Photo by: TCM Hitchhiker
Sometimes the word writer and monster feels like one and the same. You’re all alone. People think you’re weird-at least you think they think you’re weird. You spend all of your time holed up researching online, in the library, reading at cafes. You send out letters asking people for work like a desperate fiend needing his next fix. Most of the time you wonder if, like Shrek, you’re the only monster in the woods. Is there anyone else out there going through the same things as you?
I, too, wondered. Fortunately for me, I got out of my house, away from my computer, far away from Twitter, Facebook and blogging and drove out in the real world and met with a real life writer.
And you know what I learned? I’m not the only monster. There are other writers, even the really successful, novel writing ones, that have the same fears as me. That struggle with or have in the past struggled with the same things that I struggle with. And that feeling that you’re not alone-well it’s pretty powerful and empowering.
So here’s what I think. If ever you feel discouraged, overwhelmed, confused, and unsure about being a writer, go out and meet someone new. Connect with other writers. Find a writer’s group in your neighborhood or start a new one. There’s all kinds of crazy benefits to networking in person with other monsters like you. We might feel like monsters, but even monsters need people too. Suddenly you’ll feel less monstrous and more like what you really are, another struggling writer with needs and feelings just like a real human being.
