Writing is a solitary business, or so we’re told.

There are definitely pluses to that. How many other jobs let you celebrate Pajama Friday every week or take a coffee break whenever you feel the need to rev up the braincells. How many other jobs let you be completely flexible as to what hours of the day you work. But let’s face it as human beings, we tend to be social animals. No one wants to spend their life completely alone and shut off from the world. Thank goodness there are wrting groups and associations — both virtual and traditional — to allow us to communicate with each other and support each other.

Over the years, there have been times when I’ve had to work outside the home to help make ends meet or to preserve my sanity.  Without motivation or cause to leave my familiar four walls, I can become quite the recluse. I met my husband when I was away at college, and later moved to his hometown — away from family, friends and everyone I knew. Though I obviously kept in contact with those people, creating a new social circle was very hard.  Even twenty plus years later I say things like, “I don’t know where that is. I’m not from around here…which is rather inane, but a habit nonetheless.)

I’d started writing as a teen, but it was in those newlywed years that I began to actively pursue it as a craft and then later a potential career. About the same time my son was born, we were buying our first computer (Don’t get me started on the specs compared to the one I just recently purchased).  This was at the time when CompuServe was the provider of the day and the online experience consisted of bulletin and message boards.  But through those experiences, I began connecting with others on the same journy as me, and I began to discover that even though writing is something we do in solitude, being a writer doesn’t condemn you to a life of isolation.

Over the years I’ve belonged to several other virtual and traditional writing organization. I go to conferences. I take workshops and classes. I work everyday to improve my craft, but I also belong to these groups for the camaraderie, because talking to someone who understands what you’re going through is always comforting. This point was brought home yesterday at my Thursday morning ‘coffee club’ that we’ve lovingly begun calling ‘support group.’  We were there to help each other back on the horse and lift low spirits. We helped each other with plot issues and brainstorming, and recommended outlets to query.

This may be a hard road one takes when they pursue writing, but it certainly is easier with a little help from friends.