There’s no getting around it: to write you have to put in the hours. But not only does that time yield pages that will become short or book-length works, it’s also valuable for building a strong foundation of self as a writer and for establishing your approach and practice to your art and craft.
Yet too much of a good thing is … not that great. Most writers wouldn’t thrive on remaining entirely alone. Soldiering on by yourself and having to manage all the emotional and logistical elements of writing and publishing after a while becomes overwhelming and even dispiriting. Even Henry David Thoreau who retreating to a tiny cabin in the woods to write kept up avid correspondence with his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson and others as well as entertained visitors during that time.
But it’s not only that writers need other writers; it’s that writers need to find in a mentor the specific collaboration, resources, solace, inspiration, and encouragement to enhance the work they do and help bring about the greatest impact on your esteem and ability to produce strong work.
Ask any seasoned writer what keeps them afloat through the myriad ups and downs that come along with being a writer, and they will invariably credit their relationship with their mentor for not only providing them with (sometimes life-giving) emotional and practical support but for enabling them to operate at their peak.
This is evidenced in the ubiquitous “thank yous” found on the Acknowledgements page of nearly every published book. Chief among those folks the authors thank are the mentors whose steady presence and support bolstered the writer throughout the project, helping make the writing and the book possible.
(It never gets old when our authors thank us at One Lit Place for our mentorship- such a delight to see their work in print!)
Successful professional authors know that the tortured artist toiling away alone myth is not one that helps a person publish or achieve any kind of success.
Working with a writing mentor who helps you navigate your writing through a mixture of emotional support, encouragement, and clear constructive critique; who acknowledges your trials but doesn’t let you falter because of them; and who holds on your behalf an unwavering belief that you can achieve all your goals is the best relationship you could ever find yourself in.
Whether it’s a professional writing coach and editor or an emotionally adept and editorially savvy senior writer you come to consider a mentor, that connection will always lift you when you’re down, ensure you have the emotional and physical necessities to realize your ideas, and encourage you to feel challenged and guided in turns to get your work out into the world and published.
The greatest impact on your writing that comes from spending your non-writing time with a mentor is most noticeable when you’re in the chair, alone with your words. In this quiet space you are most able to notice how your approach to your craft and how you sculpt and shape your ideas are better, brighter, more pragmatic, and more joyful: qualities that reinforce for you how the whole enterprise of writing and being a writer is exactly where you should be.
It’s all about striking that balance between writing alone and working with a mentor to see the greatest impact on your writing.
All good writing comes out of aloneness.
To develop a strong foundation so you get to know who you are as a writer, what you value, and how you wish to articulate your ideas and in what format, you must spend time alone with your writing. No amount of outside influence from talking with peer writers or friends, taking writing classes, or collaborating with a mentor will give you the solidity of selfhood you will get from spending time by yourself engaged in the act of writing.
Coming to know your own mind, developing your writing style and approach, and identifying your priorities for what you want to see happen with your work can only happen in a community of one. Writing alone affords you the opportunity to build this foundation, which will serve you over the course of your writing career.
As Matthew Bowker, a psychoanalytic political theorist at Medaille College, notes:
[Productive solitude] might take a little bit of work before it turns into a pleasant experience. But once it does it becomes maybe the most important relationship anybody ever has, the relationship you have with yourself.
The confidence borne of this awareness leaves a positive effect on your work. With stronger clarity of mind, you know which genres and writing formats are a good fit for your creative ideas, develop a greater acumen for self-editing, know when you’re being soft on yourself and when to push harder; and gain a feel for how your sentences should look and sound. There’s magic in honoring this personal development, and it ensures you will stay true to your vision.
Bringing on a mentor at any stage of your practice to help you achieve the best writing makes for a perfect balance and greatly impacts your approach and output. A writing mentor will hold you accountable so you create and fulfill a consistent writing practice, show you new strategies, help reroute bad habits and capitalize on good ones, motivate and inspire, and provide guidance, resources, and editorial feedback to help you learn and improve your craft.
One of the most wonderful outcomes of having a mentor is feeling connected to another person who you know has your back and makes you feel not only normal but treasured and special in a world that isn’t always as supportive of its creatives. This is particularly beneficial for those writers who don’t have the built-in support of family or friends- requisite for feeling safe and valued enough to produce in-depth, emotionally connected writing.
Often, writers will join a writing group or workshop to enjoy the camaraderie and support. Many writers have credited their writing groups for being their beacon and inspiration (Poet Molly Peacock writes about hers in her excellent book How to Read Poetry and Start a Poetry Circle).
The benefit of finding the right group is built-in shared interests and an unspoken respect for the work you do.
Leaning on them for the specific support you would get from a mentor, however, can backfire. When those in the group, often of heterogeneous backgrounds and intentions, offer ideas or editorial feedback on a writer’s work, their advice and suggestions may range from insightful and well-meaning to self-serving and off-point. Further, the sheer volume of feedback along with the differing expectations from each person offering it work against a writer looking to revise their manuscripts with cohesion and clarity.
The temptation (whether conscious or unconscious) to “answer” or resolve all the issues flagged by the peers in the manuscript is strong in a group setting. Attempting to implement the suggestions can cause the writer to feel overwhelmed and frustrated, turn their manuscript into a mosaic of others’ voices and styles, and their foundation (and sense of purpose) can take a hit or even crumble.
