My Shadow Life Mentors by Alan Anderson

 

“To those who were robbed of life, the unborn, the weak, the sick, the old, during the dark ages of madness, selfishness, lust and greed for which the last decades of the twentieth century are remembered.” —Schaeffer Francis A. & Koop, C. Everett, MD, Whatever Happened to the Human Race? (Fleming H. Revell Company, 1979).

 

 

When I think of shadow mentors who inspired me to keep writing, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Francis A. Schaeffer, and Henri Nouwen come to mind. Each of them impacted me through their approaches in relating to the world. 

Dr. Kubler-Ross wrote her book, On Death and Dying, to discuss some emotional reactions of people who were dying. She referred to her patients as “teachers” so health professionals, 

 

“…may learn more about the final stages of life with all its anxieties, fears, and hopes. I am simply telling the stories of my patients who shared their agonies, their expectations, and their frustrations with us.”—Preface, On Death and Dying, 1969. 

 

Love for people and ministry to them in sensitive experiences in life led to my discovery of my shadow mentor, Henri Nouwen. Henri Nouwen’s books speak of the language of brokenness, compassion, and our place in the heart of God. In his book, The Wounded Healer, Nouwen notes wounded healers are, “the ones who must not only look after their own wounds, but at the same time be prepared to heal the wounds of others.” 

 

We may regard Christian writers who speak into the world with their words as wounded healers. None of us will go through life without permanent scars. Our lives because of our scars will assist us in our service to others. We do not waste our scars. 

 

Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer left his mark on the world with his outspoken defense of the unborn and his rejection of euthanasia. Schaffer offers a thoughtful examination of the West’s destructive assault on human life in his book, Whatever Happened to the Human Race?. The attitudes and practices he warned of in the 1970s show society didn’t listen to his prophetic writings and voice. 

 

Dr. Barrie Palfreyman rounds out my shadow mentors. He mentored me in with his heart for ministry and encouragement. He encouraged me to “take the plunge” in my quest to study for a Master’s degree. Barrie also served as my Seminary academic advisor. 

 

Barrie knew my heart for serving people and sensed my call to chaplaincy. His brief role as my mentor stands as a significant highlight in my life of service to others. Barrie died from cancer only two years after he encouraged me to, “take the plunge.” 

 

In people working their way through life I see the magnificence of God’s precious creation, His masterpiece. When I transitioned from pastoral ministry to chaplaincy my heart for people didn’t miss a beat. 

 

As a chaplain, my greatest honour was to sit by the bedside of a person in their last days, hours, or minutes. What a tremendous privilege to have a person near death to take my hand and smile. This is trust shown on an intimate and humble level. 

 

Each of my shadow mentors helped shape me as a person, a servant of God, and a writer. My shadow mentors remind me we are all unique. As writers, we have our purpose as we make our way through life. 

 

Beloved writer friends, please persevere as you write and send your words into the world. The world needs us. Be open to God placing you in someone’s life as a mentor and see the world change.

 

 https://scarredjoy.ca/

Poised Above the Shadow Mentors – Denise M. Ford

Writing may sometimes find me precariously positioned above a void. I come prepared to flex my muscles, to put into motion the movement that will unlock the words which will pull me forward to the edge. Recognizing that I am ready to swing out to thrust my ideas towards a single bar, I focus on the awaiting trapeze.

Most days I completely ignore the safety net below me, or rather I take for granted that it exists. I know it offers a rebounding resurgence if I require it. It may appear like a memory foam mattress reassuring my wavering courage. I acknowledge its presence as it offers me a place to tumble into where I will recall the authors and stories that have surrounded me and modified my thinking.

Regardless of where we grow up or how we receive our education, we have built-in repertoires of narratives or pieces of writing that have influenced us. How we open ourselves to those resources varies based on the particular writing genre we happen to approach.

For my first writing job I wrote a column about my hometown in the local Emmaus Free Press. Each Friday I submitted several paragraphs noting the events and activities happening in our small community. At the time the writings of Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain, influenced the way I approached these assignments.

I wrote in a friendly conversational style, choosing to entertain as I informed my fellow townsfolk. Often, I chose a tidbit of history or folklore from our local environs. Fortunately, much like Mark Twain, I had real life individuals surrounding me from which I could base my character sketches. I learned to incorporate my anecdotes with homespun wisdom served up as slightly blurred mirrors that might reflect cultural missteps to my small-town populace.

Not that I strove to preach or judge. Not that anyone perceived my column in that regard. It truly seemed as if each week I wrote a letter to my friends, and in turn they would call me with a newsy item or idea they thought I should consider for a future column. I found I wove words according to the colloquialism of the people I knew. Of course, because my readers could “hear me” through my sentences, they accepted this way of receiving weekly news.

