Mentoring for Writers
March 4, 2005 by J.C. Hewitt
By Meghan Sapp
Everyone who has channel-surfed has seen the commercials. “Be a mentor, save a child.” More times than not, I’ve wanted to call the number because I’m just that kind of person. I have always stopped myself because I live in a terribly small town those national agencies probably don’t know exist. But the idea and the feeling are still there. I want to help a young, misguided soul like someone helped me.
Yes, I am the product of a mentor. It started many years ago near the beginning of the internet age (Ok, so it was late 1997). I was searching the Internet instead of attending biology class at Montana State University. I was a sophomore in Animal Science but something just wasn’t clicking. I was skipping classes because I had no drive. The only thing I showed up to on a regular basis was my honors English class and my job at the writing center.
I had some weird idea in my head that I wanted to be a writer. I looked at changing my major to Journalism, but alas, no such thing at MSU. Creative writing? Nope, no takers there. It seemed I was stuck with Animal Science. During that fateful missed biology class, I was looking at different websites for journalism societies (Like www.ija.org, www.asja.org, www.ageditors.com, or www.nwu.org). I sent a random e-mail, which was never to be returned, to the director of one organization (though I don’t recall which one.). I begged for help. I told this masked e-mail recipient that I was a student, wanted to be a writer and was stuck in an ag major that had too much science to comprehend.
A short time later, perhaps a week, a received an e-mail from Steve Werblow, a freelancer in Oregon. He was working with American Ag Editors Association to start a mentoring program and had been forwarded my e-mail by the aforementioned person I don’t recall. I was suddenly suffering from “right place, right time” syndrome and I became the guinea pig for the program. Steve was donned my official mentor in the writing world and I would be forever grateful.
I sent him six pieces I had written; two stories I wrote for the school newspaper, an essay from my English class and three short stories. In a little over a week, I received a package with a terribly official-looking mailing label that said “Steve Werblow Communications” in fancy script. I still have that envelope as well as the two page letter and my returned stories that were inside. The two-page letter was a kind of introduction of himself and a detailed, step-by-step explanation of my strong suits and my faults.
Astonished, I read the letter twice and my stories that were torn apart in a very kind way. I couldn’t believe this complete stranger was helping me! But he was. And he asked for nothing in return. At the end of the letter was an invitation to call him (collect!!!!) and discuss my stories and any ideas I had for writing stories for print!
Steve gave me guidance and my two first sales. He directed me towards two agricultural magazines (his specialty and soon to become mine) with kind editors willing to give a kid a chance. Over the years, Steve had developed a gamut of contacts all over the world and was known as one of the best in the business. Steve is just one of those guys that everyone likes and he does his job well.
“As a student,” said Steve, “I was fortunate enough to meet people who shared their time and perspective with me, and the experience helped steer me to a career I love. I feel fortunate to be able to offer some help to students today – in a way, it’s like returning a favor I was granted.”
Steve and I kept in contact about a dozen times over that first year. By the time I had my first sales, I had decided school wasn’t the right thing for me and had moved back home to California. I wouldn’t say that Steve ever harped on me, like many parents do, but Steve never would let me forget that school was too important to miss. “You know you’ve got the talent. It’s not what you’ll learn in class, it’s the contacts you’ll make,” Steve would say. Whenever a change would come along in my life, Steve would be there “And what about school?”
But I was young (I still am) and stubborn (still that a bit too) and I wanted to do it my way. But thanks to Steve’s support, I had the confidence and the clips to start on the road to writing. I got my first writing job last fall as a staff writer for a local newspaper. When that newspaper fell apart, I panicked and took the first job I was offered because I figured I didn’t have a chance finding another one. I took a job as editor of a small weekly newspaper in Washington state.
With a U-Haul hooked to the back of my little truck holding everything I owned, I put my dog in the passenger seat and drove north to Washington. About a year after he became my “official mentor,” Steve invited me to stay at his house (with his wife and daughter) as a breaking point on the journey up north.
I met Steve briefly during a weekend run up to Seattle with my sister the summer before. He was great to me. He treated me like a peer and a long time friend, not like some random kid that showed up on his doorstep at the last moment. When I stayed with him and his family, he acted like he really wanted me to be there. And I truly think he did. I brought newspapers from my old job with me and we spent quite a lot of time looking over my progress since that first batch of clips that seemed so long ago. And to top it off, he fed me pizza for dinner and let me sleep on the futon.
With every major decision regarding my career (and sometimes my life) for the past 2 years, I have contacted Steve. Every time he has responded gladly and given me the push, and sometimes the kick, I needed to find my course or get back on track. Thanks to Steve, I am a real writer, a successful freelancer and I am heading back to school for a degree in Ag Journalism (as soon as my current classes boost my GPA, which shouldn’t be a problem). It’s cheesy to say, but without Steve, I would not be where I am today.
“Offering advice and perspective to a student is not only helpful to the student; it’s a great way to focus your own perspective, to get away from the daily tasks and draw your own focus back to the things that make your career interesting and enjoyable,” said Steve.
Don’t you think that a little bit of your time spent as a mentor for some straying writer or kid (or both) is worth the kind of complete adoration that I hold for Steve? I certainly hope so. I know it was worth it for me and I can bet it was for him.
“We spend our days busy with work: big projects, small ones, the tasks that complete a job and put food on the table,” said Steve. “ But when I sit back and look at what I’ve done in the course of a week, mentoring a student is typically the most important thing – truly important, in the sense of offering a direct and lasting contribution to someone’s life – that I’ve accomplished.”
“I’m your number one fan, Meghan. Next to your parents of course.” –Steve Werblow
Meghan Sapp is an agricultural journalist and has been published several times in Farm Journal, Washington Farmer, Oregon Farmer-Stockman, Cascade Cattlemen and Cascade Horsemen.
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