Writing doesn’t have to be a lonely business
You’d think my laptop is my best friend. We go to coffee
shops together, it rides next to me in my car, and I spend hours alone with it.
When it’s feeling rundown, I’m the one it relies on to plug it in and lift its
energy. Right now, we’re on vacation in Canada and spending a week in a
mountain chalet with a tremendous view of the Selkirk Mountains.
This can’t be a healthy relationship.
To be a writer, you have to write. That means you’re alone
much of the time and, for me, focused on an imaginary world. This is a recipe
for cutting oneself off from reality and real relationships. It shouldn’t be
surprising loneliness creeps in. Several years ago, I found a great solution
that not only solves the issue of human contact, but also significantly
inspires my writing.
At first, I did what a lot of writers do. I went to coffee
shops. There, at least, the voices and clatter of humans surrounded me. A few
customers found their way into my stories – whether through their voice tones
or hair color or the shape of their nose. A snippet of conversation became the
inspiration for a side plot. I became friendly with a few of the other regulars
who appeared each morning and the baristas knew my order before I arrived at
the counter.
Then I discovered Shut Up & Write, a Meetup group for
working writers of all sorts. It’s a very casual group, now with more than
25,000 members around the world, and totally free. I joined first in
Sacramento, Calif. and started two morning groups there. Now I live in Boise,
Idaho and launched the first Shut Up & Write there. We have well over a
hundred members and have four writing sessions a week at various coffee shops.
Writers sign up online to hold their spot for a session, show up and chat for a
bit, and then write quietly on their own project for an hour. An hour doesn’t
seem too long, but it’s amazing how joining others with the same creative
energy spurs one forward.
My projects progress, but there’s also the benefit of
friendships that develop and the mentoring I see happen. We share information
about editing, plot development, writing conferences, and the long road to
publishing. We also show each other pictures of our children and pets, offer
suggestions on restaurants, and cheer each other on.
Writing doesn’t have to be a lonely business. If you don’t
have a Shut Up & Write in your community, you may consider starting one.
There’s information about the
organization here.
Happy writing!
Julie Howard is
the author of the Wild Crime series. She is a former journalist and editor who
has covered topics ranging from crime to cowboy poetry. She is a member of the
Idaho Writers Guild and founder of the Boise chapter of Shut Up & Write.
Learn more at juliemhoward.com.
Crime Times Two (coming Fall 2018):
Meredith knows three things:
First, the man in the library begged her to help him. Second, he was afraid of
his wife. Third, now he’s dead.
While the evidence first points
to a natural death, Meredith is certain there’s more to discover. People are
tight-lipped in this small mountain village, and the man’s wife isn't talking
either. Then a second death occurs, with remarkable similarities. It’s time to
talk about murder.
As a slow-burning relationship
heats up in her own life, Meredith struggles with concepts of love and hate,
belief and suspicion, and absolution and guilt. Nothing is clear cut…
She must decide: Is guilt, like
evil, something you can choose to believe in?
Excerpt:
Jowls quivered under the man’s weak chin, and Meredith noted the
stained and frayed shirt of someone who spent a lot of time alone in dark
rooms, sending out a better version of himself into the virtual world. His eyes
were anxious and beseeching at her as though she should have a clear
understanding of him and his life.
Somehow, over the past hour and a half they’d been sitting next
to each other – him playing video games and sharing his life story and her
ignoring him the best she could – she had become his confessor and friend.
Meredith gave him what she hoped was an
impartial-though-quasi-friendly smile. She reached for her purse and papers and
rose from her chair. “Well. Nice talking with you.”
The man was lost in his own train of thought and seemed only
slightly aware that Meredith was leaving.
He shook his head, morose.
“To make a long story short,” he summed up, “I think my wife is
trying to kill me.”
Visit Julie:
Get Julie's first
novel, Crime
and Paradise, in paperback or for the Kindle from Amazon.
Shut Up & Write sounds like a unique way for writers to network and socialize. For me, however, it wouldn't work. Why? I'm a desktop computer author. I don't use laptops, and I'm not that person carrying one around with me everywhere I go. For notes on the go, I actually use a pen and paper. Imagine that! For the majority of writers, Shut Up & Write is the perfect solution. I wish there were a similar idea for those of us (are there any besides me?) who don't care to use laptops.
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