It wouldn’t be the last time that I allowed a writer’s style to provide an undercurrent for how I shaped my approach to a written task. During my years spent pursuing interviews and promoting companies I leaned on the foundation of realism. Get the facts, make observations, reveal the truth, answer the questions. Then as demonstrated by Sinclair Lewis and Charles Dickens, I didn’t flinch when painting the picture of as many details as I could to help draw my reader into the vivid imagery.

Surprisingly I have found myself swept up into the cadence and symbolism of poetry as a way to soothe myself when stressful deadlines and family mayhem become more prevalent in my life. I alternate between Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost to entice me into short reveries of verse that nudge my soul into the space it requires to stretch out and relax. In fact, I often reread the books sitting on my poets’ corner of my bookshelves. I marvel at meanings that eluded me in prior poetry perusals.

These past few months I reopened the complete works of Jane Austen and delighted in comparing the journals of Louisa May Alcott to her own published novels. I sought to understand the way both of these authors observed human relationships and how they strove to compose scenes into tales. They invited readers to walk amongst the characters and become imbued with their distinct culture and time period.

I truly marvel how any particular story I may have read has settled within my consciousness. I picture a master shuffler as my brain files a specific writing style so that I may choose to let it affect my future creative flare in a written piece of art.

I welcome the classic shadow mentors of the past and the innovative daring guides of the present. These reside within me and about me. I trust they will provide ways to influence me as I reach out to fearlessly perform, tossing my words forward, spinning them into a unique style so they may be caught in the minds of a reader.

In the Shadow of a Bookshelf by Brenda Leyland

"Have you ever picked up a book on writing, exhilarated

to discover that the author has written just what you need to

stimulate and encourage you? Philip Yancey called these

writing masters "shadow mentors" who urge us to improve our

writing style, our thinking, and our vision."

SANDI SOMERS

As writers, we know just how often we need encouragement to bolster our crumbling nerve. Especially in those early days when we are still so unsure of ourselves, unsure of our talent—wondering if we even have any—and whether we indeed have a call on our lives and, therefore, a right to write. And, yes, Sandi, how often I have picked up a book to discover the perfect something I needed to stimulate and encourage me. Here, in this longish blog post, I have gathered six authors who have been writing mentors to me. I want to give a glimpse of how the writings of these good people have encouraged and inspired me, albeit in the shadow of a bookshelf, throughout my writing journey. There are so many more I could include.

 

"Read all the good books you can..."

C.S. LEWIS

Long before I dreamed of being a writer, I read C.S. Lewis. I was drawn to this man's gentle approach to life. I was drawn to the fact that he lived in Oxford, was a scholar, a Christian believer, and an author. I read everything I could find of his work, including his volumes of published letters. My now vintage commonplace notebook is filled with words of wisdom from this man, including the advice he freely gave aspiring writers who wrote to him. One such word stood out for me: read all the good books you can. It was a seed planted and amazingly watered over the years by many other successful authors advising young writers to read, read, read. I embraced this advice wholeheartedly; my path was set.

"Don't be led away by those howls of realism. Remember—pine woods

are just as real as pigsties and a darn sight pleasanter to be in."

L.M. MONTGOMERY

There are so many things I could share here about what I have learned from L.M. Montgomery. Looking back, she was a shining star—a mentor from afar—for most of my life. She taught me to appreciate the joy and beauty of the world around me, regardless of happy or unhappy circumstances. I shall always remember sitting with pen and paper in hand, trying to capture something of the twilight beauty of a long-ago summer evening. I had hoped to emulate Ms. Montgomery, for by then I was captivated with her ability to bring something of the beautiful to everything she wrote.

We live in an upside-down world where beauty and goodness are often forgotten, hidden behind misery and meanness, tragedy and trauma. Some people say, well that's life, that's the reality. Of course, we know sadness, cruelty and ugliness are real, but I have so often pondered why these should carry more weight than the reality of love and beauty and kindness. Mr. Carpenter, Emily's schoolteacher in one of the Emily novels by Ms Montgomery, entreated the aspiring authoress not to heed her critics but to press forward and continue to write from that place of beauty she saw in her own mind. He told Emily, "Don't be led away by those howls of realism. Remember—pine woods are just as real as pigsties and a darn sight pleasanter to be in."

