| I’m reading Chapter 8 of the Artist’s Way and the author says:
Teachers, editors, mentors are often authority figures or parent figures for a young artist. There is a sacred trust inherent in the bond between teacher and student. This trust, when violated, has the impact of a parental violation. What we are talking about here is emotional incest.
I can pinpoint the exact moment I stopped writing. I was a senior in college and my journalism instructor, a wonderfully strict relic of the glory days of newspaper journalism, told me that I should find a career that didn’t involve writing because I was bad at it. I’m most likely paraphrasing here, but I’ve nailed the sentiment she expressed.
I was completely devastated and nearly dropped out of school. My whole life I’d wanted to be a journalist. I’d been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil; seriously, I have a poem I wrote when I still used those huge round pencils on rough brown paper with the blue lines.
About 10 years after that I wrote some fanfic, which received some praise, but quit writing again because I felt it just wasn’t good. I started and threw away many journals.
You know something? I no longer care about being “good”. From the lofty height of my 42 years I look back at that poor 22 year old girl and want to give her a slap upside the head. “Don’t let one old woman’s opinion stop you! You’ll show her!” But I can’t, of course. So I’ll just show her now, won’t I?