Environmental Journalism Mentorship

When I arrived in Campeche, I came to Jon as a published journalist with a proven ability to string words together for an audience. But writing for myself, to communicate bigger ideas, remained excruciating. The stories I wrote fell short of their potential and I struggled to find a process that compelled me to write better.

One afternoon, with all thirty pages of my drafting, splayed out in front of us, Jon began to teach me to be my own editor. I learned to take space from my writing and read it more critically. Together, Jon and I would review each sentence I wrote for not just its word choice and grammar but for its cadence and tone–the features that make some writing sing where others drone on. Jon taught me that we write, not in service of our idea but in service of the piece itself. That I must listen to the direction of the piece as much as I define it.

In a world where writing is so often taught as a science, with its grammar laws and formulaic sentence structures, I believe there is no place better for the budding writer to hone your craft than a few weeks in a small Mexican city under the guidance of Jon and Ninth Wave.

I had already tried to work in journalism prior to this placement, but it was a thankless task, with no-one offering practical and useful guidance, and I kept getting knockbacks (or just ignored), so I thought I would give things one more try through Ninth Wave, through the recommendation of a friend. And - honestly - it was like the fog lifted. Everything suddenly made sense. The team of professional journalists were there to guide me personally thtough everything, and not only did my writing improve immeasureably in a short time, but their guidance in how to connect with editors and magazines means that I now have a number of published articles to my name and know exactly what I need to do to keep the momentum going. I couldn't recommend this program more highly.

Ninth Wave’s Environmental Journalism program brought values and ethics into the heart of an industry which I had always struggled with, as well as giving me all the tools and practical support I needed to get writing for magazines whilst at the same time not feeling that I had to compromise my values.

The personalized program guides you right through from inception of articles, through to writing and editing, and how to successfully reach out to editors and magazines, and not only get responses, but successful commissions. The team support is led by professionals who are also deeply human and engaged and energized by helping you really take things forward. I couldn’t recommend this program enough if I tried/