The Creative Call: On Forgiveness, Part 2 (Encouragers)

Part of letting go of the discouragement caused by others is to embrace the sources of our encouragement. Chapter 4 moves on to a discussion of how to recognize and value those individuals, or "heroes" as Elsheimer calls them. So, in response to an exercise in this chapter, I am listing some (not all) of those individuals who have been "encouraging voices" to me.

• Mrs. F., my 11th grade high school composition teacher, who was the first teacher who ever let us write on any topic we wanted. Yes, she taught us proper essay structures so we could write passable college papers, and she had readers who assisted her is correcting spelling and grammar, but aside from that, she was truly excited to read our essays. It was my first experience writing for a "responsive audience."
• My friend C.D. who gave me a t-shirt with the words emblazoned across my chest: "Be nice to me or you'll be a character in my next novel." With that simple gift, she affirmed my identity as a writer.
• Several of my closest relatives and friends who made space in their home for me to paint or who always have supportive things to say about my artwork.
• Mrs. W. from church who has tells me frequently "You are so talented!"
• Dr. T, one of my undergraduate history professors, who kicked my writing-butt during my senior year. He was not a cheerleader like the others, yet, I ended up with an A research paper for that course that later became the basis for my master's thesis.
• And then there is Heather and all the good folks at the Soul Food Cafe where, for over five years, we worked together to nourish each others' creative souls. Several of these people continue to be supportive as Facebook Friends.

If you will recall, a couple of posts ago, I stated that I would like some sort of creative mentor to help me in my growth as a writer and artist. Quite synchronicitously, I received an answer to that request. Last night I was watching a video-- totally unrelated to anything we are discussing here -- and the main speaker in this video presentation made the comment: "Mentors don't need to be living people." This line wafted straight out of the screen and hung in the middle of the ether in front of me with a giant pulsing neon finger pointing to it with my name attached. Don't you love it when you receive communications like that? I do.

So, who are some of these non-living people who have "mentored" me through their writing and art?

Charlotte Bronte
Hildegard von Bingen
Mary Cassatt
Madeleine L'Engle
Georgia O'Keefe
Frida Kahlo
Anne McCaffrey
Marion Zimmer Bradley

I am indebted to all of you!