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After writing Why Have a Grant Writing Mentor, Part 1, and reminiscing on how helpful my mentor was for me, I got to thinking that so many of the people asking me questions over the blog or via e-mail or Twitter are in the same boat I was when I wrote my first grant: inexperienced, confused and overwhelmed.

In fact, aspiring grant writers, some of whom have come to work for us at ERC, have asked me if they should take a grant writing class or attend a seminar. A class or seminar might seem like a good option. Here’s what I have to say about grant writing classes and seminars.

You could take a university course, but:

--You’ll waste too much time. You’ll do a lot of seat time and meaningless homework assignments spread out over an entire semester. 

--You may not get to learn from a working grant writing professional. The professor may have limited real world, competitive grant writing experience.

--You probably won’t even write a real grant proposal. Despite all the time you spend in the classroom, chances are you won’t get to write and submit a real grant to a real funding agency (for real money).

While there are many good grant writing seminars out there, here are potential problems with attending them:

--Most seminars go by too fast. They last anywhere from 1 to 5 days. In that amount of time, you won’t be able to get experience writing a grant while getting individual feedback.

--You’ll likely suffer from information overload, and leave overwhelmed with an avalanche of new information in a short period of time.

--It’s hard to learn in a crowd. Many major grant writing seminars are attended by a hundred people or more, which makes it hard to get the personal attention you need or get your questions answered.

I always tell those aspiring grant writers who have come to work for us at ERC not to attend a class or seminar until I or someone on our staff has a chance to mentor them first. The best way to learn grant writing is hands-on with a mentor. However, many grant writers may not have a seasoned mentor to guide them on their path. This inspired me to “create” This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Q&A at Smart Grant Writing as a way to be a pseudo-mentor to you.

The Novice Grant Writer is an amalgam of those from the various walks of life who have questions about writing a grant: someone just starting out as a grant writer, someone within an organization that wears many hats and must also write grants, or perhaps a student interested in learning more about grant writing.

The Novice Grant Writer is you. The Novice Grant Writer is someone who is going through the grant writing process and is dealing with the various issues that come up, from identifying and laying out needs, to calculating indirect costs in a budget.

The Novice Grant Writer is your platform to ask questions and get answers about grant writing. Your questions will be answered directly by Smart Grant Writing on this blog (and perhaps via e-mail if you need more in-depth help). This way, if you do not have the benefits of an experienced and successful mentor right in your own backyard, you have one at the click of a mouse.

Questions from the Novice Grant Writer will be posted regularly on the blog with responses from Smart Grant Writing. Submit your questions for Smart Grant Writing on behalf of the Novice Grant Writer This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . A Novice Grant Writer page is coming soon! E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it now!