Writing can be a solitary place.
But it doesn’t have to be.
In pondering topics for this blog, the same thought kept floating to the surface.
I am so thankful for the writers in my life.
Yes, you!
(As I suspect, at this time in my writing career, most of my readers are writers.)
In January 2019, I made a New Year’s Resolution to submit a QUERY A WEEK to an agent. Which is laughable. Have you heard that saying…
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results . Albert Einstein
In my world, these resolutions at the beginning of the year have not turned out as I intended. If they had, I would be forty pounds lighter, be in the best shape of my life and procrastination would be a thing of the past.
(You can laugh, I do.)
Needless to say, I have not submitted a query a week, but the thing is, it doesn’t really matter, because screaming my wishes and dreams into a void only creates an echo back to myself. No one else knows how miserably I failed.
To really mean something, I need to share my dreams and goals with others.
This is where you come in. Not only to share in dreams, but to inspire each other to have dreams and for that, I am thankful for my writer friends.
The Writers (Past, Present and Future) of the MNM
I recently attended the Muskoka Novel Marathon, a 72 hour attempt to write a novel, while raising money to support programs for adult literacy. This is the fifth year I have driven up to Huntsville to hunker down and tackle a novel.
I almost didn’t go this year.
That’s right. I was very close to not attending. Allowing life, work, kids, television, farming… pretty much every excuse to get in the way but there was this voice, a whisper of something I couldn’t ignore that kept nudging me to attend. I’m so glad I did.
The people. These amazing writers from all walks of life. They are gifted and I wouldn’t change a single thing about a single writer. I laughed. I pushed myself. I learned from others and I shared. This year it was fun to meet the new writers (Rookies) and to encourage them and their aspirations. Somewhere through the weekend, I found my voice again and I have this group of writers to thank.
Twitter’s Writing Community
Another source of continuous inspiration is Twitter. A daily dose of ‘to dos’ and ‘don’ts’ from agents, a word count goal met by an author or another writer feeling dejected and in need of encouragement. I adore the Writing Community on Twitter. I have ‘virtually’ met some amazing people and when I think I am about ready to give up, someone offers just the right dose of encouragement.
Ascribe
Finally, by luck or by fate or some other force of the world, I happened upon a group of writers in Owen Sound. These writers, making up our writing group Ascribe, are all so different and yet we have one common goal—to write a novel. We research and share. We travel and learn together. We have compiled a book of short stories and read aloud. We meet to commiserate and make toasts. We write.
I have been so blessed to have such amazing writers in my life. I hope I can continue to encourage others the way my writer friends have encouraged me.
In that vein, I am going to state some reasonable goals here for you all to see. I am going to chose to connect, to get to know other writers and to share in my goals and challenges.
So,
I am going to write, something, no matter what, at least once a week.
I am going to plan a writing retreat this fall to get away and polish my latest WIP.
I am going to sign up for Spring Thaw next spring.
AND
I am going to send out at least 3 queries before the end of the summer.
There I said it. More than a New Year’s Resolution, this is a Writing Community commitment.
What’s your goal? I would be happy to listen and cheer you on.