The essence of those words became a touchstone. No matter what was going on in the world around me, Mr. Carpenter's wise words, through the pen of L.M. Montgomery, fixed my focus on how I wanted to write. You see, they matched those lines I love in Philippians: whatever is lovely and of good report, think (write) on these things.

"Today, in a world where we pride ourselves on our efficiency

and practicality, there is still precious time to cherish quality

and savor the splendor and charm of the more enduring things

in our lives—a return to loveliness, if you will."

THE EDITORS, VICTORIA, PREMIER ISSUE, 1987 

 

I cannot write about shadow mentors and not mention, not so much an author, but rather an influence that has also overshadowed everything I have ever written: the original Victoria magazine under the direction of former editor Nancy Lindemeyer. From the premier issue in 1987, I knew my heart found what it had been longing for in my young life. Here was a magazine that spoke to the softer, gentler side of life. It celebrated the creativity of women who followed their dreams. It recognized the intrinsic value of and need for beauty in our lives.

Two lovely blog followers recently contacted me to say that my style of writing happily reminds them of the Victoria magazine. Seriously? Oh, my goodness! "Reading your blog this morning made me realize that you have become my gentle moments of Victoria magazine. I spent many cherished moments with Victoria magazine and have missed the peace and grace it brought. I'm grateful to have you in my life to take me back to those treasured memories." I am in awe and deep gratitude. In the early days of my writing, I had so longed to be able to make words sing beautifully—just like the women who wrote those lovely articles in the magazine—never ever dreaming I might one day find some measure of success. I am so grateful to the Lord for the privilege to follow my heart in this way.

"As humans, we all have the right to make art.

We all have the right to write."

JULIA CAMERON

My husband's aunt introduced me years ago to The Right to Write by Julia Cameron. A godsend. What a stroke of genius to have those words right in the title. You see, for whatever odd reason, I needed permission to write; I needed to know that I had a right to write. That it wasn’t just for folks who knew they were destined to write since they were five years old....being the late bloomer that I am. I loved Julia’s words of affirmation when she said that as humans, we all have the right to make art. We all have the right to write. And with those words ringing in my ear, I had the courage to step out into my destiny.

This book introduced me to Julia's personal writing tools, tools I found helpful in my early writing days: Morning Pages (three pages of stream of consciousness writing first thing every morning); Narrative Time Line (writing out the story of your life in five-year intervals, from birth to present); and Artist Dates (making dates with yourself as a way to devote time to your creative self, such as walking in nature or visiting an art supply store or museum—anything you find creative and enjoyable.)

"At last I understood that writing was this: an impulse to share

with other people a feeling or truth that I myself had."

BRENDA UELAND

I knew from the outset that Brenda Ueland’s book If You Want to Write was another godsend to me. It came into my life in 2008, around the same time I started blogging, and it was a book I would reach for over and over. Because Ms. Ueland was so confident in her belief that "everyone is talented, original and has something important to say", I felt compelled to believe her for myself.

Brenda Ueland realized writing was, for her, an impulse to share with other people a feeling or truth that she herself had experienced. She used a little story about Vincent Van Gogh to illustrate, and it resonated with me. As a young man in his early twenties, Van Gogh was

"in London studying to be a clergyman. He had no thought of being an artist at all. He sat in his cheap little room writing a letter to his younger brother in Holland, whom he loved very much. He looked out his window at a watery twilight, a thin lamp post, a star, and he said in his letter something like this: It is so beautiful I must show you how it looks. And then on his cheap ruled notepaper, he made the most beautiful, tender, little drawing of it."

Like the artist himself, I yearned to share the beauty I experienced with those around me. While the artist took up his brush to express what he saw, I took up my pen. And so I write to inspire, to encourage, and give joy. All with the hopeful desire that my readers will look around, see the beauty, and learn to live with a measure of joy because they, too, have caught glimpses of heaven in unexpected places here on earth.

 

 

"If God has given you a dream, you'd better get cracking

because He wants you to use it. That's why He gives

them to us in the first place."

JAN KARON

I cannot close without mentioning Jan Karon, creator of the beloved Mitford novels. Years ago, I found her photo online and downloaded it to my desktop. Whenever I turned on my computer, there she'd be smiling at me, this woman who dared to believe a dream God had given her. 

Not only have I delighted in her novels, but I have taken courage from her own story of how she, at age 50, left a successful career in advertising and moved to a small town, so she could finally be a novelist. Not that I left a job to take up writing, not that I had any dream to write a novel, but I felt something of her courage as she stepped out later in life, trusting God, to follow her dream. Today we see Jan as a successful New York Times bestselling novelist, but her writing journey to get there had many discouraging setbacks. For two years, she struggled to find a suitable idea for a novel, and then when she had that breakthrough at last, it took a couple years to find a willing publisher. Through it all, she'd learned to lean into God, trusting that He was there in the midst. Seeing this beautiful author on my screen every morning during those early years of my own writing journey helped me to keep the faith, just as she had done.

