Recently, I stayed at The Myrtles, a haunted plantation in Louisiana, with my mentor, the award winning, New York Times Best Selling author, Heather Graham. Luckily for me, Heather is not only my mentor, but my dear friend. (I don’t even know if she knows she’s mentoring me!)

I accompanied Heather and her family “on location” to shoot the new book trailer for her upcoming “Krewe of Hunters” series with Mira Books. As my mentor, she showed me how to set up a script, find a location, hire a videographer and assemble a cast of actors (with costumes!) and work within a budget to accomplish in one afternoon what promises to be a exciting and entertaining introduction to her next book series.

All of this, while having fun. I came away realizing that while mentoring doesn’t always lead to friendship, friendship surely leads to mentoring. Mentoring is an organic part of an active writing community. Joining Florida Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers and Thriller Writers, has immersed me in conversations with other authors from which I have come away a better writer—just by sharing information—while making friends with some of my most favorite authors. In turn, when I meet new writers, I answer their questions, offer them help with works in progress and point them in whatever direction I can to help further their career.

Mentoring is an author’s way to pay it forward. When we do, we take mega-leaps in our own careers, as well. Heather showed me how she uses her skills and years of experience to create media content. In turn, I followed the cast around the plantation, videoing behind the scenes. (With equipment I bought thanks to more mentoring from Fred Rae, a member of Mystery Writers.) To thank Heather for the fun, I plan to create about 20 short “behind the scenes” videos for YouTube, Facebook and iTunes to help herald her upcoming series. (I’ll be sure to post them on my website, as well.)

Why? Because I’m paying it forward for my friend, with delight, knowing some day, when it’s my turn, I will know just how to get the job done. After all, in the author’s world of mentoring, what are friends for?

So, let me ask you. How do you contribute as a mentor in your writing world?