Hello, WriteByNighters!
If you've stay up to date on our various
shenanigans (shenanigi?), you'll know that we've hired a wonderful new coach/consultant, Jeanine Walker.
Jeanine lives and works in Seattle, where she runs multiple writing workshops. She obtained a Ph.D.
in creative writing from the University of Houston.
In this Q&A with Jeanine (which you should read), she makes a comment that grabbed my attention. When we ask her to name some of her writing influences, the first person she mentions is a high school teacher:
"My ninth grade English teacher, Lloyd Sheaffer, was a huge influence," Jeanine says. "He read everything I brought him to read outside of class for four years."
What a wonderful thing for a young writer to have.
When writers are asked about their influences, they'll usually rattle off the names of writers they admire and perhaps have tried to
emulate.
But how often do we look back and think about those who encouraged us when we were growing up?
Jeanine's response made me remember something I haven't thought about in years -- the time my eleventh grade expository writing (yawn!) teacher handed me a book and said, "If you wanted to, you could write like this
guy."
Now we want to hear about your own such moments.
Tell us about someone who influenced or encouraged your early writing, even if it didn't impact you at the time. Have you ever thanked that person?
If not, what would you say if given the opportunity?
