Pay It Forward

By Brenda Reeves Sturgis

We don’t come into this world alone, and hopefully we don’t die alone either, and along the way, as writers, we don’t get published alone. It takes a team to raise a writer, a team of caring people that will walk beside you for encouragement, somebody that will stand behind you to push you when you are tired, and somebody that will traipse in front of you so that you can find your way.

If you work hard, hone your craft, and create magic, you will find people along the way that you will call friend along your journey. We never write alone. Critique partners are integral to our success, and should you find yourself with a book deal or two, all great critique partners probably had a good hand in your success. Make certain that you thank them properly and that you are there for them as well, if they need a middle of the night hold handing huddle, don’t drop the ball, but press on for the victory.

During your journey it is imperative that you pay it forward. If somebody is kind to you, and offers to critique for you, if somebody opens a door with an agent for you, do the same for somebody else. Take the time to answer an e-mail, or a phone call from a writer that is dreaming, struggling, creating, and holding on by a mere thread.

You never know what your words of encouragement will mean to them, and you never know what your discouraging words could do to them either. We all know people, who know people, who know people. Use your connections not just for you, but for a talented writer that you meet online, at a conference, through a friend. If you know of a perfect house for a storyline, share it. It’s okay, we can all share. We can share our editors, we can share our publishing houses, we can share our dreams. We all went to our first conference; we’ve all sat down to write a story that will stand out in slush, or to an agent.

Remember how long it took you to get where you were going, focus some energy on helping somebody else. Be a mentor, a critiquer, a friend. You’ll be glad you did, what goes around, comes back around. It’s Karma!

When you pay it forward, somebody someday will take all you’ve done for them and give it to somebody else. A new dreamer, a new writer, somebody that will make a difference for the writers of tomorrow. And then the dream continues, and storybooks are created, and you leave a living legacy that matters, it really truly does.