Tag: community

Writers, Don’t Go It Alone

Writing is by and large a solitary activity. It isn’t something generally done in a group save for perhaps writing jams and community workshops. However, when writing your novel, short story, poetry, or any other project, you’re probably going to spend the lion’s share of your time by yourself, with only your ideas and thoughts to keep you company on the journey.

However, writing is not an isolated activity, as I have discovered. While writing a novel draft may be done in private, what comes afterward needs other people: submitting drafts to beta readers, finding editors to review your work, maybe even sharing passages with a local writers’ group. Why? Well, partly because we all need a few extra pairs of eyes to see the good and bad in our work that we can’t see ourselves. But we also need a smidgeon of encouragement from time to time.

I don’t say this out of selfishness or self-pity. All writers must build confidence in their work if they intend to publish. But let’s face facts. We all feel discouraged at some point or another. Perhaps we’ve hit writer’s block or we look back on our recent work and want to gag. Or maybe, even though everything is going swimmingly and we’re hitting all our deadlines, we still can’t shake off the inexplicable doldrums we’re feeling. And we need someone to talk to, someone we can trust and confide in.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, writers are not cut off from the world. We need other people, and we need encouragement. Being left alone with only our own thoughts to keep us company – well, I don’t know about you, but as a writer I tend to be a very harsh critic of my own work, always asking if it’s really any good.

Writing can become a lonely journey. Find someone, or a couple someones, willing to stick with you through it all, give honest feedback, be supportive, and most of all, be a friend. Writers shouldn’t live in a vacuum. It’s not healthy (or even really possible), and after all, half the fun of writing is to see people’s reactions to the things we create.

Many thanks for visiting my blog. I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life.

The Homegrown Charm of Amateur Theater

When was the last live performance you saw?

Not too long ago, my family and I saw a live radio play version of R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots at a local amateur theater. I am not an avid theater-goer, but seeing this performance gave me a new appreciation of the art, especially its homegrown incarnation.

Amateur performances are charming, and I mean that in the best way possible. I don’t use the word in the condescending sense of “look at this three-year-old’s watercolors splashed across the paper and table and floor, oh, bless his little heart, doesn’t he try so hard!” I mean charming as in witnessing the genuine passion and effort that non-professional actors put into their art. They do it because they love it and want to be part of the show.

I believe that all art has value. Amateur or professional, it’s all worthwhile if you enjoy it. Was the acting a little sketchy in places? Of course. Were the sound effects questionable? Sometimes. And did it have that coziness that is a distinctly different flavor of fun from the bombastic, big-budget hustle and bustle of professional theater and radio plays? Oh, yes. I went in not expecting very much, and came out thinking that maybe I should go to the theater more often.

Did you like what you just read? Are you a writer, or just looking for fun content? Do you want more, but are worried about missing new posts? Please subscribe! I post updates on my writing career, I muse over storytelling and fiction, and I reflect on the curious and wonderful things in life.

It hasn’t gone anywhere, and it won’t anytime soon! My first book, A God Walks Up to the Bar, is available on Amazon.com. Witness the modern day adventures of the Greek god Hermes in a world much like our own – plus with demigods, vampires, nymphs, ogres, and magic. The myths of old never went away, they just moved on with the times. It’s a tough job, being a god!