The Mentor Behind the Writer by Samantha Szumloz

Source: Marzano Human Resources Consulting

I am the only person in my family tree pursuing creative and professional writing as a career. My mom is a statistician, my dad is a Windows engineer, my older sister is studying dance, and my second oldest sister is studying sociology. Concerning my extended family, my aunts, uncles, and cousins are salesmen, nurses, biologists, pharmacists, and receptionists. While planning out this article in my head, I wondered about the origins of my romance with writing. How on earth did I find the craft, and how did it become my calling? There are no writers in my family, at least no one proclaims to be writers. Most of my childhood friends hated writing, and my elementary school English teachers paid no attention to my writing. So who were my writing mentors? Did I have mentors, or was I the only one paving my way? 

After deep contemplation, I came to this conclusion about mentors: they do not have to be people we closely interact with. They do not even have to be people. They can be any source of inspiration (animate or inanimate) that makes us want to write and improve our craft. They also can come into our lives at any point in time.  

As I said before, my parents are not writers, but they are Disney fans. The first movie I ever saw was The Rescuers (1977), which is about a little girl named Penny who gets kidnapped and held hostage in a bayou by this pawn shop owner named Madame Medusa. Two mice from this underground mouse Rescue Aid Society are tasked to save Penny from Medusa’s clutches. It is a dark movie for little kids, but I firmly believe it stirred the imagination inside my one-year-old brain. I was introduced to more Disney movies since then, like Mary Poppins (1964), The Jungle Book (1967), and Peter Pan (1953). Peter Pan specifically put me in a chokehold. I am unsure if I enjoyed it because I had a crush on Peter Pan or I liked the tale. Either way, it led me to writing my first short story when I was seven, a “Peter Pan fanfiction” if we can call it that.

These films not only turned me into a self-proclaimed Mouseketeer, they also taught me the principles of storytelling, comedy, and songwriting—things that sparked my interest in fiction and poetry. 

I know I am speaking for many writers here, but books were my mentors growing up, too, particularly Judy Blume’s children’s novels and Lois Lowry’s Giver series. I admired Blume’s tone and style in Superfudge (1980) and Fudge-a-Mania (1990). They were the things that shaped my own tone and style of writing when I was young. Lois Lowry’s dystopian themes on pain, love, and growing up also inspired me to play with those themes in my writing as well. I still play with those themes to this day.

These books acted as my guides in a greater literary fashion. They were, additionally, the writings that instilled in me the enjoyment of reading.  

I eventually met published writers later down the line, college professors who had my creative interests in mind. I am grateful for all of these sources and supporters in my life. I also understand that not everyone has these types of sources and supporters accessible. It can be because of their living situations, their backgrounds, or the people they surround themselves with. Discouragement can crush creative minds. This is what I say to the discouraged creative minds: you do not need permission from anyone to write. You do not need to wait for a savior to come and guide you through the writing process. If you have an idea, or, better yet, a string of ideas, do not hesitate to get them down on paper. If you are inspired by something, anything, that makes you want to scribble, take that inspiration and run. Be a self-starter, educate yourself, let your imagination grow. Use your surroundings as your muse, because it may guide you to something brilliant.