Thursday, November 21, 2019

To be, or not to be, a mentor.


Are you:
  1. working your way through NaNoWriMo and your first book
  2. querying or researching the indie track
  3. have a book or two out in the world, ready to create the next one
  4. been in publishing long enough you feel confident in the ins and outs

For the A’s - I’ve got loads of encouragement, and a slew of cheesy quotes if you’re interested. 
For the B’s - I’ve got encouragement and some tips on where to find information. 
For the C’s - I’ve got encouragement and a pretty good set of reader’s eyes. For the D’s - I’ve got encouragement, and a few questions. 

When I started writing, I believed it was a solo expedition, but then I realized that I wasn’t an astronaut. Lone wolf is the term more frequently used, but wolves operate in packs because the strength is in the pack. And that’s true of authors as well.

That understanding changed the game for me. Instead of being alone in a void, I found a writing community filled with people as clueless as I was, only the members were at all levels of their careers. Even when I didn’t think I could contribute I found people coming along behind me looking for suggestions on things I’d just done or gone through, and my voracious reading matched up with others needing a fresh set of eyes on their work.


No matter which letter you picked, you’ve got something to offer. Did you notice I listed encouragement with each one? That’s because everyone, no matter their level of achievements, has bad days, rejections, doubt, and thousands of other life challenges. So join in, even if it’s to offer a smile. Because if we’re all out there together, we may as well be having fun.