A little encouragement goes a long way
I just came across this news feature on my friend Trey’s Facebook page. It seems that as a third-grade teacher in 1961, his mother gave some memorable encouragement to a student writer. That writer has now written more than 100 children’s books and, now, a book of poems. Here’s the story.
Last night was the latest night of readings from my playwriting workshop. One of the three playwrights has become an accomplished award-winning, produced, published playwright. (I think she and I will always remember the moment we jointly realized in my class that yes, she was a playwright. I could suddenly see it, and so could she.) One of the other playwrights last night has been in my workshop for a while. She joined the workshop to start writing plays — to learn how to write plays — and now here she was, the first act of her first play finally completed, playing out for a full house at the Inside the Ford space at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. She had one of those rare debut achievements: the audience laughed in all the right places, and at least two of them cried in the right places. The joy written on this new playwright’s face afterward will stay with me for a long time.
I salute my friend’s mother. And I salute all the people who continue on with whatever sort of endeavor despite all the setbacks and discouragements the world can sling at them.