my essay lacked clarity, as it was seeing what resonated with Laura. It was very motivating and encouraging for me to be reminded that there was sometimes someone at the other end of this process! Writing itself can be so solitary. I am extremely humbled and grateful that Laura chose to give this weird essay about uprooting a home a digital home in Gordon Square Review! I’m very excited for it to live outside of my brain (and my Google Drive).
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Ariél Martinez

Ariél M. Martinez is a queer femme writer from San Antonio, Texas. She has a B.A. from Bard College in social sciences with a minor in gender & sexuality studies. She is currently an MFA candidate at Bennington College, where she is studying creative nonfiction. Ariél lives in Brooklyn with her dog, Frida. Find her on Twitter and Instagram at @arielmtnz.