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Tayari's Blog: I, Too, Have Had The Assistant's Blues

Posted by TayariJones on May 6, 2008 07:50 PM
Filed under The Writing Life

Like KJA over at The Root, I have also served as a writer's assistant. I won't say too much about my experiences, but I will say that it is a hard and personal job. Most people end up with the assistant's gig because they respect the writer whom they assist. I don't think anyone comes out the other side with that shame sheen. How could you? As the assistant, it's your job to keep the person's public self looking good. This, of course, means you see the private self which isn't always so cute.

I am not giving any clues as to which sister-writer I helped keep it together, but I will tell you that I did get my feelings hurt sometimes. But more importantly, I learned a lot about what was ahead of me as a black woman writer. When I read KJA's article in The Root, I cringed at the anecdote about the writer being afraid to praise a black student's writing for fear of seeming "biased."

I watched my own boss deal with such situations, and there is no good way out. I watched her navigate a lot of treacherous highway. I didn't always agree with how she handled it, but I was paying attention, and taking notes. I don't look back at my time as a writers assistant as the happiest time of my life, but I am glad I did it. Although the publishing world has on a few occaisions shown me nastiness that caught me by surprise, my assistant years gave me, at the very least, a glimpse of what was to come and I've done my best to be ready for it.