On Mentorship

A contributor article by Geena Russo

Mentorship involves providing guidance or influence from an experienced person to a less-skilled individual. Everyone who has become anyone had a mentor. Oprah Winfrey had a close relationship with civil rights activist and poet Maya Angelou. Bill Gates had the investor Warren Buffett. Yves Saint Laurent had Christian Dior. Mentorship spans industries, races, classes, and genders. It’s an equalizer and also a divider. It takes the selfless acts of the mentors to provide direction and lead mentees on a path to greatness. LSU Coach Dale Brown met Shaq when he was thirteen and set him on the path to the NBA when he wrote him a recommendation letter for his LSU application. The internet credits Steve Jobs with mentoring Mark Zuckerberg towards his success. Countless examples show that having a mentor is a winning strategy.

In my research, I found mentors described as angels. The word “angel” itself derives from the Greek “angelos,” meaning “messenger.” People believe they carry out divine tasks and deliver messages from a higher power. I believe there is truth here. A mentor may not have all the answers, but their words of wisdom can change your trajectory.

For this and several other reasons, I’m grateful to be a participant in the Atlanta Writers Club’s inaugural mentorship program. Only two months in, I can already see how it will set me up for success. Through the writing process, often a solitary experience, there were many times I wished I had someone to ask questions of or bounce ideas with. When I looked around at the proverbial world via Instagram, it felt like everyone had it figured out except for me. It felt like I was falling further behind while authors on Instagram announced their debut novels and rode off into the sunset with publishers I only dreamed of one day working with.

That’s the scary part: committing to a mentor for me meant leaning into my dream of becoming an author and seeing it as a reality. What if I polished my manuscript? What if I could get an agent and get published?

While these questions were confronting, what was worse was thinking, what if I don’t? Though the AWC program doesn’t guarantee publication, it will definitely help toward this goal.

I opened my first meeting with my mentor with, “Are you a hugger?” It’s a question that I often default to when meeting someone new. When she consented, I already felt like we were off to a good start. I had chosen a coffee shop, Crazy Love, in Roswell, because what goes together better than writing and coffee? Even though I knew my body would experience something akin to the effects of caffeine even before the liquid coursed through my veins, I wanted the option to drink something during awkward pauses.

Then there weren’t any. Pregnant pauses. Awkward silences. Dead air. Whatever you want to call it. All were absent. My mentor, Kim Conrey, Georgia Romance Author of the Year, is easy to talk to and quick to offer help. As I laid out what I felt were lofty goals, she responded without hesitation. The confidence of someone who has been in my seat before, which I sorely lacked in my corner. She was the messenger angel whispering to my doubts that this is possible. While reading the first chapter of my manuscript, she offered constructive feedback and praise, highlighting areas of improvement.

To make the program possible, the Atlanta Writers Club also provided guidance. Daphne Schechter, a consultant on people operations for over 20 years, worked with Executive Director George Weinstein to shape and support the structure. It was an important takeaway that it was up to me how much I got out of the mentorship program. This planted a seed in my brain, requiring constant attention. Am I writing enough? How do I get the editing done? Did I make my BookBub profile? These new questions replaced the large, amorphous questions with bite-sized, tangible steps that I can take every day. I feel like I’ve gotten more done with my writing in the past two months since I joined the program than I have in the last year without it. It makes one thing, one step at a time, manageable instead of overwhelming.

I’m learning to ask for help, to be vulnerable through the process, and soak up as much of Kim’s knowledge as she’s willing to share and offer me.

She even read this, because one thing she’s helping me with is my confidence in my writing. I know there is plenty I can improve, but I also want to believe that I’m a good writer. Despite Kim telling me, and I quote, “[You] clearly have a talent for writing,” I still need ‌positive words of affirmation on the sentences she liked and parts of the story I did well.

Over the next six months of the eight-month program, we’ll focus on editing my manuscript, preparing a query letter, and building my confidence for the pitch. It’s going to be a journey, one I’ve already stumbled upon, but if you want to come along for the ride, I’ll have another update for you in a couple of months, complete with my key points and insights. Whether a published author or an aspiring one, I hope you can relate to feeling alone in the process and the relief of having someone on your side.

About the author: Geena’s daytime work involves writing blogs, social media, and web copy. In 2023, Geena self-published a children’s book for ages 3-6-year-olds about a family trip with their dog called Sydney’s Adventure in New Mexico. Geena is currently in the Atlanta Writers’ Club mentorship program, working on a queer romance manuscript with mentor Kim Conrey.

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