Empowerment Through Writing
Writers Can Mentor Others and Elevate Their Own Work
- Be a Writing Guru and Benefit Yourself as Well
Photo by Hannah Grace on Unsplash
Writers. Sooner or later, you publish something somewhere, and as a result, your Great Aunt Mimi is going to brag on you, or someone is going to actually see what you’ve written, and because of that, someone else is going to ask you for help. And it happens at any and all stages of your career. Early on, or much later, you may not feel like “the famous writer,” but as you move forward and successes large and small come your way, you will have information you can share. And share you should.
This can be a bit challenging at times, after all, you have only so much time, and there’s your own writing to attend to, but nonetheless, hear me out. All you need to help another aspiring, struggling writer is a bit of your time, some patience, and experience, whether a little or a lot.
Generally us writers are a pretty helpful lot. I’ve had my share of help and guidance along the way, and still won’t hesitate to ask a question of someone who may have more experience in an area than I do. So, don’t hesitate to share your knowledge from whatever perspective you occupy.
Here’s why. In helping someone else, you will definitely benefit yourself as well. As you explain some aspect of the business to a new writer, perhaps whipping out your copy of Writer’s Market to help him or her find a market or explaining what some of the ‘lingo’ in the biz really means, your self-confidence will grow. You will realize that you have learned, and therefore know, much more than you thought you did. And, if you’ve dipped your toe into various venues of writing, fiction, non-fiction, screenwriting, blogging, etc., you have even more knowledge. Beyond that, you may have done some Indy self-publishing and have skills and experience in that area.
Mentor and student is a wonderful relationship. As you impart information learned through your experience, you’ll begin to focus once more on the positive of your field as opposed to the negative (which we deal so much with in rejections and perhaps bad reviews).
You’ll be able to tell your ‘student’, honestly and with the conviction of past work and experience, that anything you write, published or not, messed up or prime Indy published makes you a better writer and provides the tools to become an even better one in the future.
Photo by Jonathan Petersson on Unsplash
Getting traditionally published is a crap shoot. In the end, that‘s the simple truth. But everything we write makes us that much better and steers us toward that goal. It can also make us choose Indie publishing for our fiction or create articles for sites like Substack or others.
Plainly, we all have work to do, and there are limits to the time we can dedicate to another (beware the knowledge-seeker who doesn’t just want some advice but would like to stick to you like a remora), but if you set boundaries, it is time well spent. It is a relationship that helps both learn and creates great friendships.
So, help that knowledge-seeker as best you can, and perhaps along the way in helping that person seek markets, you’ll discover new ones of your own. As the student strives toward publication, perhaps you’ll find a new home for reprints of your work. Besides, lending a hand to a new writer is a kick and ups the adrenaline. What a trip to impart a few ‘pearls’ from your accumulated wisdom and later have that person come back and say, “I’m published!” And a delight to be told, “Your information on the details of Indy Publishing really got me going.”
So, in conclusion, I hope you are as generous with your time as you can be while setting boundaries as to how much you can actually do. Again, you do have your writing to attend to. Oh, and don’t forget to watch out for the rare bird who wants not only advice but to swallow you whole. (see boundaries above.) There aren’t a lot of them, but some are really skilled in the art of manipulation and guilting.
*If you’d like to read a bit of my writing, my award-winning short story Skykicker is available on Medium - free to read.
Give a writer a boost and maybe helpfully -
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Want to learn from me? Check out Romancing Your Novel, my UDMY romance writing course.
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