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A Little Help From My Friends

A while back, I emailed a popular author to let him know how much I enjoyed his then-latest novel. I didn’t expect him to write back, but he did, and he thanked me for contacting him. He said finding my email in his inbox was a “pleasant surprise,” given that writing can be such a solitary profession. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but fast-forward a few years and I learned this for myself when I began writing my first novel, A Thousand Times. It makes sense, right? Your ideas are in your head and you have to get them “on paper,” so it’s not exactly a group activity. Or is it?

By the time I finished my first draft of ATT, I realized it would need to be revised, but since this was new to me, I figured I’d better learn how to do it properly. And after doing a bit of research, I decided to take courses at an online writing academy that has a busy community. There, I met other writers and while some were published, some weren’t. And some had tons of writing experience while others were newbies, like me.

Some of us got to know each other and started “sprinting” together online every morning for a few hours. We check in at the top of each hour and chat for a few minutes before going our separate ways to work on our writerly endeavors. It gives us a terrific opportunity to hang out with a diverse group of writers from the world over, so writing isn’t so solitary anymore.

If you’re a new writer, I encourage you to find a writing group, whether online or in person, to get together with, to share ideas and experiences with. The support and encouragement can make all the difference. Happy scribbles!

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