Wow... Michael Black has a great post on mentoring, so first of all, back up a day and read it here.
I think we probably all, if we ponder long and hard, can also come up with many people who have stretched out a helping hand when we were just starting out in some field of endeavor or walk of life.
Two people come immediately to my mind (well, there are more, but I'm going to keep this short so you have time to read Mike's post ;-) ). When I was finishing up my bachelor's degree at UC Berkeley, I was in a terrible quandary. I was heading out into the world with a double degree in Physics and English Literature and had absolutely no idea what to do with it. I had wanted desperately to be an astronomer, but was "persuaded" by an advisor (hmph!) that with a C in Statistical Physics, I had no chance in that arena. So, what could I do with a BA degree with two disparate fields? I interviewed on campus and thrashed around in terror, seeing nothing but a wide-open void where a career should be. All my other friends had nailed down jobs or grad school and seemed well on their ways to being... something.
It was my physics professor for the UCB upper-division Physics Lab (for whom I scribbled mountains of reports attempting to explain unexplainable results for my experiments) that "showed me the way." Professor Nabil Amer was very kind, and easy to talk to. Upon listening to me recite my woes re: finding a job, he said, "Well, you can write. And you certainly understand physics concepts. Why not be a scientific editor?" I swear, his words were like a bolt of lightning straight to my brain. He had offered me a way to combine the two areas I had matriculated in, into something that was actually (gasp) a viable career! I ended up doing technical editing, technical writing, and then moseying into employee/corporate communications, before finally circling around to science writing, which I still do as part of my day job(s).
The second mentor I'll mention is someone I met in my early days as a tech editor. I returned from a vacation, early in my work career, to find a woman sitting at my desk and in my chair. Not an auspicious beginning, you'd think, but that woman ended up being one of the most influential women in my life—both friend and mentor. Camille Minichino had returned to take a new position at the same scientific research and development facility where I, a shining-eyed newbie just out of college, had just started working. Desks being scarce at the time, our mutual boss had plunked Camille in my little flimsy-walled office in the “cooler” (where all us new employees spent time cooling our heels while waiting for required clearances). From eyeing each other suspiciously, we began talking, and found many points of commonality. She had a Ph.D. in physics. I had a B.A. in physics. We both loved chocolate and coffee, a passion that quickly evolved into regular morning and afternoon “chocolate and coffee breaks.” (One or the other of us always had a box of See’s Chocolates, ready and waiting, in a desk drawer.) We also both loved books, books, books! (And shopping, at bookstores or elsewhere, but mostly at bookstores.)
Camille is the person who brought me into the world of mystery writing and writers, and is the one who set my feet on “a writer’s journey.” Not that I hadn’t been slinging words around with great abandon for quite a while at that point. But fiction writing was a whole different game (even though you use basically the same hammer to pound basically the same nails). When she started writing her Periodic Table Mysteries, featuring Gloria Lamerino, I thought, hmmm. That looks like fun.
She encouraged me to give it a try, so I took a step onto the road of writing a historical mystery. Camille advised me to take a class in writing mysteries. I took another step and signed up for the class. Then Camille dragged me to a local Mystery Writers of America meeting, and I joined. Another step. And another followed, and another…
So, there you have it. Two of the most important mentors in my life, serendipitously linked by physics and writing.
If you're looking for an interesting, quick read about a variety of mentors, check out The Mentor That Matters, edited by Suzanne Fox. Forty folks share short stories about their "mentors that matter." You'll find a piece by me, talking about a special someone with the initial CM. ;-)
I'm only slightly embarrassed by Ann's post, since anyone who has read even the first paragraph of Silver Lies, her first book, knows how easy it would be to "mentor" such talent. I still remember the jaw-dropping reaction when she read a passage for the first time in a critique group.
And like so much mentoring, ours soon became, and still is, mutual. Thanks, Ann.
Posted by: camille minichino | September 19, 2017 at 07:49 AM
What an inspiring story Ann. I'm glad you found your mentors and they helped you along. I can't think of a finer person than Camille to guide someone. She's an inspiration to me as well.
Posted by: Michael A. Black | September 19, 2017 at 01:58 PM
Camille has been an inspiration and a help to me since decades ago when she invited me, as the author of a non-fiction, book to address an MWA meeting. (I think it was MWA). Her praise for that book was encouraging beyond belief. Since then she's held her hand out many times during my transition to fiction. Case in point, If it wasn't for her, I'd wouldn't be a LadyKiller.
Posted by: Ellen Kirschman | September 19, 2017 at 08:09 PM
So that's how you and Camille met. I'm not surprised that the mentoring and the friendship between you two flourished, because you are both such valuable people to know in both of those capacities.
Posted by: Margaret Lucke | September 20, 2017 at 06:10 PM
Peggy Lucke has it right, about *mutual* mentoring with LKs Ellen Kirschman, Ann Parker, and others who have taken off in that new-to-them field.
Posted by: camille minichino | September 21, 2017 at 06:49 AM