I’ve had a lot to be thankful for lately. My family and I got away for a fun vacation, my klutziness didn’t result in too many injuries out in the middle of nowhere, and I survived being without internet access for much of the time. *smile*
I was also reminded—again—how awesome the writing community is. During the last week, several things emphasized that truth in a big way.
#1—Writers Are Happy to Answer Questions and Help Each Other
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on developing a new story. I was excited to start writing, but the voice of the heroine just wasn’t coming to me. I sent out a call on Twitter to one of my favorite bloggers, Janice Hardy, for advice.
She replied with a great tip to have the protagonist journal for a few days. And then another friend of mine from Twitter, Kathrine Roid, piped up with the fabulous idea to ask the character what irked her. (Hee! Love that one.)
On another writing forum (that I’ll talk about in a minute), I got the advice from Angela Ackerman to try writing the first chapter or two in first person POV (point of view) to really get into the character’s head. And Lynn Epnett came back with the insight that broke through the how-do-I-capture-the-voice-of-this-character block for good. Lynn shared that my character might not be shy but merely quiet, and that in her head, she was probably full of strong thoughts and opinions. Brilliant!
This past weekend, I was able to start writing this new WIP (work-in-progress). While the voice might need to be tweaked down the line, I discovered my character did have plenty to say.
I’ve consistently found that writers love to give each other advice and help us get over our writing humps. To all of you, thank you!
#2—Writers Support and Recognize Each Other’s Hard Work
While I was in the middle of nowhere last week, I got a split second of cell signal—long enough to see an email from Facebook saying Angela Ackerman had tagged me for something about being a writing hero. Me? A hero? That couldn’t be right.
Imagine me trying to eek out a single bar of cell signal on my phone to look up the post while we’re driving through nowhere-ville. *holding the phone over my head at a 45 degree angle* Nothing. *trying a 50 degree angle* Etc., etc.
I finally saw the news that one of my favorite websites, The Bookshelf Muse, had honored me as a Writing Hero. *cue tears* Then throughout the day, people posted comments saying the nicest things about me. And I wasn’t even online to bribe them! *cue more tears*
This supportive nature of the writing community is sometimes what keeps us going when the rejections pile up or when the doom and gloom of the industry news threatens to make us give up writing altogether. Whether we send out congratulatory tweets for starting a new book, email advice for how to get past writer’s block, or comment on posts about the joy of typing “The End,” we’re there to help each other celebrate the good things.
Check out The Bookshelf Muse‘s list of writing heroes to find writers who go out of their way to be awesome and helpful. Several of my favorite people are on the list, and I’m stunned to be included among them.
#3—Writers Are Creative and Think of New Ways to Do Things
One of the other big events I missed last week was the launch of WANATribe. Those of you on Twitter have probably seen tweets with the hashtag of #MyWANA. WANA stands for We Are Not Alone and is based off Kristen Lamb’s book of the same name.
Now, Kristen could have let the idea behind WANA—writers helping each other—stay there on Twitter and called it a day. But nooo. Kristen loves to think big. Really big.
So she took the concept of WANA and launched a network for writers, artists, and all creative types called WANATribe. It’s part Facebook, part forum, part chat room, and part of a bunch of other stuff I haven’t figured out yet. *smile* It’s a giant social media playground, just for us. No spammers allowed. I’m looking forward to seeing how it evolves.
But that’s not all. Kristen also launched WANA International, a new webinar platform for learning. I’ll be one of the instructors in the fall, and Kristen has classes planned for writing craft, social media, technology, life balance, business, etc. And I love this video introducing the concept. *wants a Francis plushie*
Bonus—Writers Do Random Acts of Kindness for Each Other
Going along with the theme of this post, we all remember the Random Acts of Kindness Blitz that Angela and Becca started at The Bookshelf Muse to celebrate the release of their book, The Emotion Thesaurus, right? In other catching-up news, I’d like to announce the winners of my Win-Win/Random-Act-of-Kindness Giveaway.
Congratulations! *tosses confetti* I’ll be in touch with details about how to pick out your prize.
What things do you love about the writing community? Do you have more awesomeness to add to the list? Is there anything the writing community could do to be more supportive? Have you joined WANATribe yet? Do you also want a Francis plushie? *smile*
P.S. Yes, I’m on Pinterest now and have “Pin It” links on most of my posts. If you’re on Pinterest too and I’m not following you yet, leave your link in the comments.
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