We are a helpful bunch, we writers. There is no ruthless competition as in other artistic professions in which I have dabbled. Actors will try mightily to “psych each other out” in the green room before an audition. I’ve even seen them sabotage each other on the stage during a performance. Directors scramble for the best casting, the most production money, the best theaters. Ad Agencies are a business of competition! Any small business owner will put countless resources toward procuring customers. Some even resort to unscrupulous methods in order to win.
But this is not the case with writers. Our work is intensely intimate, as we privately pursue the story, edit and revise. Once it is public we are no longer in competition. The success of one writer does not diminish the success of another writer. We leap to encourage and aid other writers because we ourselves love writing…and somewhere along the way, another writer may have reached out to us with encouragement and aid.
I will never forget the English teacher, Brenda Wilkolm-Dennison, who gave me the encouragement when I was a middle school student to put pen to paper in earnest. It was because of her I saw my first short play staged. She was followed by others who gave advice, opened doors and encouraged this fledgling writer. At university it was Mary Dalles who became both mentor and friend. And, in the midst of the birthing and raising of my five children I was incredibly blessed with the acquaintance of authors Marshall Cook and Christine DeSmet at the University of Wisconsin. They have become so much more to me than mentor/teachers. They have become my friends.
It is because of, and in honor of them, that I reach out, offering what encouragement, education and advice that I can to writers who may be just beginning and writers who are far more advanced than I.
But this is not the case with writers. Our work is intensely intimate, as we privately pursue the story, edit and revise. Once it is public we are no longer in competition. The success of one writer does not diminish the success of another writer. We leap to encourage and aid other writers because we ourselves love writing…and somewhere along the way, another writer may have reached out to us with encouragement and aid.
I will never forget the English teacher, Brenda Wilkolm-Dennison, who gave me the encouragement when I was a middle school student to put pen to paper in earnest. It was because of her I saw my first short play staged. She was followed by others who gave advice, opened doors and encouraged this fledgling writer. At university it was Mary Dalles who became both mentor and friend. And, in the midst of the birthing and raising of my five children I was incredibly blessed with the acquaintance of authors Marshall Cook and Christine DeSmet at the University of Wisconsin. They have become so much more to me than mentor/teachers. They have become my friends.
It is because of, and in honor of them, that I reach out, offering what encouragement, education and advice that I can to writers who may be just beginning and writers who are far more advanced than I.