That foundation made up of you finding and nurturing your voice, values, and essential drive to tell stories and share ideas is your most valuable currency. All writers are working within the same confines of the human experience, but what distinguishes one writer from another is how you bring yourself to your work and through what lens you see the world.
Unlike with a workshop or writing group where the disparate advice and suggestions can cause patchwork writing and a frustrated writer, a seasoned mentor will take a writer’s unique foundation as fact and help nurture their natural voice and interests to help them further their work and writing practice with consistency and a clear vision.
Whether your foundation is still in its early stages or is more fully developed, a mentor will find ways to help you improve on it and strengthen it and yourself along the way.
One of the reasons writers are attracted to MFA programs or join writing workshops is to work with a specific advisor. There is a myth perpetuated in TV shows and movies that a writer will be taken under the wing of a mentor in these environments, someone who will see this writer’s talent and vision and then help shape and mould them for stardom.
In real life, however, most MFA advisors don’t have the capacity to do more than meet with their students a few times a semester, leaving students feeling adrift as they crave that solid force to motivate them and light their way.
"One of my best days was the day I realized there were people out there who understood me."
~ Marissa Sharpley, “The Importance of Literary Community.”
Seeking out a mentor outside of academic circles is largely more successful because then you’re not beholden to administrative confines. Once you find a companionable person with whom you feel safe and inspired, you can then enjoy a true collaboration in the ways that will be most productive and beneficial, and without any emotional or logistical holds on how they can or will be willing to support you.
✶ Getting a combination of instruction, insights, and higher-level guidance ensures you’re continuously being challenged in your craft and learning new ways of bringing yourself to your work.
✶ Being held accountable and knowing someone’s eyes are on you even when you and your mentor aren’t together helps you step it up when you’d rather slack off.
✶ Knowing you have someone who can read your work and help you improve it*, work with you to make it more dynamic, more engaging, and meet the requirements of publication is a huge comfort.
*Some mentors are exclusively writing coaches, but it’s optimal that you find one who is both writing coach and editor, like our fantastic team at One Lit Place. This dual role enables them to seamlessly move from supporting you through starting and maintaining a healthy and productive writing practice to supporting your work by conducting manuscript evaluations, developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading.
Having a mentor with editorial acumen and hands-on editing skills is ideal if you want to ensure that not only will you feel the positive effects of their support but your manuscripts will be in top form before you submit them for publication.
“Writing a novel can be a lonely business. Having a first reader who knew when to cheer and when to meddle kept me going through five years and I-don’t-know-how-many drafts of The Help,” says Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, who worked for years on the novel with her mentor and editor Alexandra Shelley.
Working with a mentor serves as a continual reminder of why you write in the first place; both of you are passionate about the art and craft of writing and recognize the value in what you do. You may have a wonderful spouse or a generous loving family, but nothing beats having that supportive literary “home base” in a mentor and being able to rest on certain givens in your mutual appreciation for literature and ideas. This creates a very healthy literary ecosystem and ideal auspices under which to feel energized to go forth and write every day.
“Knowing you’re not alone, being able to discuss your story in a welcoming environment, and sitting beside people that you don’t have to explain why you write to, all makes you feel part of something bigger.”
No matter how amazing your mentor is, you still have to put in the work to see the greatest impact from the relationship. Whether you write in your living room, in a local coffee shop, at a writing retreat or residency, or while travelling to work, that time alone is when you call upon your well of creative information to come forth and make art and continue to build your essential foundation as a writer, moment by moment.
Then, during the hours when you’re not writing, having a mentor guiding you, buoying you, and holding you to your goals makes your time alone that much more enriched and rewarding. It is so good for the soul to have someone by your side who has your back and is rooting for you to succeed. Their reminders: that you’re strong, capable, and smart, that you can achieve anything you desire, and that you’re on the best path, are a great assurance. They make all the effort, sweat, and time feel like they’re completely worth it. And indeed, they are.
We know all about how impactful a mentor can be and are here to help you do your writing with greater confidence, productivity, and joy.
Please reach out any time to see how our writing mentorship will enhance your writing and your life overall!
Our 4-month Mentored Book Programs, Online Courses, & Writing Coaching and Editing Hours. From November 21-27, 2023
3 Responses
This article is the essence of what I felt when I knew I had to get away be alone and know myself better as an individual and as a writer. I was fortunate to be able to do this and returned with new energy and purpose. I no longer feel hesitant participating in a group to which I belong. Had I not found myself I would have continued to spin in a never ending cycle of doubt and procrastination.
Zoe, the fact that you’ve written so prolifically in such a short amount of time is enormously inspiring- your ability to give to your community is probably helped by your intuition for knowing when to curl up and get your work done. The best writing is borne of that balance!
I love the OLP community. How lovely to be able to connect with our peers. Writing is a solitary activity so having other writers to bounce ideas around is invaluable. This is another great article. I especially enjoyed the section ‘Getting to Know Your Voice’. But, here is a funny thing. When I write, at certain times, I have problems finding the right voice for the story. I believe the ‘voice’ of an article will be different depending on the subject of the piece. It may be subtle but voice is distinct and getting it right can be a challenge.