helenwritesit On the face of it, writing looks like a lonely job. When you first set out, and you’re still a full-time, working parent, you carve out those tiny moments of time at 5am or once the kids are in bed and hope that chipping away at a manuscript in ten minute chunks will create something of worth at the end of all that work. And then you meet the Writing Community. And you realise that not only is writing a thoroughly sociable pastime, but that there is a joyful, motivational group of cheerleaders out there supporting you all the way – even if they’ve never met you in real life.
It’s been just over two years now since I set out to write seriously. In that time, I’ve built up a wonderful group of authors to follow and be followed by on Twitter (some of them are famous and – yes – I still get tremendously excited when they interact with me on Twitter!), I’ve kept in touch with two groups of writers that I met on Curtis Brown Creative courses and I’ve joined The Christmas Collective – a group of authors who were all shortlisted for the Penguin Christmas Love Story competition last year and embarked on a self publishing adventure. We share ideas, critique each other’s writing, cheer when there are successes and commiserate when we get the inevitable rejection.
A special shout out goes to the Romantic Novelists’ Association who tirelessly support new writers on their path to (hopeful) publication. Without them, I think I’d still be hiding away in my office, working on manuscripts that would never see the light of the day. Instead, I’m putting myself out there, sharing work with strangers, querying and actually self publishing work. So, thank you, writers, for being there.
