Solitary Writer

Usually being an introvert in a solitary profession doesn't bother me. I get a few emails (mostly contest entries) a day, I have my critique buddies and mentor and good friends. But...when all is said and done, I'm writing here, alone at my computer, by myself, with an occasional lookin by a cat who Wants Something.

And the profession CAN be grinding because of this solitude. We writers all have the same concerns (I'm writing crap. I'll never reach the pinnicle of my last success. No one will like this book. No one will BUY this book. I'm never going to make it as a full time writer...) I could go on for a couple of pages (and when I do free-writing and journaling, I do – one of the ways to get negativity OUT). So though we have the same concerns, and can feel the same, and can sympathize, when it comes down to the nitty gritty bottom line, it's you and the keyboard. And right now, I don't like that.

But it's something we learn to deal with – and I recall one session at a retreat when I took my laptop in and worked in a room full of writers, WRITING, or with my critique buddy at the same table one night. THAT was GREAT.

So, occasionally there are ways around the solitary profession – and, like last Saturday, when I took my first chapter of Heart Fate (Tinne Holly's story) and was told it was excellent and quite different than most of the Heart books (it's angst ridden, that first chapter), you get some bolstering.

When you're blue and disgusted with your stuff – reach out. You should at least have one whining buddy that you can call up and say – gotta whine now – and get soothing noises. Or spill it all in journaling. You'll feel better.

May today be bright and cheerful and your writing incredible.
Robin