By Heidi Croot
On a sunny October afternoon last year, my 33-year-old cousin told me his recovery program involved group writing, and he’d written a love letter to his recently deceased parents.
I recognized the writer’s eternal plea and asked if I could read it.
He literally galloped into the house to find his notebook.
We stood under the fall canopy of reds, greens and golds—his sister, grandmother and me—and listened to him read aloud, a lanky six-foot-four boy on the cusp of discovering his talent, shy, eyes down, yet lit with pride.
Moving in its honesty, we told him, and we repeated phrases that had stirred us, marvelling at his willingness to be vulnerable.
Was his piece polished for publication? Of course not. It was raw, tender, molten with grief. He had trusted his…
By Heidi Croot
On a sunny October afternoon last year, my 33-year-old cousin told me his recovery program involved group writing, and he’d written a love letter to his recently deceased parents.
I recognized the writer’s eternal plea and asked if I could read it.
He literally galloped into the house to find his notebook.
We stood under the fall canopy of reds, greens and golds—his sister, grandmother and me—and listened to him read aloud, a lanky six-foot-four boy on the cusp of discovering his talent, shy, eyes down, yet lit with pride.
Moving in its honesty, we told him, and we repeated phrases that had stirred us, marvelling at his willingness to be vulnerable.
Was his piece polished for publication? Of course not. It was raw, tender, molten with grief. He had trusted his heart to us, and we reflected it back to him, warmed with love and hope.
This brief story contains everything I want to say to you—you who share your circle with a writer, whether child, partner, parent, cousin, friend.
And it is this: that you have the power to change your writer’s life. That with holidays coming, and birthdays always upon us, the time is now. That your gift list couldn’t be easier.
You can offer your inborn curiosity. Ask: how’s the writing going? What are you working on? Got anything ready for reading? Writers who aren’t quite ready will say so. With gentle respect, keep asking. But many of us write out of a deep yearning to share our hardest truths. We write from the white light of trauma, others from irrepressible ideas, still others from whimsy and imagination.
Acknowledge your writers’ triumphs. If they have posted their writing on social media, on a blog, in a newspaper or literary journal—anywhere in the public eye—visit the online site and acknowledge the piece in whatever way the publication allows, e.g., for the Brevity Blog that means clicking “like,” and on Facebook, clicking on an emoticon.
An acknowledgement is silver, a comment gold. Visit the venue where your writer’s work appears, repeat a phrase or two that caught you and add, Loved this, or Wow! You can ask a question. Admire the writing. Exclaim over the idea. Say So well done and Congratulations. Use exclamation marks. Comments posted on the site that’s hosting the piece are especially prized.
Encourage your writers even (perhaps especially) if their piece is still in its emerging stages. My husband is a talented, late-blooming artist. We have people in our lives who have never lifted a paintbrush yet withhold praise for his extraordinary watercolours, presumably because he is not (yet) Winslow Homer. Proficiency in writing, as in painting, is a journey. Simply praise the effort, the creativity, the vision. Be the person at the fork in the road who waves a green flag, not a red one.
Be the devoted publicist with an inside track. It’s been said that one mom or grandmother or uncle who talks up their writer with their neighbours, fellow travellers or congregation, can help a writer sell more books than the slickest of marketing campaigns. At your next potluck, consider boasting about your writer’s accomplishments. Include updates in your holiday newsletter. Applaud them at work. Your writers may not have the chutzpah to outright ask you to be their advocate, but believe me, they think of you as part of their support community, even when you don’t show up. They hear every silence.
Preorder the book your writer publishes (preorders snap bookstores to attention) and buy copies for friends. Broadcast your pleasure by writing a book review for Amazon, Goodreads, social media, or a local or national newspaper. Reviews sell books—and reviews in social media need only be short and sweet.
And finally, know these two truths about your writers.
One, those social media posts and emails your writers send with links to their latest publishing achievement are not ego run wild, nor are they signaling a competitive spirit. Your writers are simply living their lives and their destiny. They are wired to share their stories.
And—little appreciated fact—they are running a business. Every acknowledgement, comment, endorsement builds name recognition. Every boost to name recognition wins readers for future essays and books in a brutal, dream-crushing industry where just because they’ve written a book is no guarantee they’ll find an agent or publisher.
Two, your writers write because they must. Small wonder “why I write” is such a universal writing prompt. Sometimes it’s hard to find the answer. But this all writers know absolutely to be true: writers save their own lives, and they save other people’s lives. They ignite their own and others’ souls, courage and understanding of this troubled world.
By loving your writers and what they do, you have the power to amplify those life-giving, world-saving forces, girding writers to face the front lines and do more.
My cousin died a few months after sharing his writing.
That perfect autumn day had been my first and last chance to encourage a fellow writer to follow his pen to self-reveal and healing.
Fortunately, most of the writers I—and you—know will have many more days to revise, buff, and share their work.
We repay the trust they invest in us with our interest in and support for their writing—the most valuable (yet affordable), cherished, and longed-for gift.
___
*** This essay originally appeared in December 2023; we think it’s worth another read, with warm holiday wishes to everyone from the Brevity staff. ___
Heidi Croot is a Brevity Blog editor.
Discover more from The Brevity Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Tagged: gifts for writers, gifts from writers, share kindness