Writers need to take the journeys we create.

We grow in stories.
Hello! I’m Janet Benton, a novelist who helps writers create and hone powerful stories.
    How I can help:
  • Private Mentoring
  • Tiny Workshops
  • Publication Guidance and Support
The big and small points of craft are best passed from one writer to another, in rich discussions that arise from careful reading of work. Expert guidance in regular meetings can make the difference between a dream and its completion. Through close attention, writing grows.
"Janet’s skillful guidance and feedback have in large part made possible my career as a writer." — PAM JENOFF, AUTHOR OF 13 NOVELS, MANY OF THEM INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERS
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JOIN ME IN FRANCE!

"Your Book as a Journey"

Six days in the gorgeous Alpine town of Chamonix, France, in June 2026. Profound instruction in a stunning locale! "Janet is a consummate teacher--deeply knowledgeable, remarkably perceptive, and unfailingly warm and encouraging."

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Client Testimonials

"You did a dynamite job. Your work is pushing me where I need to go. The agent said it was fantastic and a fantastic revision."— Larry Kane, former KYW news anchor, news analyst, and author of three published books, including Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles’ 1964 Tour that Changed the World
"Janet is a miracle worker. She’s teaching me about writing and editing and cheering me on through the whole process."— Rebecca Matthias, author of Motherswork: How a Young Mother Started a Business on a Shoestring and Built It into Multi-Million Dollar Company and author of two self-published novels
"Your changes really make the writing sparkle--making it more like music--taking it up another octave."— Alex Jack, author of dozens of published books, publisher, and ghostwriter for The Mozart Effect, which spawned an industry
DEBUT NOVEL

Lilli de Jong

PHILADELPHIA, 1883. Young Lilli de Jong is pregnant and alone—abandoned by her lover and banished from her Quaker home. Unwed mothers in 1883 face staggering prejudice, yet Lilli refuses to give up her daughter. She records her ongoing quest to survive in her diary, taking readers from a charity for unwed mothers to her position as a wet nurse and onto the streets of a burgeoning city. Kirkus Reviews called the novel a “monumental accomplishment.”

LILLI DE JONG was one of LIBRARY JOURNAL’s and NPR’s Best Books 2017 and a semifinalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards, along with other honors.

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Latest News

Featured
When We Make Art, the Ways We Love the World Are Not Wasted
When We Make Art, the Ways We Love the World Are Not Wasted

There is a true intimacy that can occur between a person who writes and a person who reads, a kind of mind meld, when the writer has done a good enough job to enable the reader to dream a version of the dream the writer has created in her own mind and put on the page.

What Makes a Story "Big" or "Small"?
What Makes a Story "Big" or "Small"?
What's a Small Story?
What's a Small Story?