Simply Sincere Sentiments

Identifying mentors is not something unfamiliar to me. I have even gone as far as to thank my mentors before and let them know I consider them a mentor. I think this is important in order to develop a deeper relationship with them and establish their place in your life.           The whole concept of mentors can be complicated. In my novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the grandmother Nanny is a mentor to the protagonist Janie. When Janie doesn't want to marry who Nanny advises her to, Nanny forces her into a loveless marriage. When I first read this I was immediately appalled. I would never let someone do that to me, but when you see Nanny's point of view and perspective you can discern that she did it out of loving and protective reasons. Nanny simply wanted Janie to be financially secure and well taken care of as soon as possible. Unfortunately, back in the day, women weren't seen as capable of becoming those things themselves. An...

I have grown up so much in the past year. I've been told my whole life that I am mature for my age, but this year I really feel like I'm seventeen going on forty. I just feel like I've gained so much wisdom. I got my first job over the summer and having a job, making your own money, and filing taxes is the definition of growing up. It's the most real-world experience I've had so far in my life that I wasn't sheltered from because I was a kid. It opened my eyes to how stressful a stereotypical adult life can be. It opened my eyes to how much my parents do and go through to provide me. It opened my eyes to how well they handle and balance it all so that my entire childhood I never knew how much stress and pressure they were under and how much they had on their plates. Now I tell my little sister not to beg for things she wants because I understand the concept of money so much better. Now I'm not picky about what my mom makes...

Though the public only got wind of the one telegram I sent her on her wedding day, I followed her life very closely. We were never best friends, but we sent correspondence back and forth occasionally. We knew of each other like most people in our business.           As the years went on, Grace became increasingly unhappy. She couldn't connect with her children especially as they got older. Her husband became more and more domineering as his politics became more controversial and harder to control. He took his stress out on her. He let his opponents drive a wedge between them to consequently divide the kingdom as well. It wasn't hard to turn them against each other when they each harbored so much anger towards the other already. They were so different; they came from different worlds. Neither one of them could've anticipated what their life together would've looked like. They were both so unprepared and naive if you ask me.    ...

I guess when you only have one job it is inevitable that you do that job well - maybe too well. Sometimes. It has happened before. I burn people. I damage their eyes. I cause skin cancer. They blame themselves but I blame myself. It wouldn't have mattered if they forgot to wear sunscreen if I didn't shine so well! They only had to invent sunscreen because of me! I only cause horrible consequences and more work for everyone! Every time someone wants to frolic outside he or she has to worry about me - unless it's my day off and the clouds are working. I wish all the time that I had my own controls or some type of filter. I don't want to burn everyone! I don't want to make people so sick that they can never enjoy me again! I don't want my beauty to make them never able to see beauty or feel beautiful ever again. But I can't stop shining. I don't know how! It's all I'm meant to do. If I don't shine... I have no purpose. I want to have...

Perspective. Point of view.  These are the concepts that allow a reader to connect to a story on a deep, personal and emotional level. This idea was talked about extensively in my Harkness circle. The POV of a story is crucial to helping writers get their desired emotional response from readers.           Now  I’m going to make an interesting analogy. I recently finished a show called Spy Games in which ten competitors live on a compound and get basic training on the most important skills of being a spy, then partake in fake missions set up by former spies or “the assessors” in a competition for $100,000. The skill the assessors stressed the most:  situational awareness. A spy’s ability to get him or herself out of danger depends on how situationally aware he or she is. He or she can be great at deceiving people, picking locks, and/or decoding ciphers, but if they can’t retain information from a situation, or assess a situation to get out of ...