* * *

I am grateful for these authors, just a few who have been a part of my personal mentoring team on a bookshelf, ever reminding me that I am not alone, cheering me on, offering their expertise, and always inviting me to join them in sharing the gift of beautiful words with our world.

Photo credit for top: Image by 9883074 from Pixabay

Photo credits for C.S. Lewis, L.M. Montgomery, Jan Karon: Unknown

A long-time InScribe member, Brenda writes from her home in Alberta, Canada. She works away on her memoir projects and shares her love of the beautiful in everyday life with readers at It's A Beautiful Life and on Facebook. 

Shadow Mentors and Tangled Roots - Carol Harrison

 

Shadow Mentors and Tangled Roots

Books have been a pleasure and an escape since I learned to read my first words. Libraries in the community, school, and church became my favourite hangout spots. But to be truthful, I never though much about the authors who wrote those wonderful books I read in my formative years and into early adulthood. I knew someone had worked to make a story available to readers. Authors inspired, encouraged, and gave me hours of time-filling adventures. But who were they and did they become shadow mentors?

My love-affair with stories and books continued into my adult years and I married someone who devoured stories too. We gathered books to read to our children as soon as the first one joined our family. But I stuffed that writing dream inside, told no one about my, once upon a time, enjoyment of the craft and never bothered to learn about any of the authors I enjoyed reading. By the time I took note of how often authors impacted my thinking by the words they crafted, I read stories to my grandchildren. I marveled at the nuggets of wisdom and spiritual truth writers wove throughout their stories.

But who inspired me enough to be my shadow mentor and help to reawaken the long-buried writing dream of my own? During this time of attempting to write at the request of my husband, I faced health issues and had energy to read some Christian fiction but not to learn to write or to study. Some of my favourite authors during this time and since included Karen Kingsbury who wrote about our raw, broken world and issues faced by those living in it. Her characters came alive and I felt like they lived just down the block. Often, I wondered how she picked up pieces of my own struggles and portrayed them in her fictional characters.

Lauraine Snelling, with her historical novels, fictionalized a family as she explored her own roots. I loved this idea for it brought history and family roots together the way I envisioned my own writing might become.

Jeanette Oke wrote about characters to fall in love with and what to know more about what happened to them. They were down to earth and believable. I wondered how to be able to write like that.

Robin Jones Gunn in her Sisterchicks series had main characters who were women in their 40’s, and 50’s, women I could relate to and wish I could join them on their adventures.

When I began to write, decades after I put the dream away, questions nagged me and negative thoughts fought to be heard. “I’m too old.” “I can’t do this.” To silence them, I began to investigate the story behind the books I enjoyed and the authors I read. What affirmations to read about such a variety of journeys they had walked. Some published earlier than others. Some, like Laura Ingalls Wilder, never published until age 65. There was hope for me. Some wrote prolifically and others only a few books.  

But those who I consider to have impacted my own writing journey, helped encourage me the most, and been instrumental in what I have and am still learning are writers much closer at hand. I attended my first Christian writers’ conference in Saskatoon with much fear and trembling until I met writers like Janice Dick and Marcia Laycock.

Marcia’s devotional writing on-line workshop taught me the importance of writing tight, no matter what story, book, or genre you write. I admire her ability to write in multiple genres and give generously of her time to encourage, teach, and mentor other writers along the way.

Jan welcomed me to the local community of writers, helped me believe I could write, and tell stories others might want to read. She has given excellent feedback, as well as edits and endorsements. I also learn from reading her books.

Glynis Belec has challenged, prompted, and encouraged me so much. Her sense of humor and her wise words from her own experience that she shares willingly have prodded me to try new things.

I could continue to list many more writers from Inscribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship and other writers I have come into contact with that have played a role in helping me with my writing. Some know the impact they have on me, while others are further in the shadows. Even my own family are part of those who are mentoring me by challenging me to continue to try new things, use what I already have learned, and be brave enough to put my words out for others to read.

As I worked on this blog post, I kept envisioning trees growing in less than hospitable locations. Their roots need to dig deep for support and nourishment but they also often intertwine to give more stability. Every writer I’ve enjoyed reading, those that I have come to know personally, and everyone who has challenged me have become part of the tangled roots of support and shadow mentors. It’s hard to focus on where each one begins and ends because they tie together and form a solid part of my writing journey. Sometimes, even I don’t fully understand where lessons learned and implanted have come from but I am grateful for each shadow mentor.

