Role Models and Mentors
My new release, From Here To Home (3/29/16) features two very different heroines. Mary Dell Templeton is the 60-something host of a long-running quilting show that has suffered a recent ratings slip. Holly Silva is her 20-something co-host, an ambitious young woman who knows nothing about quilting but whose career hinges on outshining Mary Dell in order to earn her own show.
In these circumstances, how could Mary Dell and Holly fail to become adversaries, which is just what an unscrupulous network executive hopes will happen? How? By becoming comrades instead competitors. Here's an excerpt from chapter 21...
"Mary Dell sat down at one of the tables, motioned for Holly to take the second chair, and then swiveled in her seat so she could face her young co-host directly.
Her expression was uncharacteristically somber, with no trace of a smile on her lips.
“I know that Jason is determined to make sure that the eighth season of Quintessential Quilting will be the last,” she said with no preamble. “I don’t know why he is so set on it, but he is. And he’ll do whatever he can to make it happen, including trying to play us against each other. But we’re not going to fall for that.”
Mary Dell paused. Her gaze was unblinking.
“Are we?” she prodded.
“We’re not,” Holly confirmed. “Neither of us has anything to gain from that. We’d both end up looking bad.”
“Good.”
“But I’m starting to think I’m going to end up looking bad no matter what. Just listening to you talk to that lady about bias binding and sewing curves made my head hurt.” Holly sighed. “I can’t even imagine being able to do that.”
“You will, if you keep up with it. You’ve got more talent than you give yourself credit for. You’ve got color sense, for one thing,” Mary Dell said, nodding toward the bag of brick and gray fat quarters Holly had set down on the table.
“Which, I have to say, comes as a relief. I’ve always relied on Howard to help me with that part. My fabric choices can get a little…Let’s call them exuberant. That’s the word Hub-Jay used once,” she said, a small smile bowing her lips. “It sounds more refined than saying I’ve got no taste.”
“Now who’s not giving themselves credit?” Holly scolded. “I saw you helping that lady pick out the fabrics for her baby quilt. Sure, it was bright and colorful with all that hot pink and lime green, but you didn’t go overboard. Bringing in that bright white for the border and then binding it with pink tied everything together. You’re good with fabric choices.”
“I like what I like,” Mary Dell replied, “and what I like is loud and bright. But I have learned to tone it down a little. Howard and Hub-Jay have been good influences. So, how about we both call ourselves a work in progress?”
“Fair enough,” Holly said. “I just wish I was progressing faster. Really, Mary Dell, I just don’t know how I’m going to keep up with you.”
“You can’t. Not when it comes to quilting.”
Holly opened her eyes, a little surprised by the frankness of her remark.
“That’s not an insult,” Mary Dell said, lifting one hand. “It’s just the way it is. Baby girl, I’ve been quilting since before water was wet. Two weeks ago, you didn’t even know what a bobbin was, let alone how to wind one. If you try to make out like you’re ready to play in the same league as me, you’ll end up looking foolish. And I’ll end up looking mean.
“If we’re going to pull this off, we’ve got to work as a team,” she said, leaning forward a little. “I’ve been mulling it over for the last few days and I think I’ve come up with a way to make your inexperience work for us.”
By becoming Holly's role model and mentor, Mary Dell will find that she learns as much as she teaches and the two women's lives will be changed for the better.
It's a theme that has played out powerfully in my own life. If not for the generosity of a writing teacher who became my mentor more than 20 years ago, I would never have written FROM HERE TO HOME, or any of my other novels. His influence and kindness changed the course of my life in ways that are impossible to measure. It's a debt I can never repay - at least not to him.
What I can do, and have done, is support and guide those who come behind me. In doing so I have discovered, as Mary Dell does, that I get as much as I give.
How about you? Have you had a mentor or been one? How has your life been impacted by that experience?From Here To Home
In these circumstances, how could Mary Dell and Holly fail to become adversaries, which is just what an unscrupulous network executive hopes will happen? How? By becoming comrades instead competitors. Here's an excerpt from chapter 21...
"Mary Dell sat down at one of the tables, motioned for Holly to take the second chair, and then swiveled in her seat so she could face her young co-host directly.
Her expression was uncharacteristically somber, with no trace of a smile on her lips.
“I know that Jason is determined to make sure that the eighth season of Quintessential Quilting will be the last,” she said with no preamble. “I don’t know why he is so set on it, but he is. And he’ll do whatever he can to make it happen, including trying to play us against each other. But we’re not going to fall for that.”
Mary Dell paused. Her gaze was unblinking.
“Are we?” she prodded.
“We’re not,” Holly confirmed. “Neither of us has anything to gain from that. We’d both end up looking bad.”
“Good.”
“But I’m starting to think I’m going to end up looking bad no matter what. Just listening to you talk to that lady about bias binding and sewing curves made my head hurt.” Holly sighed. “I can’t even imagine being able to do that.”
“You will, if you keep up with it. You’ve got more talent than you give yourself credit for. You’ve got color sense, for one thing,” Mary Dell said, nodding toward the bag of brick and gray fat quarters Holly had set down on the table.
“Which, I have to say, comes as a relief. I’ve always relied on Howard to help me with that part. My fabric choices can get a little…Let’s call them exuberant. That’s the word Hub-Jay used once,” she said, a small smile bowing her lips. “It sounds more refined than saying I’ve got no taste.”
“Now who’s not giving themselves credit?” Holly scolded. “I saw you helping that lady pick out the fabrics for her baby quilt. Sure, it was bright and colorful with all that hot pink and lime green, but you didn’t go overboard. Bringing in that bright white for the border and then binding it with pink tied everything together. You’re good with fabric choices.”
“I like what I like,” Mary Dell replied, “and what I like is loud and bright. But I have learned to tone it down a little. Howard and Hub-Jay have been good influences. So, how about we both call ourselves a work in progress?”
“Fair enough,” Holly said. “I just wish I was progressing faster. Really, Mary Dell, I just don’t know how I’m going to keep up with you.”
“You can’t. Not when it comes to quilting.”
Holly opened her eyes, a little surprised by the frankness of her remark.
“That’s not an insult,” Mary Dell said, lifting one hand. “It’s just the way it is. Baby girl, I’ve been quilting since before water was wet. Two weeks ago, you didn’t even know what a bobbin was, let alone how to wind one. If you try to make out like you’re ready to play in the same league as me, you’ll end up looking foolish. And I’ll end up looking mean.
“If we’re going to pull this off, we’ve got to work as a team,” she said, leaning forward a little. “I’ve been mulling it over for the last few days and I think I’ve come up with a way to make your inexperience work for us.”
By becoming Holly's role model and mentor, Mary Dell will find that she learns as much as she teaches and the two women's lives will be changed for the better.
It's a theme that has played out powerfully in my own life. If not for the generosity of a writing teacher who became my mentor more than 20 years ago, I would never have written FROM HERE TO HOME, or any of my other novels. His influence and kindness changed the course of my life in ways that are impossible to measure. It's a debt I can never repay - at least not to him.
What I can do, and have done, is support and guide those who come behind me. In doing so I have discovered, as Mary Dell does, that I get as much as I give.
How about you? Have you had a mentor or been one? How has your life been impacted by that experience?From Here To Home
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