And Now I'm Back From Outer Space

Or the coast, at least.

Last Friday, I went out of town for about week. I got back this past Wednesday, just before midnight. I gave myself a few days off after the mayhem of a not-so-restful but still enjoyable time away, and now I'm back to grace your blogrolls with posts of dubious quality.

I've been thinking a lot about community lately; specifically, the writing community I have available to me.

In my adventures in writing and networking, I've noticed that a lot of writers identify as solitary creatures. It's not true in all cases, of course, but it's somewhat of a trend for writers to be loners, even if they're veritable social butterflies online. I could sit here and postulate reasons for that trend, but that's not really what I'm interested in. What I am interested in talking about is how I personally have a habit of pulling back so far that I'm reluctant to let anyone read my writing. My husband, who is also a writer, has read all of two paragraphs of my work, and that only after an outrageous amount of time spent listening to me carry on about how I'm so sorry if it's bad, please don't hate me forever.

Even if I love my writing, I have this profound reluctance to let people I'm close to actually read it. That's a problem, and it's one I'm trying to overcome.

I agree very much with the statement "there aren't really any set rules of writing." That being said, though, there are a few Laws in the industry. Perhaps chief among those Laws is that one can't start submitting to agents without having their manuscript and queries critiqued by trusted friends or writing buddies who can provide a bit of objectivity. Even if a person is great at remaining objective, it's still hard to dig in and rip a book baby to shreds when something isn't working. Beta readers, writing groups, or reader friends can help iron everything out before one embarrasses themselves by submitting what's basically a rough draft to an agent, and possibly ruining their chances of getting their dream representation.

Slowly but surely, I'm becoming more comfortable with letting my work be read by people who I can't run away from if they tell me something is bad or rough or needs to be reworked. I believe it's helping me grow as a writer, and, really, as a person. You can't evade criticism forever. Writing buddies, friends, and family are telling you your story needs work, not because they're trying to be cruel, but because they want your story to succeed.

Or that's how it should be, anyway.

'Til next time,
J.