Carol Harrison writes from her home in Saskatoon. She loves telling stories, writes many of them down, and has some of them published. 

Our Shadow Mentors by Sandi Somers

A different version of this post appeared In InScribe’s FellowScript, Winter 2020

        In the book, More Than Words, James Calvin Schaap says that each writer locates a moment or series of moments in his or her life when some literary master seemed to be there for them - counseling, guiding, edifying. For most, the work of these masters was the source of their own literary endeavors and continues today. Philip Yancey called these inspiring writers “shadow mentors.” His own shadow mentors included CS Lewis, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

On the Birth of My Writing Vision

Catherine Marshall

Catherine Marshall was the writer who ignited both my spiritual life and writing. Her books, including Beyond Ourselves, Something More, and her first novel, Christy, fed into my starved spirit a deeper intimacy with Jesus and God’s power. Her discussion on themes such as inner healing, guidance, and the work of the Holy Spirit, challenged me to believe God in ways I had never before imagined.

At the same time, Marshall’s writing inspired me as she told powerful stories of people and their faith, and I studied how she integrated story with God’s action. I wanted to write just like she did.

On Dreaming of My Own Projects

        While I sporadically published some devotionals and professional articles in my early years, my dream projects began as I wrote about my experiences teaching immigrants. More ideas gradually came to mind. However, even today they haven’t come together as books.

        Madeleine L’Engle came to my rescue, as she described her future books with the “cooking pot” metaphor.

 “When I start working on a book, which is usually several years and several books before I start to write it, I am somewhat like a French peasant cook. There are several pots on the back of the stove….(A)n idea for a scene goes into one, a character into another, a description of a tree in the fog into another. When it comes time to write, I bring forward the pot which has the most in it. The dropping in of ideas is sometimes quite conscious; sometimes it happens without my realizing it.”[i]

        I continue to drop finished and unfinished pieces into my cooking pot, and someday I hope to compile my ideas into a book…

On Apprenticing: Shaping My Craft

        Many shadow mentors have taught me strategies to enrich my work, but two writers stand out. William Zinsser, in On Writing Well, emphasized the importance of concrete details, unity, and simplicity. In Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, Roy Peter Clark examined great writing and provided exercises to hone my craft: economy, originality, organization, and useful habits and routines for productive writing.

        Currently, an interesting shadow mentor whispers into my ear as I write each article: “The work will teach you how to do it.”  This is the Estonian proverb’s way of saying that God will direct me at each phase of writing.  Each work-in-progress is unique, and involves many choices and discoveries: a structure, a focus, drafts, revision, and more. It is my guide to make the work the best it can be.  

On Needing Encouragement

        There were times I was discouraged or doubted whether I should spend so much effort in writing. Brenda Ueland, in If You Want to Write, assured me as a gentle grandmother would. “The creative power and imagination is in everyone,” she wrote. “…you are talented and you are original,” and “no writing is a waste of time…With every sentence you write, you have learned something…It has stretched your understanding.”[ii] I also found strength as she acknowledged that this creative power is the Holy Spirit.

On the Spirit’s Anointing

        And that leads me to my most important mentor: the Holy Spirit Himself. In The Creative Call, Janice Elsheimer challenged me to make my art a pathway to a deeper relationship with God.  “God has given us our talents,” she wrote, “and the Holy Spirit, when called on, will breathe his life into us so that we will know what to do with those talents.”[iii]  The Spirit promises to give us words and wisdom (Luke 21:15).  As God empowers us, we become what Madeleine L’Engle called “co-creators with God” in communicating to readers what their spirits are aching to know about God, their purpose in life, and their relationship to Jesus.  

        Our shadow mentors are very personal and individual. Tell us about yours.

How have they helped form you as a writer?

How have they given you insight and encouragement on your writer’s journey?

What deep personal changes was/is God working in you through these writers?

For further reading:

    Shirley Tye was an additional inspiration for this month’s theme. In a blog post last year, she wrote: “It’s wonderful to hear about writers’ creative work journeys; their ideas, struggles, and successes…Oh, how I was inspired!” You can read her post here.

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[i]Madeleine L’Engle. Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art. New York: Convergent Books. 1980, 1998, 2001. Pp. 171-172.

[ii] Brenda Ueland. If You Want to Write. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press. 1938, 1987. Pp. 4, 14.

[iii] Janice Elsheimer The Creative Call. Colorado Springs, CO. Waterbrook Press. 2001. P. 72.