I Don’t Care What They Say, Writing Isn’t Lonely – Day 279

Photo by: ZaNuDa @ www.sxc.hu

Writers, for the most part, write in closed off spaces. Even those of us writers who like to work in a busy place like a café, there is a Fortress of Solitude that rises up around us. It’s not a conscious thing. We can even look up and smile at someone as they pass by on their way to the other window seat. But we’re not really there, are we? We’re deciding whether to use the word “excellent” or “superb”. The lights are on, but everyone’s in the attic…

Here’s something I realized though recently: writing is not a “lonely” business as many people want to describe it. I agree it’s certainly not a social business (unless you have a writing partner…), but most of us prefer to go to our own little worlds when we work. That’s a far cry from lonely.

That being said, it is good to connect with other writers. Last week I had the great fortune to do just that. I first “met” Evadne Macedo (in the cyber sense) when she left a comment on Terry Fallis’ blog. I followed her link back to her blog, and found that like me, she was a budding novelist. (Unlike me though, she had actually finished a novel and was shopping it around while working on another…)

In any case, turns out she was in Thunder Bay on business, and emailed to see if I was available for coffee for an hour before her flight back. Very cool! Yes, I was, and we went for a quick bite and chat about Life, the Universe, and Everything Writing.

It was great to be able talk with someone who is in a similar boat. We talked writing theory and thoughts on self-publishing among other things. We swapped links and war stories and the challenges of juggling day job with burning the midnight novel oil.

I think at the very core though, meeting another fellow writer inspired me. (And I say “another” on purpose — I do have other writer friends, though not many.) No matter how much better it is to work on your own, there’s a lot to be said for feeling some camaraderie from time to time. Because although writing is not lonely, sometimes living the life of a writer is. At least in a creative sense. Humans are social animals (even writers…) I promise you, connecting with other writers will make the world of difference to your writing attitude. That can only be a good thing for your writing.

So thank you Evadne for making the effort to connect with me. I hope to return the favour the next time I’m down Toronto way. I encourage everyone out there to reach out to other writers as well, either in person if possible, or via email or phone or even replying to a blog post (hint, hint).

BTW, there haven’t been updates lately because, well, there’s been nothing to update. I do have some time slotted for tomorrow night to get some work in on the novel, so I’m happy for that.

Until then,

~Graham