I started working with Barbara when she struck out on her own after leaving a large agency and needed help to deal with an out-of-control pile of filing. My role progressed to a range of administrative tasks and reading the ‘slush’ pile. In the five years I spent with Barbara I met a lot of interesting people, read a lot of manuscripts and books, learnt how the industry worked, and ate a lot of toasted tomato sandwiches. Even if you were a bestselling author or publisher from one of the majors, everyone got toasted tomato sandwiches for lunch.
Barbara’s office was in an apartment overlooking Sydney harbour, and on late winter afternoons, when the sun faded early, the view across the bay twinkled with a multitude of lights from apartments and houses. ‘Behind every light,’ Barbara would muse, ‘is someone writing the next Great Australian Novel.’ I’d take a deep breath, and reach for another manuscript. Sometimes these were unsolicited submissions, other times works-in-progress by the writers Barbara represented. I would take notes and discuss my responses with Barbara. It was a kind of on-the-job training, but it was more that. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, Barbara was a mentor, giving me access to a particular world, nurturing my critical reading skills, and encouraging me to think for myself.
Four decades later I am still working with writers, with that early experience informing many aspects of my practice as a developmental editor. Now I mentor others, supporting them on their writing journeys.
What does a writing mentor do?
Sometimes writers reach out to me unsure whether they need a mentor or a manuscript assessment. Put simply, an assessment deals with the writing, providing a written response to a piece of text. A mentor works with the writer, entering an on-going discussion about a work-in-progress that includes responses to the writing, and engaging with the writer to tease out ideas, concepts, strategies, ways to approach problems.
You can work with a mentor at any stage of the development of the manuscript, from an initial idea through to honing a late draft for submission – it depends on your creative process and what sort of support you are looking for.
Over the course of drafting and redrafting your manuscript you may well dip into both assessment and mentoring for feedback. Often I’ll mentor a writer to help them get their head around completing a draft, and then do an assessment of the full draft. Or I might provide feedback on a completed draft and then enter a mentoring relationship to help the writer understand how to take the work to the next level. It’s quite an individual thing, and most mentors and mentoring services allow for flexibility to suit your needs.
If you are looking for a mentor, shop around. Look for testimonials, ask other writers for recommendations. Look for information about the mentor’s experience on their website. Ask what you will receive for your money. Make sure the business arrangements are clear and ask for them in writing. The mentor should be more than happy to answer questions you have about the process.
The long-lasting impacts of a good mentor
A good mentor can help you understand your work and your practice in new ways, providing support not only on how to develop your work, but also on how to navigate the often tricky emotional terrain of writing a book.
I have had a number of mentors through my life. My most recent experience was with my PhD supervisor. Professor David Carter was a terrific mentor – encouraging, guiding, nurturing, challenging, provoking, praising. He helped me deepen my skills as a thinker and as a writer. He helped me understand how to be a better mentor to others.
I very much enjoy engaging with writers in a mentoring capacity and in hindsight can see the path that led me to where I am today, from those early years with Barbara. There are still a multitude of people writing the next Great Australian Novel. I am still dealing with filing, although of the digital kind.
And I am still partial to toasted tomato sandwiches.
Vale Barbara Mobbs, 1943–2024
