Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Too Proud Parent

OK, so it is not my news but part of the excitement of being a part of a writing group is that we are all supporting and following what the rest of us are doing. Our group formed around September and I am thankful to say I was the last member to join. We meet monthly (soon to be every three weeks) and we read each others work before each meetings helping each other clarify and tighten our work. We stop what we are doing to read a blog or edit a bit of extra writing because the other has something burring they need some help with. So it is with great pleasure that I heard that one of my group members is close to landing an agent. OK, so it is not official yet and I can't tell who he/she is or who the agent might be but I am just plain excited!

Reading this, I feel very ashamed of the pride I am executing over another writer in my group. I guess writing group members are like supportive parents. I can't tell you how many times I talk to parents about the subtle difference between being proud of what your child had done and letting the child feel proud of their own achievement. (OK, what is this psychologist talking about now.....I know you are thinking it.)

Lets not analyse this to much but once someone gets past the age of, lets say, seven, eight, OK, may be 10, their achievements are really theirs, even if you are the one taking them to practice every day or paying the bill. So despite the fact I am personally connected to this event, rather than saying "Oh, I am so proud" the message to him/her is "oh, you must be so proud of yourself"!

And with this said just think, if I can get this excited about one of my writing group members, what is it going to be like if it is me. Keep posted to hear how things unfold. Oh, this is getting so good!

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